BIOCHEMICAL ASPECTS OF THE CELL GROWTH OF ESCHERICHIA COLI AS STUDIED BY THE METHOD OF SYNCHRONOUS CULTURE

Abstract

Relationships among N metabolism, nucleic acid syntheses, and respiratory activity during the generation span of actively growing cells were investigated in synchronous culture. Total N increases almost exponentially, protein N remains constant for the initial period of cell growth and doubles at the middle of the growth cycle. QO2 increases almost parallel with total N, while QcO2 shows a characteristically variable course with 2 maxima. Ribonucleic acid doubles initially and levels off prior to protein synthesis, while desoxyribonu-cleic acid doubles shortly before and during cell division.