Amino acid metabolism and protein synthesis in a pyrithiamine-requiring Staphylococcus aureus mutant.

1. Amino acid metabolism and protein synthesis in a Staphylococcus aureus mutant strain that requires pyrithiamine for optimum growth were studied and compared with those in the thiamine-requiring parent S. aureus. 2. The mutant strain utilized amino acids at a higher rate than did the parent strain. The utilization of glutamic acid, serine and glycine was much stimulated in the mutant strain. 3. The rate of oxidation of glutamic acid, aspartic acid, isoleucine and glycine was higher in the mutant strain. 4. The mutant strain contained serine, glycine, tyrosine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, arginine and histidine as free amino acids, whereas the parent strain possessed lysine, arginine, histidine, aspartic acid and glutamic acid. 5. The mutant strain possessed slightly higher glutamate-oxalo-acetate transaminase activity, whereas the activities of glutamate-pyruvate transaminase were similar in both strains. 6. The incorporation of (14)C from [2-(14)C]-acetate into individual amino acids of the cell protein was greater in the mutant strain. 7. The incorporation of (14)C-labelled amino acids into the cell proteins of the mutant strain was not much different from that in the parent strain. 8. Induction of beta-d-galactosidase in the mutant strain did not occur, whereas induction of this enzyme is possible in the parent strain. Thiamine or pyrithiamine has no direct effect on the induction of beta-d-galactosidase.