Alteration of glucose metabolism of Arthrobacter crystallopoietes by compounds which induce sphere to rod morphogenesis

Abstract

Succinate and several other compounds which induce sphere to rod morphogenesis of A. crystallopoietes were found to suppress both catabolism and assimilation of glucose. Diauxic growth patterns resulted from growth on glucose plus any one of these compounds. Glutamate stimulated growth but was not an inducer of morphogenesis. With this compound, diauxic growth and suppression of glucose catabolism or assimilation did not occur. Glucose permease was studied with alpha-methylglucoside as substrate. The entry system for glucose was found to involve active transport and to have a K(m) of 8 x 10(-4)m. It was inducible, was repressed in succinate-grown cells, and was also inhibited by succinate. The exit system was constitutive and appeared to be less sensitive than the entry system to inhibition by azide. The properties of the glucose permease system may account for the slow growth of the organism on glucose and the preferred use of other substrates for growth. Studies of metabolic pathways for glucose metabolism indicated the operation of the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas (EMP) and pentose phosphate pathways and of the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Cells grown on glucose plus limiting amounts of succinate or other inducers of morphogenesis metabolized the glucose only after exhaustion of the inducers. Under these circumstances, the organisms employed the EMP pathway to a greater extent than when growing on glucose as sole carbon source.