Yutaka Tsunemi

Effects of Homoserine Dehydrogenase Deficiency on Production of Cytidine by Mutants of Bacillus subtilis.

A homoserine-requiring mutant, Bacillus subtilis strain No. 615, was isolated from a cytidine-producing mutant strain No. 515. The homoserine dehydrogenase activity of strain No. 615 was reduced to less than 1/50 of that of No. 515. Strain No. 615 accumulated 23.5 mg/ml cytidine in a medium containing 16% glucose, and strain No. 515 accumulated 18.8 mg/ml cytidine under the same conditions. The effects of glucose concentration on cytidine production were examined, and strain No. 615 accumulated 30.2 mg/ml cytidine in a medium containing 20% glucose.

Mechanism of uridine production by Bacillus subtilis mutants

SummaryPyrimidine analogue-resistant mutants of Bacillus subtilis were found to produce a large amount of uridine. One of them accumulated 55 mg/ml of uridine in culture medium. The changes in enzymes involved in the metabolism of uridine 5′-monophosphate (UMP) were examined with this mutant. All six enzymes of de novo UMP biosynthesis were completely free from regulation by uridine compounds, and the activities of these enzymes were 16- to 30-fold higher than those of the enzymes of the parental strain. In the mutant strain, the level of uridine phosphorylase, responsible for converting uridine to uracil, was extremely low, compared with that of the parental strain. No apparent change was observed between the strains in the activity of UMP dephosphorylation or uracil phosphoribosyltransferase. The implication of these findings is discussed in relation to the overproduction of uridine by the mutant.