Das S, Mandal S, Chakrabarty A N, Dastidar S G
Department of Medical Microbiology & Parasitology, University College of Medicine, Calcutta University.
Indian J Med Res. 1992 Mar;95:59-65.
The role of silicon (Si) in metabolism and growth of 22 strains of mycobacteria and 3 strains of nocardiae, which were mostly pathogenic, was studied on Kirchner's medium solidified with sodium metasilicate (KSM) and the C-free solidified metasilicate minimal medium (SMM) consisting of mineral salts only. On KSM, initial growth of mycobacteria appeared to be better, compared with that on Lowenstein-Jensen medium (LJM), although subsequent growth on the former was slower. On SMM lacking C, growth of mycobacteria and nocardiae could be achieved, only after repeated passages. These findings indicate that the mycobacteria and nocardiae are able to utilise Si at least to a limited extent, possibly as an alternative to C, with greater chances of survival.
研究了硅（Si）在22株分枝杆菌和3株诺卡氏菌（大多为病原菌）的代谢和生长中的作用，这些菌株在由偏硅酸钠固化的基尔希纳培养基（KSM）和仅由无机盐组成的无碳固化偏硅酸盐基本培养基（SMM）上进行培养。在KSM上，分枝杆菌的初始生长似乎比在罗-琴培养基（LJM）上更好，尽管随后在前者上的生长较慢。在缺乏碳的SMM上，分枝杆菌和诺卡氏菌只有经过反复传代才能生长。这些发现表明，分枝杆菌和诺卡氏菌至少能够在有限程度上利用硅，可能作为碳的替代品，从而有更大的存活机会。
