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Biomedical subjects

E Freese

Publications and source records attributed to E Freese.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1974

Cell lysis of Bacillus subtilis caused by intracellular accumulation of glucose-1-phosphate.

Mutants deficient in both glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and phosphoglucose isomerase lysed 4 to 5 h after growth in nutrient medium containing glucose, or after prolonged incubation if the medium contained galactose. The lysis could be prevented by the addition of any other rapidly metabolizable carbon source such as fructose, glucosamine, or glycerol. The glucose-induced lysis was also abolished by introduction of a third mutation lacking phospho-glucose mutase activity but not by a third mutation lacking uridine diphosphate-glucose pyrophosphorylase or teichoic acid glucosyl transferase activity. Galactose-induced lysis was prevented only if the additional mutation abolished the uridine diphosphate-glucose pyrophosphorylase activity. The results showed that lysis was caused by the intracellular accumulation of glucose-1-phosphate, which in turn inhibited at least one of the two enzymes that convert glucosamine-6-phosphate to N-acetyl glucosamine-6-phosphate.

Autolysis↗
PubMed1974

Sporulation properties of cytochrome a-deficient mutants of Bacillus subtilis.

Three classes of cytochrome a-deficient mutants of Bacillus subtilis have been found to be asporogenic or oligosporogenic. All three classes showed declines in adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) concentrations during early sporulation, at a time when ATP levels in wild-type strains are constant. Class III mutants were found to be deficient in aconitase and isocitric dehydrogenase, and showed reduced maximum growth in nutrient sporulation medium. These mutants also suffered the most rapid decline in ATP concentration in early sporulation, and exhibited neither the biphasic oxygen consumption curve nor the increase in pH normally observed at the end of logarithmic growth in nutrient sporulation medium. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide oxidase activities of purified membrane preparations were approximately normal for mutants in all classes, except for two of the class II mutants and one class III mutant. Neither cytochrome a nor cytochrome c appears to be an obligatory intermediate in cyanide-sensitive nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide oxidation in B. subtilis.

Aconitate Hydratase↗
PubMed1973

Growth inhibition and morphological changes caused by lipophilic acids in mammalian cells.

Human (HeLa, Chang liver, L-132, and Intestine 407) and other mammalian (XC, SV3T3, and chick-embryo) cells in tissue culture are at least as sensitive to inhibition by lipophilic acids and nitrite as bacteria. Some of these compounds are the most frequently used antimicrobial food additives. Short-chain fatty acids (up to hexanoate) and parabens induce, at partially inhibitory concentrations, a jagged cell shape in continuous epithelial-like cell lines, such as HeLa, Chang liver, L-132, and Intestine 407. This morphological effect is not mediated or enhanced by butyryl cyclic AMP, which specifically affects fibroblasts.

Animals↗
PubMed1973

Abnormal septation and inhibition of sporulation by accumulation of L- -glycerophosphate in Bacillus subtilis mutants.

Accumulation of l-alpha-glycerophosphate, in cells of Bacillus subtilis mutants lacking the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-independent glycerophosphate dehydrogenase activity, suppresses both growth and sporulation. After growth has stopped, the cells slowly develop one and later more asymmetric septa that are thicker than normal prespore septa and apparently contain too much cell wall material to allow further membrane development into forespores or spores. l-Malate prevents accumulation of glycerophosphate and restores sporulation of the mutant. Glucose or gluconate cannot resotre sporulation, because they still effect glycerophosphate accumulation via de novo synthesis. If that accumulation is blocked in a double mutant, which is unable to make glycerophosphate from or to metabolize it into Embden-Meyerhof compounds, then nonsuppressing amounts of glucose or gluconate can restore sporulation.

Bacillus subtilis↗
PubMed1973

Lipopolysaccharide layer protection of gram-negative bacteria against inhibition by long-chain fatty acids.

Growth, amino acid transport, and oxygen consumption of Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium are inhibited by short-chain (C(2)-C(6)) but not by medium or long-chain fatty acids (C(10)-C(18)) at concentrations at which these processes are completely inhibited in Bacillus subtilis. The resistance of gram-negative organisms is not correlated with their ability to metabolize fatty acids, since an E. coli mutant unable to transport oleic acid is still resistant. However, mutants of both E. coli and S. typhimurium in which the lipopolysaccharide layer does not contain the residues beyond the 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate core are inhibited by medium (C(10)) but not by long-chain (C(18)) fatty acids. Furthermore, removal of a portion of the lipopolysaccharide layer by ethylenediaminetetraacetate treatment renders the organisms sensitive to medium and partially sensitive to long-chain fatty acids. The intact lipopolysaccharide layer of gram-negative organisms apparently screens the cells against medium and long-chain fatty acids and prevents their accumulation on the inner cell membrane (site of amino acid transport) at inhibitory concentrations. These results are relevant to the use of antimicrobial food additives, and they allow the characterization of gram-positive versus gram-negative bacteria and their lipopolysaccharide mutants.

