Alston T A
Department of Anesthesia, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston 02114.
Life Sci. 1991;48(16):1591-5. doi: 10.1016/0024-3205(91)90284-i.
In methionine-free media, nitrous oxide inhibits the growth of an auxotrophic strain of Escherichia coli lacking a cobalamin-independent pathway for the de novo synthesis of methionine. Prototrophic E. coli is similarly inhibited by nitrous oxide if the cobalamin-independent pathway is selectively depressed by sulfanilamide. Nitrous oxide thus effectively inactivates cobalamin-dependent 5-methyltetrahydrofolate--homocysteine methyltransferase (methionine synthase, EC 2.1.1.13) in intact bacteria.
