Carbohydrate metabolism in the mosquito pathogen Bacillus sphaericus 2362

Bacillus sphaericus 2362 is pathogenic for mosquito larvae and is being considered for large-scale production as a larvicide. The inability of the bacteria to metabolize carbohydrates requires that they be grown on proteinaceous media. This bacterium was found to be unable to transport glucose or sucrose into the cell, and it lacked glucokinase and hexokinase activity. In addition, it lacked phosphoglucose isomerase, phosphofructokinase, and glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, which are early enzymes of the Embden-Myerhof-Parnas and hexose monophosphate pathways. The presence of other enzymes in these pathways was indicated by assay, by the metabolism of glycerol to acetate, and by growth on acetate and gluconate as sole carbon sources. Critical enzymes of the Entner-Doudoroff pathway were also shown to be absent.