BIOSYNTHESIS AND BIOSYNTHETIC PATHWAYS OF PENTOSES IN ESCHERICHIA COLI

Sable, Henry Z. (Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio) and Elayne E. Cassisi. Biosynthesis and biosynthetic pathways of pentoses in Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol. 84:1169-1172. 1962.-Resting glucose-adapted Escherichia coli supplied with glucose continues to synthesize pentose by the oxidative pathway characteristic of logarithmically growing glucose-adapted cells. This behavior is unlike that of acetate-adapted resting E. coli supplied with glucose, which continues to synthesize most of its pentose by the nonoxidative pathway characteristic of acetate-adapted cells. When infected with bacteriophage T2H, E. coli continues to use the oxidative pathway predominantly. This finding is in contrast to reports that infection with T6r+ bacteriophage increases the participation of a nonoxidative pathway. Resting glucose-adapted E. coli supplied with acetate-1-C(14) as sole carbon source synthesizes pentose by a pathway or pathways which cannot be assessed completely by methods previously developed (which are based on the relative labeling of C-1, C-2, and C-3 of the pentose) but which is most probably predominantly nonoxidative.