Citrate Cycle and Related Metabolism of Listeria monocytogenes

The growth response of Listeria monocytogenes strains A4413 and 9037-7 to carbohydrates was determined in a defined medium. Neither pyruvate, acetate, citrate, isocitrate, alpha-ketoglutarate, succinate, fumarate, nor malate supported growth. Furthermore, inclusion of any of these carbohydrates in the growth medium with glucose did not increase the growth of Listeria over that observed on glucose alone. Resting cell suspensions of strain A4413 oxidized pyruvate but not acetate, citrate, isocitrate, alpha-ketoglutarate, succinate, fumarate, or malate. Cell-free extracts of strain A4413 contained active citrate synthase, aconitate hydratase, isocitrate dehydrogenase, malate dehydrogenase, fumarate hydratase, fumarate reductase, pyruvate dehydrogenase system, and oxidases for reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate. The alpha-ketoglutarate oxidation system, succinate dehydrogenase, isocitrate lyase, and malate synthase were not detected. Cytochromes were not detected. The data suggest that strain A4413, under these conditions, utilizes a split noncyclic citrate pathway which has an oxidative portion (citrate synthase, aconitate hydratase, and isocitrate dehydrogenase) and a reductive portion (malate dehydrogenase, fumarate hydratase, and fumarate reductase). This pathway is probably important in biosynthesis but not for a net gain in energy.     

Organic acid metabolism in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum

Summary Citrate synthase (EC 4.1.3.7), aconitate hydratase (EC 4.2.1.3), NADP specific isocitrate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.42), fumarate hydratase (EC 4.2.1.2) and malate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.37) were detected in cell-free preparations of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) D By. grown on liquid glucose-salts medium in stationary culture. Isocitrate lyase (EC 4.1.3.1) was present when the fungus grew on a carbohydrate-free medium but was not detected when the cultures grew on the glucose-salts medium. The amount of oxalate in the culture filtrate declined as the specific activity of citrate synthase and malate dehydrogenase in the mycelium declined. Increasing the initial pH of the medium resulted in an increase of the dicarboxylic acids in the culture filtrate and the specific activity of malate dehydrogenase in the mycelium. The specific reaction(s) leading to oxalic acid formation were not identified.     

The kinetics of enzyme changes in yeast under conditions that cause the loss of mitochondria

1. Aerobically grown yeast having a high activity of glyoxylate-cycle, citric acid-cycle and electron-transport enzymes was transferred to a medium containing 10% glucose. After a lag phase of 30min. the yeast grew exponentially with a mean generation time of 94min. 2. The enzymes malate dehydrogenase, isocitrate lyase, succinate–cytochrome c oxidoreductase and NADH–cytochrome c oxidoreductase lost 45%, 17%, 27% and 46% of their activity respectively during the lag phase. 3. When growth commenced pyruvate kinase, pyruvate decarboxylase, alcohol dehydrogenase, glutamate dehydrogenase (NADP⁺-linked) and NADPH–cytochrome c oxidoreductase increased in activity, whereas aconitase, isocitrate dehydrogenase (NAD⁺- and NADP⁺-linked), α-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase, fumarase, malate dehydrogenase, succinate–cytochrome c oxidoreductase, NADH–cytochrome c oxidoreductase, NADH oxidase, NADPH oxidase, cytochrome c oxidase, glutamate dehydrogenase (NAD⁺-linked), glutamate–oxaloacetate transaminase, isocitrate lyase and glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase decreased. 4. During the early stages of growth the loss of activity of aconitase, α-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase, fumarase and glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase could be accounted for by dilution by cell division. The lower rate of loss of activity of isocitrate dehydrogenase (NAD⁺- and NADP⁺-linked), glutamate dehydrogenase (NAD⁺-linked), glutamate–oxaloacetate transaminase, NADPH oxidase and cytochrome c oxidase implies their continued synthesis, whereas the higher rate of loss of activity of malate dehydrogenase, isocitrate lyase, succinate–cytochrome c oxidoreductase, NADH–cytochrome c oxidoreductase and NADH oxidase means that these enzymes were actively removed. 5. The mechanisms of selective removal of enzyme activity and the control of the residual metabolic pathways are discussed.     

