Effects of varying the carbon source limiting growth on yield and maintenance characteristics of Escherichia coli in continuous culture

Abstract

The magnitudes of Yo (grams [dry weight] formed per gram of atom O) and mo, the maintenance respiration (milligram-atoms of O per gram [dry weight] per hour), of Escherichia coli B have been determined by growing the organism in aerobic continuous culture limited by a number of different substrates. The value found were as follows: glucose--tyo = 12.5, mo = 0.9; glucose plus 2.7 mM cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP)--Yo = 31.2, mo = 9.3; galactose--Yo = 13.2, mo = 1.8; mannitol--Yo = 20.1, mo = 6.1; L-glutamate--Yo = 25.5, mo = 17.7; glycerol--Yo = 14.9, mo = 10.0; succinate--Yo = 11.2, mo = 12.1; and acetate--Yo = 14.7, mo = 25.4. During growth in anaerobic continuous culture with limiting glucose YATP was found to be 10.3 g (dry weight)/mol of adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) and m ATP was 18.9 mmol of ATP/g (dry weight) per h. The aerobic growth yields of cells growing on glucose, glucose plus cAMP, mannitol, and glutamate were consistent with the hypothesis that carbohydrates partially repress oxidative phosphorylation, but the yields of cells growing on glycerol, succinate, acetate, and galactose were all lower than expected. We conclude that, like the efficiency of oxidative phosphorylation, both the maintenance respiration and the amount of ATP necessary to serve maintenance processes are determined by the identity of the growth substrates. Yields smaller than expected may be explained by the absence of respiratory control exerted by phosphate acceptors.