Analysis of bacterial biotin-proteins.

The biotin-protein populations in several bacterial strains were analyzed by solubilization of [3H]biotin-labeled cells with sodium dodecylsulfate followed by electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gels containing the detergent. A variety of patterns of biotin-labeled polypeptide chains was seen, ranging from a single biotin-protein in Escherichia coli, corresponding to the biotin carboxyl carrier protein component of acetyl-CoA carboxylase, to multiple species in Enterobacter aerogenes, Pseudomonas citronellolis, Bacillus cereus, Propionibacterium shermanii, Lactobacillus plantarum, and Mycobacterium phlei, which probably represent subunits of multiple biotin-dependent enzymes present in these organisms. In the case of Pseudomonas citronellolis two major biotin-containing polypeptides with approximate molecular weights of 65 000 and 25 000 were shown to correspond to the biotin carboxyl carrier components of pyruvate carboxylase and acetyl-CoA carboxylase, respectively. Thus in the case of Pseudomonas citronellolis two different biotin-dependent enzymes in the same cell do not share common biotin carboxyl carrier subunits.