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Abstract
SUMMARY: Biochemical and genetic evidence suggests that NADPH-dependent 2-keto-myo-inositol reductase and 2-keto-myo-inositol dehydratase are associated with myo-inositol catabolism in Salmonella typhimurium. When growth of this organism is initiated in salts medium containing citrate and inositol using a citrate-grown inoculum, ketoinositol reductase is virtually completely repressed. By contrast, when inositol-grown organisms are used as inoculum, a relatively high level of the enzyme is present in bacteria even after a 20-fold increase in mass in the citrate + inositol medium. Under these conditions, inositol is used for growth to a significant extent, and citrate is utilized to a lesser extent than when growth is started with citrate-grown organisms. Thus by varying the growth history of the organism, different biochemical phenotypes can be produced without any change in the genotype or in the immediate environmental conditions.
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