ENERGETIC AND NUCLEIC ANALYSES OF A CHEMOSTATIC CULTURE OF AZOTOBACTER VINELANDII

Abstract

With a chemostatic culture of A. vinelandii, the values of the yield factor for glucose were measured; the measurement was repeated after steady state at each dilution value. The bacterial cells were processed to determine the nucleic materials such as DNA, RNA and specific substances, the latter of which could be dissolved in a cold per-chloric acid solution. The glucose (limiting substrate) consumption by the cells was assumed to be a sum of that primarily due to cellular growth and that principally due to cellular maintenance. The efficiency of glucose utilization for cellular growth, Yg, and the specific rate of glucose consumption for cellular maintenance, m, were 0.172 and 3.90 (hr-1), respectively. Although the contents of DNA and the acid-soluble substances remained fairly unchanged without regard to the values of dilution rate, a logarithmic relationship was confirmed between the RNA content, NR, and the value of dilution rate, D, or the specific growth-rate, [mu]x.