Energy generation mechanisms in the in vitro-grown Mycobacterium lepraemurium.

Mycobacterium lepraemurium was cultivated on Ogawa egg-yolk medium and its energy coupling mechanisms were investigated. Cell-free extracts prepared from in vitro-grown cells catalyzed phosphorylation coupled to the oxidation of generated NADH, added NADH, and succinate-yielding ratios of phosphorus moles incorporated into high-energy bonds to oxygen atoms utilized (P/O ratios) of 0.75, 0.52, and 0.36, respectively. Ascorbate oxidation alone or in the presence of tetramethyl-p-phenyline-diamine (TMPD) did not yield any adenosine triphosphate (ATP). However, ascorbate in the presence of added cytochrome c was coupled to ATP synthesis and yielded a P/O ratio of 0.12. The oxidative phosphorylation was uncoupled by all of the uncouplers used without any inhibition of oxygen consumption. ATP generation coupled to NADH oxidation was completely inhibited by the flavoprotein inhibitors, such as rotenone and amytal; these inhibitors had no effect, however, on ATP synthesis associated with succinate oxidation. Antimycin A or 2-n-heptyl-4-hydroxy-quinoline-N-oxide (HQNO) and cyanide inhibited markedly the oxidations of NADH and succinate as well as the coupled ATP generation. The phosphorylation coupled to ascorbate plus cytochrome c was not affected by either of the flavoprotein inhibitors or by antimycin A or HQNO, but was completely inhibited by cyanide. The thiol-bearing agents p-chloromercuribenzoate (PCMB) and N-ethylmaleimide were the potent inhibitors of the phosphorylation associated with the oxidation of NADH and succinate. The results indicate that the three energy-coupling sites are functional in the respiratory chain of in vitro-grown M. lepraemurium.