AMINO-ACID CONSUMPTION BY CHLOROFLEXUS-AURANTIACUS IN BATCH AND CONTINUOUS CULTURES

Amino acid consumption was studied with batch and continuous chemostat cultures of Chloroflexus aurantiacus grown phototrophically in complex medium with casamino acids (Pierson and Castenholz 1974). Amino acids like Arg, Asx, Thr, Ala, Tyr, which were utilized during the early exponential phase by cells grown in batch cultures were consumed in chemostat cultures essentially at any of the dilution rates employed (0.018-0.104 h-1). Those amino acids which were taken up during subsequent phases of growth were consumed in chemostat cultures preferentially at low dilution rates. For example, the consumption of Glx was enhanced during the late exponential phase and at low dilution rates. At high dilution rates Glx was not consumed at all. Since Glx utilization largely paralleled bacteriochlorophyll formation, it is discussed that formation of the photopigment depends on the intracellular availability of Glu as the exclusive precursor for tetrapyrrole synthesis.