The response of Leuconostoc mesenteroides P-60 to some compounds related to lysine.

The bacterium, Leuconostoc mesenteroides P-60, is commonly used in the assay of lysine (1, 2). In view of this fact, it is useful to know how specific or selective the organism is for this purpose. It is known that some organisms can dispense with lysine if related metabolites are provided. For example, both a-aminoadipic and oc-amino-e-hydroxycaproic acids satisfy the lysine requirements of some Neurospora mutants (3, 4), and diaminopimelic acid can be substituted for lysine in the nutrition of a certain strain of Escherichia coli (5). In addition, it is of potentially broader interest to explore the possibility that compounds related to lysine in structure might serve as lysine antagonists.’ In a previous investigation it was found that a homologue of lysine, e-C-methyllysine, could in high dilution inhibit the utilization of lysine by both L. mesenteroides and Streptococcus faecalis (7). This study has now been extended to include several other compounds analogous or otherwise related to lysine, and the results obtained are the subject of this report.