l-Ascorbic Acid Biosynthesis in Ochromonas danica.

Ochromonas danica Pringsheim, a freshwater chrysomonad, converts d-glucose into l-ascorbic acid over a metabolic pathway that ;inverts' the carbon chain of the sugar. In this respect, l-ascorbic acid formation resembles that found in ascorbic acid-synthesizing animals. It differs from this process in that d-galacturonate and l-galactono-1,4-lactone, rather than d-glucuronate and l-gulono-1,4-lactone, enhance production of ascorbic acid and repress the incorporation of (14)C from d-[1-(14)C]glucose into ascorbic acid.