Skip to main content
The Journal of General Physiology logoLink to The Journal of General Physiology
. 1953 May 20;36(5):703–722. doi: 10.1085/jgp.36.5.703

THE MECHANISM OF THE SYNTHESIS OF ENZYMES

I. DEVELOPMENT OF A SYSTEM SUITABLE FOR STUDYING THIS PHENOMENON

J L Koppel 1, C J Porter 1, Bruce F Crocker 1
PMCID: PMC2147385  PMID: 13052905

Abstract

1. An experimental system suitable for the study of enzyme formation has been described. 2. The formation of β-galastosidase in E. coli B could be induced by lactose, melibiose, D-galactose and β-methyl-D-galactoside. 3. Lactose-induced β-galactosidase formation was found to be inhibited by D-glucose, D-mannose, D-fructose, D-arabinose, and raffinose. 4. The utilizable structural analogue, D-glucose, was found to either stimulate or inhibit β-galactosidase formation depending upon its concentration. D-Arabinose, on the other hand, a non-utilizable structural analogue, is only capable of inhibiting, whereas succinic acid, a structurally unrelated energy source, is only capable of stimulating β-galactosidase formation. 5. D-Arabinose inhibition of lactose-induced β-galactosidase formation was found to be of the competitive type. 6. Some of the implications of these findings have been discussed.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.1 MB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. COHN M., MONOD J. Purification et proprietes de la beta-galactosidase (lactase) d'Escherichia coli. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1951 May;7(1):153–174. doi: 10.1016/0006-3002(51)90013-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Gale E. F. The oxidation of amines by bacteria. Biochem J. 1942 Feb;36(1-2):64–75. doi: 10.1042/bj0360064. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. HAHN F. E., WISSEMAN C. L., Jr Inhibition of adaptive enzyme formation by antimicrobial agents. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1951 Mar;76(3):533–535. doi: 10.3181/00379727-76-18546. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. LEDERBERG J. The beta-d-galactosidase of Escherichia coli, strain K-12. J Bacteriol. 1950 Oct;60(4):381–392. doi: 10.1128/jb.60.4.381-392.1950. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. MONOD J., COHEN-BAZIRE G., COHN M. Sur la biosynthèse de la beta-galactosidase (lactase) chez Escherichia coli; la spécificité de l'induction. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1951 Nov;7(4):585–599. doi: 10.1016/0006-3002(51)90072-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. POLLOCK M. R., PERRET C. J. The relation between fixation of penicillin sulphur and penicillinase adaptation in B cereus. Br J Exp Pathol. 1951 Oct;32(5):387–396. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of General Physiology are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES