Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

Comparative carbohydrate catabolism in Chromobacterium species

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  • It is generally recognized that biochemical information is of great importance to microbial taxonomy. This is particularly true in the case of catabolic behavior of microorganisms in utilizing glucose and allied compounds. Once the pathways operating in a species are identified, and the relative participation of these pathways is determined, then differences in catabolic patterns among organisms or groups of organisms become taxonomically significant. There is evidence that microorganisms in a given genus may rely on a given set of primary pathways for glucose utilization, and that closely related genera will also display similar patterns of catabolic pathways. Thus, phylogenetic models may be constructed for whole groups of microorganisms by correlating catabolic information with other morphological and physiological data. In the present work, pathway identification and estimation has been made in species of Chromobacterium using a radiorespirometric method which provides yield data of respiratory ¹⁴CO₂ derived from carbohydrate substrates specifically labeled with ¹⁴C. Five representative species of the genus Chromobacterium were selected for the present study. Results from radiorespirometric experiments indicate that Ch. lividum catabolizes 86% of administered glucose via the Entner-Doudoroff (ED) pathway and the remaining 14% via the pentose phosphate (PP) pathway. Ch. amethystinurn. catabolizes 87% of administered glucose via the ED pathway and the remaining 13% via the PP pathway. Ch. violaceum routes 80% of catabolized glucose through the ED pathway and 20% through the PP pathway. Ch. maris-mortui, on the other hand, relies heavily on the PP and PC pathways (100%) for glucose catabolism, while Ch. viscosum utilizes the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas (EMP) pathway for 84% of the catabolized glucose and the PP pathway for the remaining 16%. On the basis of the present understanding of carbohydrate catabolism, and other morphological and physiological data, it is recommended that 1) Ch. lividum and Ch. violaceum be retained as type species of the psychrophilic and mesophilic groups, respectively; 2) Ch. am.ethystinum be designated as a strain within the species Ch. lividum; 3) the halophile Ch. maris-mortui be excluded from the genus Chromobacterium; and 4) the organism Ch. viscosum be excluded from the genus Chromobacterium.
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