[Assimilation of carbon dioxide by Stibiobacter senarmontii]

Early products of 14CO2 assimilation by a new microorganism Stibiobacter senarmontii are phosphoglyceric acid, phosphorous esters of sugars and aspartic acid, as was shown by chromatography and radioautography. Extracts of the cells displayed the activity of ribulosediphosphate carboxylase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (1 mU and 0.24 mU per 1 mg of protein in the extract, respectively). Therefore, the microorganism is capable of autotrophic nutrition involving mechanisms of the reductive pentosephosphate cycle. The latter seems to operate even in conditions of deficiency of the energy substrate which is caused by low solubility of antimony trioxide.