Some properties of the cytochrome oxidase of Penicillium chrysogenum

Ballistic disruption of Penicillium chrysogenum cells

The use of glass beads in a high-speed mixing device to rupture organisms was applied to molds. The use of a mixer in which the propellor shaft enters from the top into a metal mixing chamber made it possible to immerse the whole device in a salt water and ice mixture so that the temperature of the glass-bead slurry could be kept below 5 C without difficulty. Mycelia, glass beads, and buffer in a 1:2:3 (w/w) ratio gave above 95% breakage in 15 min with Penicillium chrysogenum cells and in 4 min with Rhizopus nigricans. Some of the factors influencing breakage are discussed.

TERMINAL OXIDATION IN CELL-FREE EXTRACTS OF FUNGII

Dowler, William M. (University of Illinois, Urbana), Paul D. Shaw, and David Gottlieb. Terminal oxidation in cell-free extracts of fungi. J. Bacteriol. 86:9-17. 1963.-The terminal respiration in cell-free extracts of ten representative fungi is mediated by an electron transport system similar to that observed in animal tissue. Reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) and succinic cytochrome c reductases and NADH oxidase activity are contained in the extracts. An antimycin-sensitive site and cytochrome oxidase are present. Dehydrogenases including glucose-6-phosphate, triose phosphate, isocitric, glutamic, succinic, and malic dehydrogenase were found, but pyruvic and alpha-ketoglutaric dehydrogenases were absent. The soluble nature of the dehydrogenases indicates probable disruption of the mitochondria, since normally these enzymes are found within the mitochondria. Particles containing most of the terminal respiratory activity could be sedimented by centrifugation at 40,000 x g for 30 min. Oxygen was utilized by cell-free extracts with NADH, succinate, and isocitrate as substrates, but not with glucose.

STUDIES ON THE CYTOCHROME OXIDASE AND OXIDATION PATHWAY IN UREDOSPORES OF WHEAT STEM RUST

Electron transport to oxygen in a particulate fraction from uredospores of Puccinia graminis var. tritici occurs through a series of carriers similar to those of other fungi and higher plants.Experiments with various enzyme inhibitors and measurements of the oxygen affinity of respiration have shown that cytochrome oxidase mediates the final step in the sequence of electron transfer. The enzyme was localized in a fraction sedimenting at 20,000 g and was typically inhibited by cyanide, azide, and CO-dark, the latter inhibition being light-reversible. Other enzymes present were succinic-cytochrome c reductase, DPNH- and TPNH-cytochrome c reductase, dye reductase, malic dehydrogenase, isocitric dehydrogenase, and glycerol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase. Particulates failed to oxidize DPNH unless an electron acceptor was added. An increase in the activity of several of the respiratory enzymes was noted upon spore germination.Succinic-cytochrome c reductase was only partially sensitive to Antimycin A, HOQNO, and the naphthoquinone, SN 5949. These compounds markedly inhibited a labile portion of the DPNH-cytochrome c reductase activity but had little effect on the stable activity remaining in aged particles. Menadione, but not vitamin K1, stimulated electron transfer. Antimycin A and SN 5949 virtually blocked spore respiration suggesting a "Slater-type" factor in the intact pathway of oxidation.