Abstract
Various bacteria, actinomycetes, and filamentous fungi decomposed methionine, but only certain aerobic bacteria isolated from soil decomposed it in the absence of other organic substrates. These bacteria could grow on methionine as the only organic substrate and source of nitrogen and sulfur. Methionine was first deaminated and then demethiolated with production of methanethiol, part of which was oxidized to dimethyl disulfide. The amount of methanethiol that was oxidized varied with different cultures. A bacterial culture initially unable to grow on methionine developed capacity to do this in a medium which contained methionine and other growth substrates. The two sulfur products, methanethiol and dimethyl disulfide, are volatile and escaped from the media, resulting in a decrease in the sulfur content proportional to the amount of methionine decomposed.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- FUCHS A. R., BONDE G. J. The availability of sulphur for Clostridium perfringens and an examination of hydrogen sulphide production. J Gen Microbiol. 1957 Apr;16(2):330–340. doi: 10.1099/00221287-16-2-330. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- MITSUHASHI S. Decomposition of thioether derivatives by bacteria; methylmercaptan formation and the properties of the responsible enzyme. Jpn J Exp Med. 1949 Sep;20(2):211–222. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ruiz-Herrera J., Starkey R. L. Descomposición de la metionina por una enzima de Aspergillus sp. Rev Latinoam Microbiol Parasitol (Mex) 1968 Jan-Mar;10(1):34–41. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- WIESENDANGER S., NISMAN B. La Lméthionine démercapto-désaminase: un nouvel enzyme à pyridoxal-phosphate. C R Hebd Seances Acad Sci. 1953 Oct 5;237(14):764–765. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]