SPORE GERMINATION AND CARBON METABOLISM IN FUSARIUM SOLANI. IV. METABOLISM OF ETHANOL AND ACETATE.

Cochrane, Vincent W. (Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn.), Jean C. Cochrane, James M. Vogel, and Roswell S. Coles, Jr. Spore germination and carbon metabolism in Fusarium solani. IV. Metabolism of ethanol and acetate. J. Bacteriol. 86:312-319. 1963.-The aerobic metabolism of acetate and ethanol by ungerminated spores of Fusarium solani f. phaseoli was accompanied by oxidative assimilation, respectively, of 50 and 75% of the substrate carbon. Manometric and isotope distribution studies suggested terminal oxidation by way of the tricarboxylic acid and glyoxylate cycles. Provision of exogenous ammonium ion had no effect. The endogenous respiration of germinated spores was depressed by ethanol. Malonate and acetoin were oxidized in a way consistent with a pathway via acetate. Acetate oxidation was inhibited by cyanide, azide, 2,4-dinitrophenol, fluoroacetate, and other common inhibitors. Acetate was assimilated primarily into compounds extractible with hot water, of which mannitol was the major component, and was not appreciably incorporated into spore lipids. Ethanol, but not acetate, accelerated the oxidation of glucose by mechanisms not now understood.