Regulation of biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. I. Biosynthesis of chlortetracycline and tricarboxylic acid cycle activity

In the course of submerged cultivation of low-production and industrial production strains of Streptomyces aureofaciens, the activity of enzymes of the tricurboxylic acid cycle was studied. The activities of citrate synthase (EC 4.1.3.7), aconitate hydratase (EC 4.2.1.3), isocitrate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.42), fumarate hydratase (EC 4.2.1.2), and malate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.37) were estimated spectrophotometrically in cell-free preparations. In the growth phase, mainly the initial reactions of the cycle were active with both strains. In production-phase, the activities of enzymes in the low-production strain were 2–5 × higher than in the production strain. Benzylthioeyanate, at a concentration of 5 × l0^?5M, stimulated chlortetracycline production of both strains with accompanying decrease in activity of the enzymes of the tricarboxylic acid cycle. The role of the tricarboxylic acid cycle in control of chlortetracycline biosynthesis is discussed.     

Intracellular localization of enzymes in white-adipose-tissue fat-cells and permeability properties of fat-cell mitochondria. Transfer of acetyl units and reducing power between mitochondria and cytoplasm

1. A method is described for extracting separately mitochondrial and extramitochondrial enzymes from fat-cells prepared by collagenase digestion from rat epididymal fat-pads. The following distribution of enzymes has been observed (with the total activities of the enzymes as units/mg of fat-cell DNA at 25 degrees C given in parenthesis). Exclusively mitochondrial enzymes: glutamate dehydrogenase (1.8), NAD-isocitrate dehydrogenase (0.5), citrate synthase (5.2), pyruvate carboxylase (3.0); exclusively extramitochondrial enzymes: glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (5.8), 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (5.2), NADP-malate dehydrogenase (11.0), ATP-citrate lyase (5.1); enzymes present in both mitochondrial and extramitochondrial compartments: NADP-isocitrate dehydrogenase (3.7), NAD-malate dehydrogenase (330), aconitate hydratase (1.1), carnitine acetyltransferase (0.4), acetyl-CoA synthetase (1.0), aspartate aminotransferase (1.7), alanine aminotransferase (6.1). The mean DNA content of eight preparations of fat-cells was 109mug/g dry weight of cells. 2. Mitochondria showing respiratory control ratios of 3-6 with pyruvate, about 3 with succinate and P/O ratios of approaching 3 and 2 respectively have been isolated from fat-cells. From studies of rates of oxygen uptake and of swelling in iso-osmotic solutions of ammonium salts, it is concluded that fat-cell mitochondria are permeable to the monocarboxylic acids, pyruvate and acetate; that in the presence of phosphate they are permeable to malate and succinate and to a lesser extent oxaloacetate but not fumarate; and that in the presence of both malate and phosphate they are permeable to citrate, isocitrate and 2-oxoglutarate. In addition, isolated fat-cell mitochondria have been found to oxidize acetyl l-carnitine and, slowly, l-glycerol 3-phosphate. 3. It is concluded that the major means of transport of acetyl units into the cytoplasm for fatty acid synthesis is as citrate. Extensive transport as glutamate, 2-oxoglutarate and isocitrate, as acetate and as acetyl l-carnitine appears to be ruled out by the low activities of mitochondrial aconitate hydratase, mitochondrial acetyl-CoA hydrolyase and carnitine acetyltransferase respectively. Pathways whereby oxaloacetate generated in the cytoplasm during fatty acid synthesis by ATP-citrate lyase may be returned to mitochondria for further citrate synthesis are discussed. 4. It is also concluded that fat-cells contain pathways that will allow the excess of reducing power formed in the cytoplasm when adipose tissue is incubated in glucose and insulin to be transferred to mitochondria as l-glycerol 3-phosphate or malate. When adipose tissue is incubated in pyruvate alone, reducing power for fatty acid, l-glycerol 3-phosphate and lactate formation may be transferred to the cytoplasm as citrate and malate.     

Oxalate accumulation from citrate by Aspergillus niger. II. Involvement of the tricarboxylic acid cyclase.

Carbon-14 was incorporated into oxalate and CO2 from either citrate-1,5-14C, succinate-1,4-14C, or fumarate-1,4-14C by cultures of Aspergillus niger pregrown on a medium which contained glucose as the sole carbon source and which did not allow citrate accumulation. In cell-free extracts of mycelium forming oxalate and CO2 from added citrate the following enzymes of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle were identified: citrate synthase CE 4.1.3.7), aconitate hydratase (EC4.2.1.3), NAD and NADP-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.41, 1.1.1.42), (alpha-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.4.2), succinate dehydrogenase (EC 1.3.99.1), fumarate hydratase (EC 4.2.1.2), and malate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.37). The in vitro activity of aconitate hydratase and of NADP-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase was shown to be almost identical to the rate of in vivo degradation of citrate or to exceed this rate. The degradation of citrate to oxalate was inhibited completely by 9 mM fluoroacetate. It is concluded that the TCA cycle is involved in the formation of oxalate from citrate.     

