The Occurrence of Peroxide in Cultures of Pneumococcus

Abstract

McLeod and Govenlock (1) in 1921 reported the occurrence in pneumococcus cultures of a heat-labile substance which was inhibitory to the further growth of this and other organisms. The name bactericidin was first suggested by these authors. Further work by McLeod and Gordon (2,3) indicates that this substance is hydrogen peroxide, and that it may occur in cultures of organisms other than pneumococcus, as Bacillus bulgaricus, Bacillus acidophilus, and certain coccal and sarcinal forms. In a recent communication (4) these authors present a scheme of classification of bacteria based upon their properties of catalase production and sensitiveness to hydrogen peroxide.The growth-inhibitory substance of bacterial origin was found by the English investigators to be sensitive to the action of heat (85 0 C.), and of catalase; the gas evolved on adding catalase to a culture concentrate proved to be oxygen. From these and other chemical reactions they conclude that this unstable bactericidal product of growth which develops particularly in cultures of pneumococcus, is hydrogen peroxide rather than some organic peroxide. It does not occur in cultures deprived of oxygen or in those which contain abundant catalase. McLeod and Gordon further ascribe to the action of this substance the changes in blood pigment effected by growth of pneumococcus. They conclude that the early death of pneumococci in cultures is usually due to the accumulation of an excess of hydrogen peroxide.The present studies on bacterial peroxide, reported in this and subsequent papers, deal with the occurrence of this substance in cultures of pneumococci, its effect upon bacterial growth, and its relation to other phenomena of cell activity. The present paper is concerned with (1) the factors influencing the occurrence of peroxide in cultures of pneumococcus, (2) factors influencing the stability of 275 on

Concerted Action of Lactate Oxidase and Pyruvate Oxidase in Aerobic Growth of Streptococcus pneumoniae : Role of Lactate as an Energy Source

“…Under aerobic conditions, cultures of S. pneumoniae strains are known to accumulate unusually high concentrations of H 2 O 2 , which necessitates the addition of catalase to the medium for full growth (2,19). We confirmed that S. pneumoniae strain GTC13809, a serotype 19 clinical isolate used throughout the present work, behaved as a typical wild type in this respect (Fig.…”

“…Under aerobiosis, however, pyruvate is also known to be converted to acetate, with acetyl phosphate being the intermediate capable of phosphorylating ADP to yield ATP by the action of acetate kinase (30). The H 2 O 2 -forming flavoprotein pyruvate oxidase (EC 1.2.3.3, the product of the spxB gene), which catalyzes the formation of acetyl phosphate, CO 2 and H 2 O 2 from pyruvate, orthophosphate, and O 2 , has been shown to be involved in this pathway and also to account for most of the H 2 O 2 produced by aerobically growing S. pneumoniae cells (23,30). Massive production of H 2 O 2 has been a well-known hallmark of this bacterium since the time of Oswald Avery (2,19), usually necessitating the addition of catalase to the culture medium to obtain full growth under aerobic conditions.…”

“…The H 2 O 2 -forming flavoprotein pyruvate oxidase (EC 1.2.3.3, the product of the spxB gene), which catalyzes the formation of acetyl phosphate, CO 2 and H 2 O 2 from pyruvate, orthophosphate, and O 2 , has been shown to be involved in this pathway and also to account for most of the H 2 O 2 produced by aerobically growing S. pneumoniae cells (23,30). Massive production of H 2 O 2 has been a well-known hallmark of this bacterium since the time of Oswald Avery (2,19), usually necessitating the addition of catalase to the culture medium to obtain full growth under aerobic conditions. S. pneumoniae possesses another H 2 O 2 -forming flavoprotein, L-lactate oxidase (the product of the lox gene; formerly EC 1.1.3.2 but now sharing the EC number 1.13.12.4 with lactate monooxigenase) catalyzing the formation of pyruvate and H 2 O 2 from L-lactate and O 2 .…”

Pneumococcal pneumolysin and H2O2 mediate brain cell apoptosis during meningitis

“…H 2 O 2 rapidly diffuses through eukaryotic cell membranes to damage intracellular targets (e.g., mitochondria and DNA) (15,45) and to trigger apoptosis. Pneumococcus is the only meningeal pathogen that lacks catalase and therefore produces excessive amounts of H 2 O 2 (14,46). Pneumococcal-derived H 2 O 2 appears to be an additional bacterial factor contributing to increases of intracellular ROS and Ca 2+ and release of AIF.…”

Cross‐protection from hydrogen peroxide by helper microbes: the impacts on the cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus and other beneficiaries in marine communities

“…Biological production of extracellular HOOH has been known since the 1920s, from the work of several researchers (including Oswald Avery, decades before his ground-breaking work identifying DNA as the genetic material) (McLeod and Gordon, 1922;Avery and Morgan, 1924). In the ocean, microbial cells are significant sources of net HOOH, both at the surface, where it can rival photochemically produced O 2 2 (Moffett and Zajiriou, 1990;Avery et al, 2005;Vermilyea et al, 2010;Roe et al, 2016), and below the euphotic zone (200-50001 m), where it's thought to be the dominant source of the low (1-10 nM) but detectable HOOH concentrations (Yuan and Shiller, 2004;Vermilyea et al, 2010).…”