MELANIN-FORMING STRAINS OF PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA

Studies are performed on tyrosine metabolism of 12 melaninforming and 15 melanin-free strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa grown on pepton agar. Melanin production does not occur in tyrosineless ammoniumgluconate medium. Addition of tyrosine or its precursors to this basis-medium allowed to distinguish between the melanin-forming and melanin-free strains within 16 hours. Inhibitors of tyrosinase such as KCN, Na2S, sodium-diethyl-dithiocarbaminate etc. are proved to be without influence on the pigment production. DOPA and DOPA-chrome are not present in the culture extracts. There is no identity between the isolated brown pigment and authentic DOPA-melanin. All melanin-forming strains are found to be remarkable by accumulating homogentisic acid followed by developing a red, later brown pigment, whereas the melanin-free strains do not concentrate homogentisic acid in detectable amounts. Preventing the melanin formation by growth on the tyrosineless basis-medium with addition of l-tryptophan the quinazoline pathway is employed again, which had been found inhibited during simultaneously occuring production of the brown pigment. Probably this effect may be caused by accumulated homogentisic acid similar to the inhibition of tryptophan-pyrrolase by hydroquinone. The melanin-forming strains of the species Pseudomonas aeruginosa are not regarded as variants containing a tyrosinase but as mutants with a genetic defect of homogentisicase in analogy to the alcaptonuria in metabolic diseases of men. © 1969 Springer-Verlag.