Dinitrocresol and phosphate stimulation of the oxygen consumption of a cell-free oxidative system obtained from sea urchin eggs.

1. A cell-free system capable of using oxygen with oxalacetate as substrate has been prepared from both unfertilized and fertilized sea urchin eggs. The oxygen uptake by this system is about twice that of an equivalent quantity of intact unfertilized eggs and half that of an equivalent quantity of intact fertilized eggs. 2. The oxygen consumption of this cell-free oxidative system can be stimulated by addition of suitable concentrations of 4,6-dinitro-o-cresol or by inorganic phosphate. This confirms, with a cell-free system obtained from sea urchin eggs, the observations of Loomis and Lipmann regarding stimulation of oxygen consumption by a system obtained from rabbit kidney. 3. A preliminary but unsuccessful attempt has been made to determine the conditions under which cell-free, aerobic, phosphorylating systems may be obtained from either unfertilized or fertilized sea urchin eggs.