[Oxidative phosphorylation in Propionibacterium]

Oxidative phosphorylation during electron transport in the respiratory chain was found in two propionic bacteria, P. shermanii and P. petersonii. Its effectiveness, with oxygen as the terminal acceptor of electrons, was higher in P. petersonii, a more aerobic culture, than in P. shermanii. Oxidative phosphorylation with the participation of the electron transport chain was not found in P. petersonii in the absence of oxygen. Oxidative phosphorylation can take place together with the reactions of propionic fermentation in P. shermanii upon a small rearrangement of the respiration chain (if fumarate reductase is substituted for cytochrome oxidase).