Summary
The strand Pseudomonas oxalaticus obtained from a culture collection was separated into three closely related variants, which have in common the following growth properties on formate:
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1.
Growth on formate is strongly dependent on the presence of bacterial contaminations or the addition of minimal amounts of a cosubstrate, for example pyruvate or glycine.
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2.
There is a linear dependence of the amount of bacteria obtainable in the stationary phase on the amount of pyruvate which is present in the medium. After total consumption of pyruvate growth continues for ca. one cell generation and then ceases.
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3.
Uptake of 14C from formate by washed cells is increased in the presence of unlabelled pyruvate.
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4.
Even after growth in a mixture of labelled formate and unlabelled pyruvate, the specific radio-activity of the carbon in the bacterial protein reveals that two thirds of the carbon is derived from formate.
A possible explanation for these results may be seen in an anaplerotic pathway which in the presence of pyruvate generates a metabolite acting as a C1 acceptor.
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Höpner, T., Trautwein, A. Pseudomonas oxalaticus: Requirement of a cosubstrate for growth on formate. Archiv. Mikrobiol. 77, 26–35 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00407986
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00407986