Glucose metabolism in the extreme thermoacidophilic archaebacterium Sulfolobus solfataricus.
Sulfolobus solfataricus is a thermophilic archaebacterium able to grow at 87 degrees C and pH 3.5 on glucose as sole carbon source. The organism metabolizes glucose by two main routes. The first route involves an ATP-dependent phosphorylation to give glucose 6-phosphate, which readily isomerizes to fructose 6-phosphate. In the second route, glucose is converted into gluconate by an NAD+-dependent dehydrogenation; gluconate is then dehydrated to 2-keto-3-deoxygluconate, which, in turn, is cleaved to pyruvate and glyceraldehyde. Each metabolic step has been tested in vitro at 70 degrees C on dialysed homogenates or partially purified fractions; minimal requirements of single enzymes have been evaluated. Identification of the intermediates is based on chromatographic, spectroscopic and/or synthetic evidence and on specific enzymic assays. The oxidative breakdown of glucose to pyruvate occurring in S. solfataricus differs from the Entner-Doudoroff pattern in that there is an absence of any phosphorylation step.
D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000494:pharmacology; D001105:Archaea / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D005942:Gluconates / Q000378:metabolism; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D009243:NAD / Q000494:pharmacology; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011773:Pyruvates / Q000378:metabolism; D013696:Temperature
D005942:Gluconates; D011773:Pyruvates; D009243:NAD; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D005947:Glucose