Rickettsia prowazekii requires host cell serine and glycine for growth.

The growth requirement of Rickettsia prowazekii for the amino acids serine and glycine was assessed in both wild-type cell lines and a mutant cell line. X-irradiated L929 cells supported the growth of R. prowazekii when the cells were incubated in Eagle minimal essential medium supplemented with serum. In contrast, in this medium, X-irradiated Vero cells did not support the growth of rickettsiae unless cycloheximide, serine, or glycine was added. Other nonessential amino acids, additional glucose, and potential products of host cell metabolism of serine and glycine were nonstimulatory. The concentration of serine or glycine required to support rickettsial growth had no effect on the doubling time of uninfected, unirradiated Vero cells. A comparison of intracellular amino acid pools indicated that the serine and glycine concentrations in mock-infected Vero cells were approximately 31 and 14% of the respective concentrations in mock-infected L929 cells. The pools of both amino acids in Vero cells increased markedly upon treatment of the cells with cycloheximide. Interconversion of serine and glycine catalyzed by serine hydroxymethyltransferase was detected in cell-free extracts of purified rickettsiae. However, this enzymatic activity did not permit rickettsial growth in a glycine-requiring clone (772-56d) of the Chinese hamster ovary cell CHO-K1 in the absence of glycine supplementation. These data indicate that R. prowazekii depends on the host cell for serine or glycine.