Regulation of Enzyme Synthesis of the Glyoxylate,the Citric Acid,and the Methylcitric Acid Cycles in Candida lipolytica

Syntheses of the key enzymes of the glyoxylate cycle, in Candida lipolytica, were highly repressed by glucose. Syntheses of the key enzymes of the methylcitric acid cycle were also slightly repressed by glucose but the degrees of repression in the syntheses of these enzymes were nearly equal to those of repression in the syntheses of several enzymes of the citric acid cycle. All enzyme syntheses repressed by glucose were derepressed during incubation with succinate as well as with n-alkanes: enzyme syntheses of the methylcitric acid cycle did not necessitate the addition of propionate or odd-carbon n-alkanes. The enzymes of the methylcitric acid cycle seem to be constitutive, similarly as those of the citric acid cycle.

In the parent strain, the respective enzyme levels of the cells grown on an odd-numbered n-alkane were similar to those of the cells grown on an even-numbered n-alkane. But in the mutant strain lacking 2-methylisocitrate lyase, the cells grown on the odd-numbered alkane contained aconitate hydratase, NADP-Iinked isocitrate dehydrogenase, isocitrate lyase, 2- methylcitrate synthase and 2-methylaconitate hydratase all at higher levels than the cells grown on the even-numbered alkane. Both the parent cells and the mutant cells grown on the same carbon source contained at individually similar levels of the following six enzymes; citrate synthase, NAD-linked isocitrate dehydrogenase, succinate dehydrogenase, fumarate hydratase, malate dehydrogenase, and malate synthase. The pleiotropic changes of enzyme activities in the mutant cells grown on the odd-numbered alkane seem to be ascribable to direct or indirect stimulation caused by threo-d_s-2-methylisocitric acid accumulation.     

Kinetics and regulation of hepatoma mitochondrial NAD(P) malic enzyme.

Kinetic studies of Morris 7777 hepatoma mitochondrial NAD(P) malic enzyme were consistent with an ordered mechanism where NAD adds to the enzyme before malate and dissociation of NADH from the enzyme is rate-limiting. In addition to its active site, malate apparently also associates with a lower affinity with an activator site. The activator fumarate competes with malate at the activator site and facilitates dissociation of NADH from the enzyme. The ratio of NAD(P) malic enzyme to malate dehydrogenase activity in the hepatoma mitochondrial extract was found to be too low, even in the presence of known inhibitors of malate dehydrogenase, to account for the known ability of NAD(P) malic enzyme to intercept exogenous malate from malate dehydrogenase in intact tumor mitochondria (Moreadith, R.W., and Lehninger, A.L. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 6215-6221). However, NAD(P) malic enzyme may be able to intercept exogenous malate because according to the present results, it can associate with the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, which could localize NAD(P) malic enzyme in the vicinity of the inner mitochondrial membrane. The activity levels of some key metabolic enzymes were found to be different in Morris 7777 mitochondria than in liver or mitochondria of other rapidly dividing tumors. These results are discussed in terms of differences among tumors in their ability to utilize malate, glutamate, and citrate as respiratory fuels.     

Effect of phthalonic acid on respiration and metabolite transport in higher plant mitochondria

Phthalonate was found to inhibit the following parameters in higher plant mitochondria; glutamate and isocitrate oxidation, swelling in ammonium citrate and glutamate (but not malate), citrate-isocitrate exchange, oxalacetate entry and efflux, and NAD-linked malic enzyme. Phthalonate had little effect on malate, NADH, or oxoglutarate oxidation, nor on malate, isocitrate, or glutamate dehydrogenases. The results indicate that phthalonate is an inhibitor of oxalacetate, glutamate, and citrate transport in plant mitochondria, but not of oxoglutarate or dicarboxylate transport.     

