Interrelationship of carbohydrate metabolism and alkaline phosphatase synthesis in Bacillus licheniformis 749/c

Membrane-bound alkaline phosphatase of Bacillus licheniformis 749/c is derepressed by glucose in complex and chemically defined media. In the presence of lactate, pyruvate, or succinate the synthesis is repressed. The lactate repression neither affects total protein synthesis nor inhibits penicillinase synthesis. Thus, carbon sources specifically influence alkaline phosphatase synthesis. Although variations in the inorganic phosphate content of the growth media directly affect alkaline phosphatase synthesis, the intracellular inorganic and total phosphate pools appear to be unrelated to its repression or derepression. During lactate repression there is preferential incorporation of lactate molecules into glycogen, whereas no such incorporation could be detected from glucose. Net glycogen synthesis remains the same in glucose- or lactate-grown cells. It is postulated that, in phosphate-deficient growth medium, gluconeogenic metabolism regulates alkaline phosphatase synthesis.