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. 1971 Feb;3(2):328–332. doi: 10.1128/iai.3.2.328-332.1971

Effect of l-Homoserine on the Growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Thomas P O'Barr 1, Karen A Everett 1
PMCID: PMC416151  PMID: 16557973

Abstract

l-Homoserine was observed to inhibit the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In the metabolism of M. tuberculosis, l-homoserine was found to be a precursor of threonine, isoleucine, and methionine. l-Homoserine-inhibited cells contained elevated levels of the enzyme acetohydroxy acid synthetase. In addition, washed cell suspensions of M. tuberculosis formed significant amounts of alpha-amino-n-butyric acid from supplements of l-homoserine. dl-Alpha-amino-n-butyric acid proved to be much more inhibitory for growth than l-homoserine. Growth antagonism by l-homoserine was reversed by l-lysine, l-threonine, and combinations of l-leucine with l-valine. At the cellular level, these amino acids reduced the amount of acetohydroxy acid synthetase in cells grown with l-homoserine and competed with dl-homoserine-4-14C for entrance into the extractable cell pool. l-Isoleucine also antagonized the conversion of l-homoserine to alpha-amino-n-butyric acid. Available data indicated that the effect of l-homoserine was related to its conversion to alpha-amino-n-butyric acid which subsequently inhibited growth

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Selected References

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

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