The growth yields and rates of Zymomonas mobilis were measured in aerobic and anaerobic cultures on glucose medium containing yeast extract, amino acids, or ammonium chloride as the nitrogen source. In the absence of yeast extract, pantothenate was required. The growth yield and rate of the cultures in synthetic (amino acids) or minimal (NH4Cl) medium supplemented with pantothenate corresponded only to about one-half the "normal" values obtained in the presence of yeast extract, suggesting a situation of energetically uncoupled growth. Attempts to restore normal growth by the addition of various compounds were unsuccessful. Aeration of the cultures resulted in a partial oxidation of ethyl alcohol to acetate, but did not modify the growth yield nor the division time. Both aerobic and anaerobic cells, however, contained cytochrome c and a cytochrome oxidase of the a2 type, which was completely inhibited by 10-4 M cyanide. In anaerobically grown cells, an additional cytochrome of the b type was present. The absence of a Pasteur effect suggests that the transfer of electrons by the respiratory chain of Z. mobilis may not be coupled with oxidative phosphorylation. Aeration had no effect on the catalase content of the cells. As shown by C14-glucose incorporation, 2 to 3% of the glucose metabolized was assimilated by the cells in both synthetic and rich complex medium. No intracellular glycogen nor poly-0-hydroxybutyrate was accumulated when growth was limited by nitrogen or by phosphate in the presence of excess glucose.

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A microcalorimetric method for measuring the influence of extracellular glucose concentration on the rate of catabolism is described. This method has been applied to anaerobically growing cultures of Zymomonas mobilis and of a respiratory-deficient (“petite”) mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (strain YFa). The Michaelian kinetics recorded with both organisms were apparently related to glucose transport. With Z. mobilis , it was found that, in the range of glucose concentrations at which this organism was growing exponentially, cell activity was limited by the maximal rate of the catabolic enzymes; at lower concentrations, glucose transport was the rate controlling step. The metabolic activity of yeast always depended on external glucose concentration; when this was lowered under a threshold, a change of kinetics took place. The microcalorimetric method described seems to be widely applicable to kinetic studies of the permeation of metabolizable substrates in microorganisms.

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