title: Cytoplasmic reserve polysaccharide of Selenomonas ruminantium.
abstract: Selenomonas ruminantium accumulated large quantities of intracellular polysaccharide when grown in simple defined medium in a chemostat, particularly at low dilution rate under NH3 limitation when the carbohydrate content of the cells was greater than 40% of the dry weight. This polysaccharide was used as a source of energy under conditions of energy starvation. Abundant, densely staining cytoplasmic granules were observed by electron microscopy in sections stained by the periodic acid-thiocarbohydrazide-osmium technique. The polysaccharide was extracted in 30% KOH followed by precipitation with 60% ethanol and was found to be a glucose homopolymer. Sepharose 4B gel filtration and iodine-complex spectroscopy showed that the polysaccharide was of the glycogen type with a molecular weight of 5 X 10(5) to greater than 20 X 10(5) and an average chain length of 12 glucose residues.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D003594:Cytoplasmic Granules / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006003:Glycogen / Q000032:analysis; D008970:Molecular Weight; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D012417:Rumen / Q000382:microbiology; D012756:Sheep / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial; D006003:Glycogen