Requirement of chelating compounds for the growth of Corynebacterium glutamicum in synthetic media

Summary The effects of various iron-complexing substances on the growth of Corynebacterium glutamicum in synthetic medium were investigated. The data obtained indicate that C. glutamicum has an absolute requirement for the presence of an iron-complexing compound as a growth factor for rapid and abundabnt growth in synthetic media. This requirement can be met by adding low concentrations (10^–5 M) of certain dihydroxyphenols (catechol, protocatechuate) or relatively high concentratuions (0.1%) of citrate to the medium or by autoclaving a small amount of glucose together with other media components. The addition of catechol or protocatechuate to synthetic media has advantages over media preparation with citrate or autoclaved glucose. In the described synthetic broth supplemented with catechol or protocatechuate growth is largely independent of the iron content of the medium in a range between 0.037 and 0.37 mM.Offprint requests to: W. Liebl