Studies on Sorbic Acid

Sorbate inhibited the growth of baker’s yeast at the logarithmic and stationary phases and its inhibition showed the Type II mode proposed by Tamiya et al.

Microscopic observation of the yeast cells during growth demonstrated that the sorbate inhibition was fungistatic, but not fungicidal. The respiration of the yeast was mano-metrically determined and the mechanism of the inhibition was suggested that sorbate would competitively combine with coenzyme A and acetate and would consequently inhibit the enzyme reaction relating coenzyme A. In addition, it was clarified that sorbyl-coenzyme A was also determined by the method of the enzymatic acetylation of sulfanilamide. This would suggest that the sorbyl moiety might be transferred to 4-amino radical of sulfanilamide enzymatically as well as in the case of acetyl-coenzyme A.