Feb. 1,1925 
Decomposition of Proteins and Amino Acids 
271 
that this organism is capable of 
utilizing both the carbon and nitrogen 
of the particular amino acid. 
Nawiasky (18) also found that B. 
proteus was capable of decomposing 
phenylalanine, with the liberation of 
28.09 per cent of the nitrogen as am¬ 
monia, in 6 days. Among the products 
resulting from the decomposition of 
the phenylalanine, benzoic acid, phenyl- 
acetic acid, phenylpropionic acid, and 
phenyl-ethylamine were demonstrated, 
all benzol-ring compounds. 
Blanchetiere (2), however, found that 
Bad. fluorescens liquefaciens trans¬ 
formed only 6.4 per cent of the nitrogen 
of phenylalanine into ammonia, in 7 
days, and 60.7 per cent in 43 days. 
Since no phenol or benzoic acid could be 
demonstrated in the medium, Blanche- 
ti&re concluded that the organism is 
capable of breaking down the benzol 
ring. 
DECOMPOSITION OF GLUTAMIC ACID 
The chemical formula for glutamic 
acid is HOOC.CH 2 .CH 2 .CH(NH 2 ) 
COOH. This amino acid therefore con¬ 
tains 9.52 per cent nitrogen and 40.8 
per cent of carbon, 4.28 being the ratio 
between the carbon and the nitrogen. 
The content of amino acid actually 
found in the solution (Table IV) was 
lower than the theoretical amount. 
This is probably owing to the small 
amount of HC1 present as an impurity. 
The Zygorhynchus decomposed 67 per 
cent of the amino acid, in the absence 
of dextrose, in 10 days, and the 
Trichoderma 63 per cent in 7 days; 
about half of the nitrogen was liber¬ 
ated as ammonia, about one quarter 
of the nitrogen was reassimilated by 
the organisms, and about a quarter of 
the nitrogen was present in solution 
in some different form. It has either 
been changed into another nitrogen 
compound, nonamino in nature, or it 
is a result of autolysis, which leads to 
a decrease in the nitrogen content of 
the mycelium and an increase of the 
organic and ammonia nitrogen in solu¬ 
tion; the organic nitrogen secreted con¬ 
sists of various amino acids and hexone 
and purin bases, as shown by Heed 
(21) for Glomerella. It is probable 
that the discrepancy between the total 
nitrogen in solution and the sum of 
amino and ammonia nitrogen is due 
largely to the formation of other nitrog¬ 
enous substances. This is brought 
out by the fact that discrepancies be¬ 
tween the total nitrogen in solution 
and that accounted for by the residual 
amino acid and ammonia were often 
observed in the case of other amino 
acids. None seemed to show so large 
a difference as that found in the case 
of the glutamic acid. 
The synthesis of mycelium was also 
much more extensive with this amino 
Table IV .—The chemistry of decomposition of 1 per cent glutamic acid by micro¬ 
organisms , in the presence and absence of dextrose 
Organism 
used 
Dex¬ 
trose 
Age 
of 
cul¬ 
ture 
Total N in 
100 c. c. 
NH 2 —in 
100 c. c. 
NHa-N 
in 100 
c. c. 
Dextrose in 
100 c. c. 
Dry growth 
pH 
Found 
De¬ 
crease 
from 
con¬ 
trol 
Found 
De¬ 
crease 
from 
con¬ 
trol 
Found 
Util¬ 
ized 
Weight 
Ni¬ 
tro¬ 
gen 
con¬ 
tent 
Per 
cent 
Days 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Control. 
None. 
89.12 
89.02 
Tr. 
f 3.0 
Do. 
2 
89.12 
86.32 
Tr. 
1,815 
l*(6.3) 
/ 3.0 
Zygorhyn¬ 
\°(6.3) 
chus. 
None. 
10 
75.96 
13.16 
29.44 
59.58 
25.4 
204 
13.65 
5.7 
Do_ 
2 
10 
46.84 
42.28 
12.08 
74.24 
18.3 
0 
1,815 
853 
40.18 
4.5 
Trichoderma. 
None. 
7 
67.97 
21.15 
32.88 
56.14 
29.12 
218 
14.28 
7.6 
Do. 
2 
7 
58. 75 
30.37 
47.26 
39.06 
5.48 
460 
1,355 
545 
29.12 
3.4 
Actinomyces. 
None. 
13 
70.80 
18.32 
6.28 
82.74 
28.36 
169 
13.44 
9.5 
Do. 
2 
13 
50.02 
39.10 
3.54 
82.78 
12.34 
525 
1,290 
488 
39.20 
9.0 
B. cerp.ns 
None. 
15 
64.68 
24.34 
5.16 
8.8 
Do. 
2 
15 
68.04 
18.28 
2.38 
1,640 
175 
4.9 
Bact. fluores¬ 
cens.. 
None. 
5 
15.43 
73.59 
28.50 
128 
12.02 
9.1 
Do. 
2 
5 
14.88 
71.44 
6.10 
705 
1,110 
328 
32.88 
8.3 
« Control for Actinomyces , B. cereus, and Bad. fluorescens. 
