Estimation of Folic Acid with a Thermophilic Bacillus.

Abstract

Summary Bacillus coagulans No. 3084, growing optimally at 55°C, has a nutritional requirement which is satisfied by PAB, PGA, folinic, N¹⁰-formyl PGA, pteroyltriglutamic acid, PGA conjugate, but not by p-aminoben-zoylglutamic acid or p-aminohippuric acid. This organism is unique in its ability to interchange its requirement for PAB with that for PGA. The utilization of PGA conjugates without pretreatment with conjugase renders it valuable for clinical assay. Its nutritional pattern appears well suited for the studies of the folic acid series of metabolites, an expectation corroborated by the results of clearance tests upon human subjects given PGA orally.