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alpha-Isopropylmalate synthase and beta-isopropylmalate dehydrogenase activities were detected in extracts of the following organisms: Chromatium D, Rhodopseudomonas spheroides, Hydrogenomonas H16, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Vibrio extorquens, Rhizobium japonicum, Alcaligenes viscolactis, Escherichia coli B, Proteus vulgaris, Aerobacter aerogenes, Salmonella typhimurium, Micrococcus sp., Micrococcus lysodeikticus, Bacillus polymyxa, Bacillus subtilis, and Nocardia opaca. The alpha-isopropylmalate synthase activity in these extracts was inhibited by low concentrations of l-leucine. Taken together with other data, these results suggest that the isopropylmalate pathway is widespread among organisms that can synthesize leucine.

Branched- and straight-chain alkanes are metabolized by Brevibacterium erythrogenes by means of two distinct pathways. Normal alkanes (e.g., n-pentadecane) are degraded, after terminal oxidation, by the beta-oxidation system operational in fatty acid catabolism. Branched alkanes like pristane (2,6,10,14-tetramethylpentadecane) and 2-methylundecane are degraded as dicarboxylic acids, which also undergo beta-oxidation. Pristane-derived intermediates are observed to accumulate, with time, as a series of dicarboxylic acids. This dicarboxylic acid pathway is not observed in the presence of normal alkanes. Release of (14)CO(2) from [1-(14)C]pristane is delayed, or entirely inhibited, in the presence of n-hexadecane, whereas CO(2) release from n-hexadecane remains unaffected. These results suggest an inducible dicarboxylic acid pathway for degradation of branched-chain alkanes.

Transformation of labelled glutamic and aspartic acids (5-14C, 4-14C) was studied in growth media of various strains of Streptococcus acetonicus. These strains which participate in production of cheese with excellent organoleptic properties are active in synthesis of di- and tricarboxylic acids, and also keto acids. Such a relationship was not found in the case of 5-14C-glutamic acid.

Gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis on the distribution of alpha-ketodicarboxylic acids in various bacteria determined that alpha-ketoglutarate and alpha-ketoadipate are widely distributed in all the bacteria examined, whereas alpha-ketopimelate and alpha-ketosuberate are found only in the methanogenic archaebacteria. Labeling experiments with stable isotopes indicated that each of these acids arises from alpha-ketoglutarate by repeated alpha-ketoacid chain elongation. The final product in this series of reactions, alpha-ketosuberate, serves in the methanogenic bacteria as the biosynthetic precursor to the 7-mercaptoheptanoic acid portion of 7-mercaptoheptanoylthreonine phosphate, a methanogenic coenzyme.

Some aspects of the induction of enzymes participating in the metabolism of phenol and resorcinol in Trichosporon cutaneum were studied using intact cells and cell-free preparations. Activities of phenol hydroxylase (1.14.13.7), catechol 1,2-oxygenase (1.13, 11.1), cis-cis-muconate cyclase (5.5.1.-), delactonizing enzyme(s) and maleolylacetate reductase were 50-400 times higher in fully induced cells than in noninduced cells. In addition to phenol and resorcinol, also catechol, cresols and fluorophenols could induce phenol hydroxylase. The induction was severely inhibited by phenol concentrations higher than 1 mM. Using optimum inducer concentrations (0.01-0.10 mM), it took more than 8 h to obtain full induction, whether in proliferating or in nonproliferating cells. Phenol hydroxylase, catechol 1,2-oxygenase and cis, cis-muconate cyclase were induced simultaneously. The synthesis of the de-lactonizing activity was delayed in relation to these three preceeding enzymes of the pathway. High glucose concentration (over 15 mM) inhibited completely the induction of phenol oxidation by nonproliferating cells. It also inhibited phenol oxidation by pre-induced cells. Among the NADPH-generating enzymes, the activity of iso-citrate dehydrogenase was elevated in cells grown on phenol and resorcinol instead of glucose.

By means of gas chromatographic methods substantial amounts of the C6-C10-dicarboxylic acids, i.e. adipic, suberic and sebacic acids, have been found in the urine from children with unexplained attacks of lethargy and hypotonia, presumably related to episodes of fever and/or insufficient food intake. The course have once been fatal and is often characterized by severe hypoglycemia without ketonuria. Systematic gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric determinations of selected organic acid metabolites in the urine, together with enzymatic measurements in fibroblasts and clinical data from 4 patients of this category, have shown that the biochemical basis of this syndrome can be inborn errors of the beta-oxidation of fatty acids, localized to the medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenation system. The biosynthesis of adipic, suberic and sebacic acids was studied using ketotic rats as the model, since ketosis in rats and humans is accompanied by excessive urinary excretion of adipic and suberic acids. A probable pathway for the production of the three dicarboxylic acids was found to be an initial omega-oxidation of the medium-chain C10-C14-monocarboxylic acids followed by beta-oxidation of the resulting medium-chain dicarboxylic acids. It is argued that the source of the omega-oxidizable monocarboxylic acids in ketosis most probably is the fat deposites, and it is speculated that the patients with beta-oxidation defects supplement this source with beta-oxidation intermediate medium-chain monocarboxylic acids, accumulated as a result of the defect. The ratio between the excreted amounts of adipic acid and sebacic acid in the urine from the patients with beta-oxidation defects is less than 50. This is in contrast to the ratio in urine from ketotic patients, where it is greater than 100. Adipic acid/sebacic acid ratio-measured by means of a gas chromatographic analysis-is therefore suggested as a tool in the diagnosis of dicarboxylic acidurias. Based on the clinical picture and the pattern of a series of organic acids in the urinary metabolic profile our four patients can be divided in two types of dicarboxylic aciduria. The two types have different therapeutic implications.

