Lysis of Escherichia coli by glycine is potentiated by pyridoxine starvation.

Pyridoxineless mutants of Escherichia coli are lysed in a few hours when starved for pyridoxine in a glucose minimal medium containing glycine at 10 mM. The lysis is prevented equally well by l-alanine and by d-alanine when either is present at 0.1 mM. The lysis is potentiated by 0.5 mM l-methionine. The peculiar susceptibility of E. coli B to glycine-mediated lysis during starvation for pyridoxine suggests that the starvation reduces the availability of some normal antagonist of glycine, presumably alanine.