THE OXYGEN CONSUMPTION ASSOCIATED WITH GROWTH IN ESCHERICHIA COLI AND THE EFFECT OF SULFATHIAZOLE AND OF n-PROPYL CARBAMATE ON IT

Abstract

1. The rate of oxygen consumption by E. coli has been observed both in the presence and absence of ammonia which substance is used by this organism in these experiments as the sole source of nitrogen for growth. 2. After the ammonia has been completely taken up in a culture of E. coli, the rate of oxygen consumption by the culture is observed to fall rapidly. It becomes relatively constant again at a rate approximately 45 per cent of that existing immediately prior to the exhaustion of the nitrogen source. It appears that the fixation of ammonia, that is, growth, requires approximately 55 per cent of the oxygen consumed by the growing cell. 3. Inhibition of the oxygen consumption which is associated with ammonia fixation, by both sulfathiazole (ST) and n-propyl carbamate (PC) closely parallels the inhibition of growth by these compounds (as measured by viable cell counts, etc.). 4. The concentrations of ST and PC which inhibit growth exert little or no inhibitory effect on the rate of oxygen consumption by cells after the rate has fallen to the resting value. 5. It is pointed out that the above observations would be adequately accounted for if growth depended on a discrete fraction of the total oxygen consumption of the growing cell. 6. It is noted that PC, but not ST, has a significant accelerating effect on the oxygen consumption of the resting cell; and that for a given inhibition of growth, PC produces less inhibition of the total oxygen consumption of the cells, than does ST. The latter of these two observations would follow from the former if the resting oxygen consumption were a discrete entity.