THE UTILIZATION OF ETHANOL FOR BIOSYNTHESIS IN ESCHERICHIA COLI

Abstract

Radioactivity from 1-C14-ethanol was incorporated into the macromolecular components of Escherichia coli when this organism was grown on a synthetic glucose–salts medium. No significant incorporation was observed with mammalian tissues.Incorporation was greater in E. coli cells growing anaerobically than in non-growing or aerobically growing cells. The addition of sodium fumarate increased the incorporation in anaerobically growing cells approximately threefold.Over 90% of the incorporated radioactivity was found in the lipid and protein fractions of the cell, only a small amount being detectable in the nucleic acid fraction. The distribution of radioactivity among the various cell components was such that it appeared that ethanol was utilized by the same biosynthetic pathways as acetate. No evidence could be found to support the view that ethanol carbon was incorporated into deoxyribose of the deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) via acetaldehyde.