[Metabolite level from energy metabolism in Escherichia coli cells during growth on various substrates]

In the present work, an attempt has been made to analyse some parameters of the intracellular energy metabolism and to determine whether they are related to the cell growth rate. The authors measured intracellular concentrations of adenine nucleotides, the content of glycogen, an energy "depot" of glucose, the rate of its synthesis, and the content of glutathione which specifies the redox state in the cytoplasm of E. coli cells upon continuous cultivation on a minimal nutrient medium containing various carbon sources (glucose, glycerol, lactate, and acetate). It was found that the specific contents of adenine nucleotides and reduced glutathione were independent of the cell growth rate. Based on the results obtained, it is assumed that a possible reason for changes in the duration of the sell cycle of the bacteria cultured on different substrates is an alteration in the content of reserve carbohydrates.