Some Characteristics of Central Metabolism in Acinetobacter sp. Grown on Ethanol

Ethanol-grown cells of the mutant Acinetobacter sp. strain 1NG, incapable of producing exopolysaccharides, were analyzed for the activity of enzymes of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and some biosynthetic pathways. In spite of the presence of both key enzymes (isocitrate lyase and malate synthase) of the glyoxylate cycle, these cells also contained all enzymes of the TCA cycle, which presumably serves biosynthetic functions. This was evident from the high activity of isocitrate dehydrogenase and glutamate dehydrogenase and the low activity of 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase. Pyruvate was formed in the reaction catalyzed by oxaloacetate decarboxylase, whereas phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) was synthesized by the two key enzymes (PEP carboxykinase and PEP synthase) of gluconeogenesis. The ratio of these enzymes was different in the exponential and the stationary growth phases. The addition of the C₄-dicarboxylic acid fumarate to the ethanol-containing growth medium led to a 1.5- to 2-fold increase in the activity of enzymes of the glyoxylate cycle, as well as of fumarate hydratase, malate dehydrogenase, PEP synthase, and PEP carboxykinase (the activity of the latter enzyme increased by more than 7.5 times). The data obtained can be used to improve the biotechnology of production of microbial exopolysaccharide ethapolan on C₂-substrates.     

A spectrophotometric coupled enzyme assay to measure the activity of succinate dehydrogenase

Respiratory complex II (succinate:ubiquinone oxidoreductase) connects the tricarboxylic acid cycle to the electron transport chain in mitochondria and many prokaryotes. Complex II mutations have been linked to neurodegenerative diseases and metabolic defects in cancer. However, there is no convenient stoichiometric assay for the catalytic activity of complex II. Here, we present a simple, quantitative, real-time method to detect the production of fumarate from succinate by complex II that is easy to implement and applicable to the isolated enzyme, membrane preparations, and tissue homogenates. Our assay uses fumarate hydratase to convert fumarate to malate and uses oxaloacetate decarboxylating malic dehydrogenase to convert malate to pyruvate and to convert NADP⁺ to NADPH; the NADPH is detected spectrometrically. Simple protocols for the high-yield production of the two enzymes required are described; oxaloacetate decarboxylating malic dehydrogenase is also suitable for accurate determination of the activity of fumarate hydratase. Unlike existing spectrometric assay methods for complex II that rely on artificial electron acceptors (e.g., 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol), our coupled assay is specific and stoichiometric (1:1 for succinate oxidation to NADPH formation), so it is suitable for comprehensive analyses of the catalysis and inhibition of succinate dehydrogenase activities in samples with both simple and complex compositions.     

Behaviour of some mitochondrial enzymes in ripening tomato fruit

The activities of four mitochondrial enzymes were studied in four stages of ripening tomato fruit. The highest enzyme activity was recorded for malate dehydrogenase followed by cytochrome c oxidase. Succinate dehydrogenase and NADH oxidase levels were low and could only be determined in the green stage of the fruit. However, peaks of various enzyme activities coincided in identical mitochondrial fractions on the sucrose density gradient. Moreover, the levels of malate dehydrogenase and cytochrome c oxidase were constant during the ripening process while the other two enzymes, succinate dehydrogenase and NADH oxidase, declined. This might indicate that mitochondria retain some of their essential functions through the ripening process.     

Changes of Some Mitochondrial Enzyme Activities of Cucumber Leaves during Ammonium Toxicity

The following enzyme activities were determined in the mitochondria of cucumber leaves (Cucumis sativus L. cv. Suisei No. 2) during ammonium toxicity: malate dehydrogenase, succinate dehydrogenase, glutamate dehydrogenase, cytochrome c oxidase, NADH diaphorase, NADH oxidase, succinate: cytochrome c oxidoreductase, NADH: cytochrome c oxidoreductase and adenosine triphosphatase. The activities of all enzymes except ATPase increased more or less during ammonium toxicity. Generally speaking the marked increase was found at 7 days treatment with 200 mg/1 NH₃-N. The adenosine triphosphatase activity of injured plants was lower than that of normal plants through treatment. The addition of various organic acids (15 mM) to the culture solution contaning 200 mg/1 NH₃-N (14.3 mM NH₄Cl) suppressed the ammonium toxicity. The accumulation of free ammonia in the leaves was also repressed by the addition of organic acids. The results of present and previous reports suggest that the increase of respiratory metabolism due to ammonium toxicity is required for the supply of organic acids, specially δ-ketoglutaric acid, to counteract ammonia. Uncoupling in mitochondria resulting in the increase of respiration does not seem to occur during ammonium toxicity.     

