Waksman 



Actinomycetes 



of a volatile acid, apparently acetic. The volatile acid was believed to 

 be formed by the deamination of the glycine. Large amounts of am- 

 monia also were found to accumulate in the medium as a result of proc- 

 esses of deamination. On the basis of 162 mg of glycine deaminated, 

 the volatile acid, calculated as acetic, amounted to 10.3 per cent of the 

 glycine decomposed. 



Oxygen consumftion.—S. lavendulae oxidizes glucose and glycerol at 

 a very high rate, the oxygen uptake being, respectively, 60 and 45 per 

 cent of the theoretical. The incomplete oxidation is due to assimilation 

 of some of the products for cell svnthesis and to the formation of incom- 



Days 



Sftaken, 

 -Shztianaru 



Days 



Fig. 19.— Metabolic changes produced by S. antihioticus in aerated and stationary 

 cultures Qfrani Woodruff and Foster, 517). 



pletely oxidized products, such as lactic acid. When the organism is 

 allowed to starve for 1 to 2 days in a phosphate buffer solution and un- 

 der aerated conditions, autorespiration will proceed, at a reduced rate, 

 the cells utilizing the reserve cell materials. 



Deamination.— Washed cell material of S. lavendulae, grown under 

 submerged conditions, was shaken for 18 hours at 30° C. in media con- 

 taining different amino acids and M/30 phosphate buffer at pH 6.8, 

 and the relative deamination measured by ammonia formation. The 

 majority of the amino acids were deaminated under these conditions, 

 arginine and histidine being attacked most readily; (S-alanine was deam- 