Bacillus subtilis↗
PubMed1972

Initiation of spore germination in glycolytic mutants of Bacillus subtilis.

Enzyme activities of glycolysis and glyconeogenesis are present in spores of Bacillus subtilis, the rate-limiting step of glucose (GLC) metabolism being its phosphorylation. GLC allows initiation of germination in the presence of fructose (FRU) and asparagine (ASN), not because it is used via the Embden-Meyerhof path, but because it is oxidized in the nonphosphorylated form via the spore-specific GLC dehydrogenase. Spores of mutants lacking GLC-phosphoenolpyruvate transferase, FRU-6-P-kinase, or phosphoglucoisomerase activity can still be initiated by the above substrate combination. Furthermore, GLC can be replaced by 2-deoxy-GLC, which is also oxidized by GLC-dehydrogenase, but not by alpha- or beta-methylglucoside, which are not substrates of this enzyme. GLC probably acts by reducing nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate), which is used for some metabolic reaction other than the cytochrome-linked electron transport system, since inhibitors of this system do not inhibit initiation. Spores of a mutant lacking FRU-1-P-kinase activity can no longer be initiated by GLC+FRU+ASN, but they do respond to the combination of GLC+mannose+ASN. Since spores of a FRU-6-P-kinase (or phosphoglucoisomerase) mutant can still respond to either FRU or mannose, FRU-6-P (or some derivative) apparently is needed for initiation (in addition to reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and an amino donor). Alanine can initiate germination in spores of all of the above mutants, indicating that it can form all required compounds. However, in a mutant lacking P-glycerate kinase activity, alanine initiates only after a long lag and at a slow rate, indicating that some compound in the upper metabolic subdivision is required for initiation, in agreement with the above findings. All initiating agents of B. subtilis probably produce the same required compound(s) by different metabolic routes.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1972

Effects of fatty acids on growth and envelope proteins of Bacillus subtilis.

Fatty acids of different chain lengths were added to cultures of Bacillus subtilis growing in nutrient sporulation medium, and the effects of these fatty acids on growth, oxygen uptake, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentration, and membrane protein composition were examined. All fatty acids inhibited growth, the effect being reduced in the presence of glycolytic compounds and reversed by transfer to medium without fatty acids. The inhibition of growth was correlated with a reduction in both the rate of oxygen consumption and the concentration of ATP per cell. The concentration required to obtain a certain degree of inhibition increased with decreasing molecular weight of the fatty acid. However, the reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide oxidation system of cell envelope preparations (i.e., the electron transport system) was not inhibited. Submaximal growth inhibition was accompanied by the relative increase of a membrane protein band revealed by urea-acetic acid gel electrophoresis. This increase was blocked by actinomycin or chloramphenicol. All of the above changes could also be produced by 2,4-dinitrophenol. The inhibition results are best explained by assuming that the fatty acids reversibly react with the cell membrane or proteins in it; they could either alter the membrane structure or uncouple the electron transport chain from two types of proteins, those used for ATP regeneration and others needed for the transport of certain compounds into the cells.

Acetates↗
PubMed1972

Effects of acetate and other short-chain fatty acids on sugar and amino acid uptake of Bacillus subtilis.

Acetate and other short chain n-fatty acids (C(1)-C(6)) inhibit strongly the uptake of l-serine or other l-amino acids but inhibit only weakly that of alpha-methylglucoside or fructose, whether measured in whole cells of Bacillus subtilis or in membrane vesicles that have been energized with reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), l-alpha-glycerol phosphate, or ascorbate plus phenazine methosulfate. The acetate inhibition is noncompetitive, as was shown for l-alpha-aminoisobutyric acid uptake by whole cells and for l-serine uptake by membrane vesicles. In membrane preparations, neither NADH oxidation nor the reduction of cytochromes by NADH are affected by fatty acids. All of these effects are similar to those of 2, 4-dinitrophenol. It is concluded that the fatty acids "uncouple" the amino acid carrier proteins from the cytochrome-linked electron transport system (to which they may be coupled via protein interaction or via a cation gradient).

Acetates↗