Arginine Metabolism in Halobacterium salinarium , an Obligately Halophilic Bacterium

Abstract

Dundas, Ian E. D. (University of Illinois, Urbana), and H. Orin Halvorson . Arginine metabolism in Halobacterium salinarium , an obligately halophilic bacterium. J. Bacteriol. 91: 113–119. 1966.—Arginine was shown to be essential for growth of Halobacterium salinarium strain 1 in a chemically defined medium. Citrulline was the only compound which could substitute for arginine without affecting growth. Resting cells of H. salinarium converted arginine to citrulline and citrulline to ornithine. Cells grown in an arginine-free medium with C 14 -ureido-labeled citrulline incorporated the isotope mainly into the arginine of their proteins. The enzymes arginine desimidase and ornithine transcarbamylase were found and studied in cell-free extracts of H. salinarium . Experiments indicated that arginine was degraded in H. salinarium by arginine desimidase to citrulline, and that citrulline was further degraded by ornithine transcarbamylase to carbamyl phosphate and ornithine. Synthesis of arginine from citrulline seems to occur via the formation of argininosuccinic acid.