Tracer experiments with 14C-labelled precursors in Iris times hollandica cv. Wedgwood, Reseda Iutea L. And Keseda Odorata L. have demonstrated that 3-(3-carboxyphenyl) alanine and 3-(3-carboxy-4-hydroxyphenyl) alanine can be derived from the corresponding pyruvic acids, presumably by unspecific transaminations, and that (3-carboxyphenyl) glycine and (3-carboxy-4-hydroxyphenyl) glycine can be derived from the corresponding phenylglyoxylic acids. The glycine derivatives are derived from the alanine derivatives, and the corresponding mandelic acids are intermediates in these transformations. The corresponding phenylacetic acids are incorporated only slightly into the glycine derivatives, indicating that oxidation at the benzylic position in the C6-C3 compounds takes place early in the transformation. The corresponding cinamic acids are not metabolized at all in the plants.

A method for the preparation and gas chromatographic analysis of the butyl esters of volatile (C-1-C-7) and nonvolatile (lactic, succinic, and fumaric) acids in microbial fermentation media is presented. Butyl esters were prepared from the dry salts of the acids. The esters were separated by temperature programming on a column of Chromosorb W coated with Dexsil 300 GC liquid phase and analyzed with a flame ionization detector. Apparent recoveries with butanol-HCl or butanol-H2SO4 as butylating agents were 80 to 90% for most acids. Chromatographic profiles of the butyl esters demonstrated that both volatile and nonvolatile acids can be detected and separated in 24 min on a single column. Standard calibration curves (peak area versus concentration) of the butyl esters were linear in the range of 5 to 40 mumol of acid per ml. The advantages of using an internal standard (heptanoic acid) for quantitating fatty acids in a mixture are given. Chromatograms of butylated fermentation media in which rumen anaerobic bacteria were grown illustrated that this method is useful for determining short-chain volatile and nonvolatile acids of toxonomic significance.

The metabolic origin of dicarboxylic acids which are produced as a result of hypoglycin poisoning (Jamaican vomiting sickness) was investigated. 14C- and 3H-labelled palmitic acid was administered with hypoglycin to rats, and radioactivity was measured in urinary dicarboxylic acids that were isolated by gas-liquid chromatography. Both isotopes were incorporated into adipic and sebacic acids, indicating a precursor-product relationship. Glutaric acid was, essentially, unlabelled. Preferential incorporation of C-16, relative to C-1 of palmitate, while not evident from data for fraction of isotopic dose incorporated, could be deduced by comparing ratios of 14C:3H in precursor with those ratios in products. It thus appears that omega-oxidation of the fatty acid intervenes predominantly at an intermediate stage of chain-shortening, when inhibition of beta-oxidation by hypoglycin becomes more pronounced.

The regulation of the synthesis of the inducible enzymes that mediate the reactions of the beta-ketoadipate pathway in Alcaligenes eutrophus has been examined by determining the inductive responses of the wild type and of mutants derived from it to metabolites of the pathway. The system of control differs in many respects from those which operate in the genera Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter.

Examination of the metabolic products formed by five alkane-utilizing Pseudomonas organisms during growth on various alkanes and on glucose as sole carbon sources indicates that many metabolites may be of predominantly synthetic origin rather than intermediary metabolites of alkane breakdown. This conclusion is supported by an examination of the effect of fluoroacetate on such fermentations.

The range of aromatic compounds that support the growth of Alcaligenes eutrophus has been determined, and the pathways used for the dissimilation of these substrates have been explored, largely by enzymatic analyses. The beta-ketoadipate pathway operates in the dissimilation of benzoate and p-hydroxybenzoate; the genetisate pathway, in the dissimilation of m-hydroxybenzoate; and the meta cleavage pathway, in the dissimilation of phenol and p-cresol. l-Tryptophan is oxidized via anthranilate; but the metabolic fate of anthranilate was not established. The metabolism of the three stereoisomers of muconic acid was also examined.

Some of the early enzymes in the lysine-biosynthetic pathway also function for dipicolinic acid synthesis in sporulating Bacillus cereus T. 1. The first enzyme, aspartokinase, loses its sensitivity to feedback inhibition by lysing. This change occurs before the time of dipicolinic acid synthesis but at a time when diaminopimelic acid is required for spore cortex formation. 2. A possible regulatory change at a branch point in the pathway was studied by examining the properties of a key enzyme, dihydrodipicolinic acid reductase. No alteration in the feedback sensitivity or sedimentation rate of this enzyme could be detected during sporulation. 3. Two mutants producing heat-sensitive spores were analysed. Both produced spores that contained decreased amounts of dipicolinic acid. Although neither was a lysine auxotroph, they both had greatly decreased activities of certain lysine-biosynthetic enzymes in sporulating cells. 4. Starvation of cells for calcium also results in the production of spores that are heat-sensitive and contain less dipicolinic acid than the control. A decreased content of one of the lysine-biosynthetic enzymes, dihydrodipicolinic acid synthetase, in calcium-starved cells could account for the lower concentration of dipicolinic acid in the spores.