The Intermediary Metabolism of the Mycobacteria

The Effect of Rotation Aeration on the Growth of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis

“…In the case of tubercle bacilli, the first 24-hour growth period was not appreciably influenced by these carbon sources but in subsequent early stages of log phase growth, glucose was vigorously and completely oxidized. This is consistent with reports on the intensity of oxygen consumption of tubercle bacilli at different stages of growth when in the presence of glucose ; in the first stage of lag phase growth there is a rapid uptake of oxygen until the glucose disappears from the medium (16,30,31). In these experiments the intensity of respiration reached a maximum on the eight day of cultivation and in subsequent growth phases the oxygen uptake continued slightly.…”

“…Thus, the ability of a microbe to oxidize a compound can he correlated with its utilization for growth if metabolism is predominantly aerobic , although the rate of oxidation is by no means the only factor which decides the growth promoting quality of nutrient. Glycerol is the only polyhydric alcohol which increases oxygen uptake of tubercle bacilli and produces a distinct increase in cell numbers (27,16). It has been pointed out from experimental data that glycerol stimulated vigorously the growth at later stages of growth of aerated cultures when glycerol alone was added to the medium.…”

“…The detoxified form of Oleic Acid (its ester Tween 80)(1,2,3) exhibits two phases of activity, lipophilic properties supplied by the multiple oxygen containing group of the polyhydric alcohols and the ethylene oxide chains. It is well recognized that the oxygen uptake of Mycobacterium is stimulated in the presence of polyhydric alcohols (12,16,27).…”

The catabolism of ?-galactose and its derivatives by non-pathogenic Mycobacterium species

“…On the other hand, however, the growth of M. avium 'was found to be stimulated by galactose when incubated in liquid medium containing citrate and albumin [2]. Moreover, the respiration of resting cells of saprophytic mycobacteria also were observed to be stimulated by galactose [3].…”

A TAXONOMIC STUDY OF A SOIL COCCUS CAPABLE OF UTILIZING TWEEN 80 AS A SOLE SOURCE OF CARBON: MICROCOCCUS TWEENIS

“…However, it was felt that to work with the tubercle bacillus alone was inconvenient, because this organism grows very slowly and because its treatment would possibly be accompanied by some danger. Besides, the tubercle bacillus contains abundant endogeneous substrates which often make it difficult to analyse the results obtained (Edson, 1951) . Therefore, to overcome this difficult the use of another microorganism, which can utilize Tween 80 as a sole source of carbon, was necessary; such an organism was isolated from the soil.…”