Malate Oxidation in Plant Mitochondria via Malic Enzyme and the Cyanide-insensitive Electron Transport Pathway

Malate oxidation in plant mitochondria proceeds through the activities of two enzymes: a malate dehydrogenase and a NAD⁺-dependent malic enzyme. In cauliflower, mitochondria malate oxidation via malate dehydrogenase is rotenone- and cyanide-sensitive. Addition of exogenous NAD⁺ stimulates the oxidation of malate via malic enzyme and generates an electron flux that is both rotenone- and cyanide-insensitive. The same effects of exogenous NAD⁺ are also observed with highly cyanide-sensitive mitochondria from white potato tubers or with mitochondria from spinach leaves. Both enzymes are located in the matrix, but some experimental data also suggest that part of malate dehydrogenase activity is also present outside the matrix compartment (adsorbed cytosolic malate dehydrogenase?). It is concluded that malic enzyme and a specific pool of NAD⁺/NADH are connected to the cyanide-insensitive alternative pathway by a specific rotenone-insensitive NADH dehydrogenase located on the inner face of the inner membrane. Similarly, malate dehydrogenase and another specific pool of NAD⁺/NADH are connected to the cyanide- (and antimycin-) sensitive pathway by a rotenone-sensitive NADH dehydrogenase located on the inner face of the inner membrane. A general scheme of electron transport in plant mitochondria for the oxidation of malate and NADH can be given, assuming that different pools of ubiquinone act as a branch point between various dehydrogenases, the cyanide-sensitive cytochrome pathway and the cyanide-insensitive alternative pathway.     

Catalytic Properties of Cytoplasmic and Mitochondrial Aconitate Hydratase from Rat Cardiomyocytes

Enzymatic activity of aconitate hydratase (aconitase, EC 4.2.1.3) from the rat heart is localized in the cytoplasm (65%) and mitochondria (35%). Cytoplasmic and mitochondrial forms of aconitate hydratase were separated by ion-exchange chromatography on CM-Cellulose and CM-Sephadex. The two forms have similar molecular weight, optimal pH range, and spectral properties; however, they have different chromatography properties, K _m for citrate and isocitrate, as well as sensitivity to Fe²⁺ ions.     

Intermediary carbohydrate metabolism in the adult filarial worm Setaria digitata.

Several key enzymes related to carbohydrate metabolism were assayed in Setaria digitata. In the cytosolic fraction pyruvate kinase, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, malate dehydrogenase, malic enzyme, aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase were found. Among the TCA cycle enzymes succinate dehydrogenase, fumarate reductase, fumarase (malate dehydration), malate dehydrogenase (malate oxidation and oxaloacetate reduction) and malic enzyme (malate decarboxylation) were detected in the mitochondrial fraction. Only reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) dehydrogenase, NADH oxidase and NADH-cytochrome c reductase were found in the mitochondrial fraction. The significance of these results with respect to the metabolic capabilities of the worm are discussed.     

Differential sensitivities to glucose and galactose repression of gluconeogenic and respiratory enzymes from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The synthesis of isocitrate lyase was induced by the presence of ethanol in the chemostat reaching a specific activity of 200 mU·mg^-1 at this induced state. In glucoselimited, derepressed cells, 20 mU·mg^-1 were detected and under repressed conditions isocitrate lyase activity was not detected.The sensitivity of gluconeogenic enzymes: cytoplasmic malate dehydrogenase; fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase and isocitrate lyase as well as the mitochondrial enzymes NADH dehydrogenase and succinate cytochrome c oxidase to glucose and galactose repression were studied in chemostat cultures. Our results show that galactose was less effective as a repressor than glucose. Malate dehydrogenase was completely inactivated by glucose, whereas galactose only produced a 78% decrease of specific activity. Fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase and isocitrate lyase were completely inactivated by both sugars but at different rate. Glucose produced an 85% decrease of specific activity of the mitochondrial enzymes whereas galactose only decrease an 67%.     

