[Metabolism of dicarboxylic amino acids and their amides in bacteria of the genus Klebsiella]

Abstract

The pathways of the utilization of dicarboxylic amino acids and their amides in 55 Klebsiella strains have been studied. These organisms have been found to be capable of carboxylating glutaminic acid with the subsequent utilization of the product of this reaction, gamma-amino butyric acid, by reamidization with alpha-glutaric acid. Aspartate decarboxylase with low activity has been detected only in a small number of strains. Most of the strains have been shown to be capable of deamidizating equally asparaginic and glutaminic acids. The presence of active asparaginase and glutaminase has been detected in a considerable number of these strains. Microorganisms of the genus Klebsiella have low asparagine synthetase and glutamine synthetase activity. Aspartate aminotransferase has been found to occur twice as frequently as alanine aminotransferase, both having the same level of activity.