Metabolism of D-ribose1-C14 and C14-labeled d-gluconate in an enzyme system of the genus Propionibacterium.

Stjernholm, Rune L. (Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio) and Frank Flanders. Metabolism of d-ribose-1-C(14) and C(14)-labeled d-gluconate in an enzyme system of the genus Propionibacterium. J. Bacteriol. 84:563-568. 1962.-Ribose-1-C(14) and potassium gluconate labeled in different positions were incubated with cell-free extracts of Propionibacterium shermanii. The resulting propionate, acetate, and succinate were isolated and the C(14) distribution determined by degradation. It is proposed that the extensive randomization observed is caused by the conversion of the labeled substrates to fructose-6-phosphate via the transketolase-transaldolase sequence followed by the Embden-Meyerhof pathway, and that the triosephosphates produced by these metabolic routes are metabolized via pyruvate to succinate and propionate.