Carbohydrate energy metabolism in Fasciola gigantica (trematoda)

Umezurike G. M. and Anya A. O. 1980. Carbohydrate energy metabolism in Fasciola gigantica (Trematoda). International Journal for Parasitology10: 175–180. Adult Fasciola gigantica contained 4.49 ± 0.06 % (mean ± S.D.) wet weight glycogen. Tissue homogenates contained high levels of malate dehydrogenase (MDH), NAD-linked malic enzyme (ME), Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). MDH, PEPCK and ME activities appeared to be localized in both cytosolic and mitoehondrial fractions, fumarase activity appeared to be predominantly mitochondrial whereas LDH and pyruvate kinase activities were cytosolic in distribution. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed the predominance of LDH-1, LDH-2 and LDH-3 but only traces of LDH-4 and LDH-5 isoenzymes in the crude cytosolic fraction. LDH activity in the crude sample was inhibited by excess substrate (pyruvate). The mitoehondrial system showed NADH -cytochrome c oxidoreductase, succinate-cytochrome c oxidoreductase, NADH oxidase and some cytochrome c-oxygen oxidoreductase activities. Under anaerobic conditions, NADH-fumarate oxidoreductase and succinate-NAD + oxidoreductase activities of mitoehondrial preparations were stimulated in the presence of ADP and ATP respectively. Isolated mitochondria contained rhodoquinone and no ubiquinone, and isolated rhodoquinone was readily reduced by succinate in the presence of submitochondrial particles. Hydrogen peroxide was produced by submitochondrial particles in the presence or absence of KCN or in the presence of fumarate.     

Disequilibrium in the malate dehydrogenase reaction in rat liver mitochondria in vivo

1. When [2-(14)C]pyruvate is injected into rats the C3-position of liver glutamate becomes more heavily labelled than the C2-position, thus establishing that oxaloacetate and fumarate are not in equilibrium in rat liver mitochondria in vivo. The amount of disequilibrium was shown to be simply related to the value that the C3-label/C2-label ratio would have were no label recycled. This ratio, z, was calculated for post-absorptive rats in environmental temperatures of 20 degrees and 30 degrees C from determinations of the distribution of label within glutamate 1, 3 and 10min after intravenous injection of [2-(14)C]pyruvate. The values of z (best estimate and range) were 1.65 (1.60-1.69) in rats at 20 degrees C and 2.43 (2.23-2.63) in rats at 30 degrees C. These values of z imply the following rates of interconversion in mitochondria of fumarate and oxaloacetate (in terms of the oxaloacetate-->citrate flux, R) in rats at 20 degrees C: [Formula: see text] and in rats at 30 degrees C: [Formula: see text] 2. The kinetic parameters of malate dehydrogenase and fumarate hydratase and the intramitochondrial concentrations of NAD(+) and NADH under (as far as could be judged) conditions in vivo were collated. From them and the best estimates of R now available were calculated the rates of interconversion of fumarate, malate and oxaloacetate required to give the found values of z. These rates showed that the fumarate hydratase reaction was nearly in equilibrium, but that the malate dehydrogenase reaction was considerably out of equilibrium. The calculations also led to the following conclusions. 3. In livers of rats at 20 degrees and 30 degrees C mitochondrial malate concentrations were respectively about 5 and 1.5 times mean cellular concentrations. 4. Mitochondrial oxaloacetate concentrations were less than 0.2 of the mean cellular concentrations. They were also only 0.65 and 0.55 of the equilibrium concentrations for the malate dehydrogenase reaction in rats at 20 degrees and 30 degrees C respectively. 5. Malate dehydrogenase activity was low because of the very low oxaloacetate concentrations in the mitochondria and the very small fraction of the enzyme complexed with NAD(+), i.e. in each direction one substrate concentration was very sub-optimal.     

RESPIRATION AND PROTEIN SYNTHESIS IN ESCHERICHIA COLI MEMBRANE-ENVELOPE FRAGMENTS : I. Oxidative Activities with Soluble Substrates

This paper describes experiments conducted with membranous and soluble fractions obtained from Escherichia coli that had been grown on succinate, malate, or enriched glucose media. Oxidase and dehydrogenase activities were studied with the following substrates: nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, reduced form (NADH), nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate, reduced form (NADPH), succinate, malate, isocitrate, glutamate, pyruvate, and α-ketoglutarate. Respiration was virtually insensitive to poisons that are commonly used to inhibit mitochondrial systems, namely, rotenone, antimycin, and azide. Succinate dehydrogenase and NADH, NADPH, and succinate oxidases were primarily membrane-bound whereas malate, isocitrate, and NADH dehydrogenases were predominantly soluble. It was observed that E. coli malate dehydrogenase could be assayed with the dye 2,6-dichlorophenol indophenol, but that porcine malate dehydrogenase activity could not be assayed, even in the presence of E. coli extracts. The characteristics of E. coli NADH dehydrogenase were shown to be markedly different from those of a mammalian enzyme. The enzyme activities for oxidation of Krebs cycle intermediates (malate, succinate, isocitrate) did not appear to be under coordinate genetic control.