Escherichia coli can grow aerobically in defined media containing inorganic salts and any one of a wide range of carbon compounds. Whatever the nature of the carbon source. it is fed into the amphibolic pathways [glycolysis, pentose phosphate pathway, Krebs (tricarboxylic acid) cyclel, from which stem all the biosynthetic pathways required for making the components of new cell material. The ope...

Oxidative cleavage of cycloalkene-1-carboxylates, made from the corresponding carboxylic acids, and subsequent oxidation of the resulting ketoaldehyde afforded the important 1-monoesters of 2-ketoalkanedioic acids. Thus ozonolysis of octyl cyclobutene-1-carboxylate followed by sodium chlorite oxidation afforded the 1-monooctyl 2-ketoglutarate. This is a cell-permeable prodrug form of α-ketoglut...

In an earlier investigation it was shown that enzymatic oxidation of octanoate occurred in saline suspensions of washed particulate matter separated from saline homogenates of rat liver by centrifugation, when these were supplemented with adenosine triphosphate and Mg++.l These preparations also catalyze the reactions of the Krebs tricarboxylic acid cycle. Further study of the properties of the...

Streptomyces niveus in a chemically defined medium requires the inclusion of Krebs cycle acids for good growth. These acids are used in preference to glucose, and this results in diauxic growth. Studies with washed cells, cell-free extracts, and mutants of S. niveus were performed to determine the mode of synthesis of the individual ring systems of novobiocin and their linkage. A pathway for no...