Glucose toxicity and inability of Bacteroides ruminicola to regulate glucose transport and utilization

Ammonia-limited (3.5 mM ammonia) cultures of Bacteroides ruminicola B(1)4 had a high number of viable cells (greater than 10(9)/ml), but only when the concentration of glucose was not too high (10 mM or less). When the glucose concentration was increased from 10 to 50 mM, there was a marked decrease in viability (10(5)-fold or greater). Because there was little decline in pH and only a small increase in succinate and acetate as the glucose concentration was increased, it did not appear that end products were killing the cells. This conclusion was supported by the observation that reinoculated cultures grew in the spent medium which had been supplemented with ammonia. Unlabeled rhamnose did not inhibit [14C]-glucose uptake, and cultures which were selected with a low concentration of rhamnose tolerated high concentrations of glucose (50 mM). The glucose-resistant mutant transported glucose at a lower rate than the wild type, and the Vmax of glucose transport was fourfold lower. The wild type stored much more polysaccharide than the glucose-resistant mutant, but it is not clear if polysaccharide accumulation per se is responsible for the glucose toxicity. These results indicated that B. ruminicola B(1)4 is unable to regulate glucose transport and utilization when growth is limited by ammonia.