Studies on the mechanism of inhibition of growth of Vibrio cholerae by erythrose

Abstract

Erythrose strongly inhibits the growth of Vibrio cholerae and Vibrio eltor. The inhibition can be reversed by washing the cells free from erythrose with sterile normal saline. The respiration of V. cholerae cells in the presence of glucose is markedly inhibited by erythrose but the oxygen uptake of cell-free extract under the same conditions is not affected. From the results of experiments on the uptake of [¹⁴C] glucose and [α-14C]methylglucoside, it may be concluded that erythrose inhibits the transport of glucose across the cell membrane and thereby inhibits the growth of the organism.