Carbohydrate Transport in Clostridium perfingens Type A

Abstract

Resting-cell suspensions of Clostridium perfringens actively transported glucose and mannose but not six other carbohydrates which would support at least limited growth of the microorganism. Competition studies suggested that glucose and mannose were transported by a common mechanism which was highly specific. Analyses of intracellular pools demonstrated that the accumulated carbohydrates were present as phosphorylated derivatives, not as free carbohydrates, and specificity data indicated that phosphorylation occurred at the transport level rather than via the soluble hexokinase.