Effects of Aminooxyacetate and Aminoacetonitrile on Glycolate and Ammonia Release by the Cyanobacterium Anabaena cylindrica

Abstract
Aminooxyacetate and aminoacetonitrile cause increased excretion of glycolate by the cyanobacterium A. cylindrica. Both compounds also reduce NH4-N release induced by methionine sulfoximine in non-N2-fixing cultures. Changes in amino acid pool sizes together with changes in activities of some enzymes related to glycolate metabolism show that glyoxylate to glycine conversion and glycine to serine conversion are inhibited by aminooxyacetate and aminoacetonitrile, respectively. Photorespiratory glycolate metabolism via amination of glyoxylate apparently is operative in A. cylindrica.