A study of certain dehydrogenase activities in a sulfanilamide-resistant strain of Bacillus subtilis

Abstract

The dehydrogenase activities of susceptible and sulfanilamide-resistant strains of B. subtilis grown in peptone or semi-synthetic media have been studied with glucose, glycerol, calcium lactate, sodium pyruvate and ethyl alcohol as substrates. The resistant strain showed a marked decrease in dehydrogenase activities with all the substrates. The behaviour of the cell-free extracts of susceptible or resistant strains was comparable to those of the corresponding intact cells, indicating that decreased dehydrogenase activities of the resistant strain may not be due to alteration in cell-wall permeability.