[Microbial purine decomposition].

27 microorganisms were tested for their ability to degrade extracellular purines as sole sources of carbon, nitrogen, and energy. Beside adenine, guanine, xanthine, hypoxanthine, and urate as free purine bases, this test included 5'-AMP, 5'-GMP, 5'-XMP, and 5'-IMP, as well as DNA and RNA as purine compounds. Generally, only a limited number of microbial species was capable of metabolizing the substances named above. Compared to the other species, Paracoccus denitrificans showed the greatest substrate spectrum, including the free bases as well as the mononucleotides. However, the polymers DNA and RNA were not degraded.