Friedrich B, Magasanik B
J Bacteriol. 1978 Feb;133(2):680-5. doi: 10.1128/jb.133.2.680-685.1978.
Klebsiella aerogenes utilized arginine as the sole source of carbon or nitrogen for growth. Arginine was degraded to 2-ketoglutarate and not to succinate, since a citrate synthaseless mutant grows on arginine as the only nitrogen source. When glucose was the energy source, all four nitrogen atoms of arginine were utilized. Three of them apparently did not pass through ammonia but were transferred by transamination, since a mutant unable to produce glutamate by glutamate synthase or glutamate dehydrogenase utilized three of four nitrogen atoms of arginine. Urea was not involved as intermediate, since a unreaseless mutant did not accumulate urea and grew on arginine as efficiently as the wild-type strain. Ornithine appeared to be an intermediate, because cells grown either on glucose and arginine or arginine alone could convert arginine in the presence of hydroxylamine to ornithine. This indicates that an amidinotransferase is the initiating enzyme of arginine breakdown. In addition, the cells contained a transaminase specific for ornithine. In contrast to the hydroxylamine-dependent reaction, this activity could be demonstrated in extracts. The arginine-utilizing system (aut) is apparently controlled like the enzymes responsible for the degradation of histidine (hut) through induction, catabolite repression, and activation by glutamine synthetase.
产气克雷伯菌利用精氨酸作为生长的唯一碳源或氮源。精氨酸被降解为2-酮戊二酸而不是琥珀酸，因为柠檬酸合酶缺陷型突变体能够以精氨酸作为唯一氮源生长。当葡萄糖作为能源时，精氨酸的所有四个氮原子都被利用。其中三个显然不是通过氨传递，而是通过转氨作用转移，因为一个不能通过谷氨酸合酶或谷氨酸脱氢酶产生谷氨酸的突变体利用了精氨酸四个氮原子中的三个。尿素不参与其中间过程，因为尿素酶缺陷型突变体不会积累尿素，并且能像野生型菌株一样有效地利用精氨酸生长。鸟氨酸似乎是一种中间产物，因为在葡萄糖和精氨酸或仅在精氨酸上生长的细胞在羟胺存在下可以将精氨酸转化为鸟氨酸。这表明脒基转移酶是精氨酸分解的起始酶。此外，细胞中含有一种对鸟氨酸特异的转氨酶。与依赖羟胺的反应不同，这种活性可以在提取物中得到证实。利用精氨酸的系统（aut）显然像负责组氨酸降解的酶（hut）一样，通过诱导、分解代谢物阻遏和谷氨酰胺合成酶的激活来控制。
