THE COMPARATIVE ACTIVITIES OF PANTETHINE, PANTOTHENIC ACID, AND COENZYME A FOR VARIOUS MICROORGANISMS

Abstract

The comparative growth-promoting activities of pantothenic acid and 2 of its combined forms, pantethine and coenzyme A, were determined for 22 yeasts and lactic acid bacteria. The "bound" pantothenic acid of coenzyme A was less than 1% as active as an equal amt. of free pantothenic acid for 21 of the organisms tested. Pantethine was no more active than coenzyme A for all of 6 yeasts tested. Pantethine activity for different lactic acid bacteria varied from less than 0.05 (Lactobacillus fermenti) to over 400 (L. delbrueckii) times that of an equal amt. of free pantothenic acid. No differences in the activity of synthetic pantethine and of a highly purified concentrate of the L. bulgaricus factor for any of the 22 organisms was shown. The 2 forms thus appear to be identical and far surpass pantothenic acid in activity for many lactic acid bacteria. For organisms (e.g., L. arabinosus) that utilize pantethine less readily than pantothenic acid, the activity of the former increased with incubation time. Among those organisms for which pantethine was highly active, but pantothenic acid was only weakly active (e.g., L. helveticus), the activity of pantothenic acid increased with the length of incubation. The amt. of pantethine required for max. growth of the latter group was significantly decreased by amts. of pantothenic acid insufficient by themselves for growth. Several possible explanations for these variations in activity of the different products for various microorganisms are considered.