Chloramphenicol, thiamphenicol and three fluorinated derivatives, Sch 24893, Sch 25298 and Sch 25393, were studied with respect to inhibition of the growth of selected bacterial strains and cell-free translation systems. Thiamphenicol was the least potent inhibitor in the former experiments, but behaved similarly to chloramphenicol and Sch 25298 in the latter, thereby displaying selective inhibition of prokaryotic protein synthesis. Thiamphenicol and Sch 25298 were shown to be like chloramphenicol in inhibiting peptidyl transferase activity specifically on 70 S ribosomes, but the antibiotics bound to their common ribosomal-receptor site with different efficiencies in the order chloramphenicol greater than thiamphenicol greater than Sch 25298. Selected bacterial strains highly resistant to chloramphenicol and thiamphenicol because of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase production were, in contrast, highly sensitive to inhibition by the fluorinated antibiotics. Thus Sch 24893, Sch 25298 and Sch 25393 may have important uses in veterinary and clinical medicine.

In vitro mutagenesis of the LTA gene, encoding the A subunit of the Escherichia coli heat‐labile enterotoxin, has been used to obtain A subunits deficient in enzymic activity. One inactive A‐subunit mutant which contained two amino acid substitutions, was shown to associate with native B subunits to form a holotoxoid lacking toxin activity. A serine to phenylalanine mutation appears to be responsible for the loss of toxicity.

Citrate synthases from diverse organisms are inhibited by ATP and NADH. Evidence is presented, from multiple-inhibition studies on various citrate synthases, that ATP acts in all cases as an isosteric inhibitor at the acetyl-CoA site. On the other hand, NADH also acts isosterically with eukaryotic and Gram-positive bacterial citrate synthases, but behaves as an allosteric inhibitor specifically in the case of the Gram-negative bacterial enzyme. After desensitization to this allosteric inhibition, only the isosteric nucleotide inhibition, as found in other citrate syntheases, is observed.

Naturally occurring citrate synthases fall into distinct molecular and catalytic types. Gramnegative bacteria produce a 'large' enzyme, allosterically inhibited by NADH and, in the facultative anaerobes such as Escherichia coli, also by 2-oxoglutarate. On the other hand, Gram-positive bacteria and all eukaryotes produce a 'small' citrate synthase which is insensitive to these metabolites. As a complement to structure-function studies we have explored the possibility of genetically altering one type of citrate synthase to the other. BY mutagenesis and suitable selection we have succeeded in isolating a mutant of E. coli whose citrate synthase is both 'small' and insensitive to NADH and 2-oxoglutarate. Some characteristics of the enzyme are described. Such mutant enzymes offer a novel approach to the study of citrate synthase, its regulation and its natural diversity.Citrate synthase may be regarded as the 'first' enzyme of the citric acid cycle and thus as an appropriate site for control. The enzyme from Escherichia coli is allosterically inhibited by both NADH [2,3] and 2-oxoglutarate [4,5] and these effects would appear plausible regulatory mechanisms.We have previously reported studies on purified E. coli citrate synthase aimed at revealing the identity and role of particular functional groups in the enzyme [6,7]. A complementary approach to the investigation of structure-function relationships lies in the isolation of mutant organisms and, in the case of a regulatory enzyme, of mutants producing the enzyme with genetically modified regulatory properties. Examination of these mutant enzymes may then provide information on the molecular basis of the regulatory effects and, additionally, evidence for their operation in vivo may be available from a study of the physiological behaviour of the mutants.In this communication we describe the isolation and characterisation of a mutant of E. coli producing a variant form of citrate synthase which is

The nucleotide sequences of four variants of the Escherichia coli K88 antigen gene, K88ab1, K88ab2, K88ac, and K88ad, have been determined. The K88ab2 and K88ac sequences have not been reported previously. The K88ab1 sequence is very similar to that determined by other workers, but the K88ad sequence differs considerably from that described in a previous report. Comparison of the amino acid sequences inferred from the gene sequences revealed certain clusters of amino acid substitutions which have been correlated with areas of potential antigenicity in the mature proteins.