S-ADENOSYLMETHIONINE IN THE BIOSYNTHESIS OF BACTERIAL FATTY ACIDS.
O'Leary, William M. (Cornell University Medical College, New York, N.Y.). S-adenosylmethionine in the biosynthesis of bacterial fatty acids. J. Bacteriol. 84:967-972. 1962.-The fatty-acid contents of a wild strain of Aerobacter aerogenes and of three auxotrophic mutants were determined by the use of gas-liquid chromatography. All strains studied exhibited essentially identical fatty-acid spectra. This organism was shown to contain large amounts of a C(17) cyclopropane fatty acid, and it is suggested that it may be a convenient natural source of this compound. By use of the auxotrophic mutants which have varying requirements for exogenous sources of methionine and S-adenosylmethionine, it was shown by means of radioisotope tracer techniques that S-adenosylmethionine functions in this organism as a donor of a one-carbon unit that is used to form the ring structure in the biosynthesis of cyclopropane fatty acids.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Cornell University Medical College, New York, New York.
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