OBSERVATIONS ON A STRAIN OF NEISSERIA MENINGITIDIS IN THE PRESENCE OF GLUCOSE AND MALTOSE

Abstract

In partially defined media the rate of acid accumulation was greater in maltose than in glucose. In chemically defined media all the acid formed from glucose was acetic; in maltose 39-45% was acetic acid. High concns. of inorganic phosphate retarded growth in glucose but not in maltose. Successive transfers in glucose containing high concns. of inorganic phosphate resulted in a "selected" population possessing the ability to multiply at a rate more nearly equal to its growth rate in maltose medium. In the maltose cultures a decrease of total reducing substances and the increase of H-ions was greater than in glucose cultures. The inorganic phosphate disappeared from the medium in maltose cultures, a change not detected in glucose cultures.