Biosynthesis of alpha-isopropylmalic and citric acids in Acetobacter suboxydans.

Cell-free extracts of Acetobacter suboxydans were prepared which were capable of condensing alpha-ketoisovalerate with (14)C-labeled acetyl-coenzyme A to yield (14)C-labeled alpha-isopropylmalate. The product of the reaction was isolated by paper and column chromatography and was characterized by recrystallization with synthetic alpha-isopropylmalic acid to constant specific radioactivity. The formation of alpha-isopropylmalate by extracts of A. suboxydans plus the ability of the organism to grow in a simple glucose-glycerol medium containing glutamic acid as the only amino acid indicate that the pathway for leucine biosynthesis shown to exist in yeast and Salmonella typhimurium also occurs in A. suboxydans. As a comparison, the condensation of oxalacetate and ((14)C) acetyl-coenzyme A to yield ((14)C) citric acid was shown, by similar means, to occur in A. suboxydans. This is of interest since the existence of this classical condensing enzyme has hitherto not been demonstrated in this organism. This reaction was further demonstrated in cell-free extracts of A. suboxydans by means of a spectrophotometric assay at 232 mmu which measured the cleavage of the carbon-sulfur bond of acetyl-coenzyme A in the presence of oxalacetate. Comparison of the specific activities of crude cell-free extracts indicated a much more extensive occurrence of this reaction in yeast than in A. suboxydans.