title: Evolutionary significance of the system utilizing D-amino acid enantiomers.
abstract: The evolutionary significance of the system utilizing D-amino acid enantiomers in living organisms is discussed, based on an experiment in which the mutant from Escherichia coli K--12 4627 grown on D-tryptophan was used. The mutant shows the ability of D-tryptophan is degraded to indol which can be utilized for the synthesis of L-tryptophan in the presence of serine.
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism*; D013237:Stereoisomerism
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids