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The Effect of Growth Conditions on Cyanogenesis by Chromobacterium violaceum
Abstract
Cyanide production by Chromobacterium violaceum growing on a l-glutamate/minimal salts medium was stimulated by addition of 2 mm-glycine and 05 mm-l-methionine to the medium. However, when the initial concentration of glycine was 06 mm, a lower level of cyanogenesis was obtained than that with glycine-free medium. Cystathionine, dl-methionine sulphoxide, d-methionine and S-adenosyl-l-homocysteine were effective substitutes for l-methionine, but a wide range of other compounds including betaine and choline were inactive. Cyanogenesis was stimulated when threonine was used as a replacement for glycine, but serine and a range of analogues of glycine were ineffective. In a minimal salts medium containing glucose as the carbon source, glycine or NH4Cl but not methionine could serve as the sole nitrogen source for growth. Growth on glucose plus NH4Cl in the presence of glycine and methionine resulted in greater yields of cyanide than growth on a similar medium in the absence of NH4Cl. In the latter case raising the initial concentration of glycine, to compensate for its utilization as the sole source of nitrogen, had little effect on cyanogenesis. Addition of cyclic AMP to both the NH4Cl-containing and NH4Cl-free media caused a decrease in cyanide formation.
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© Society for General Microbiology 1980