Nucleotide metabolism in Lactococcus lactis: salvage pathways of exogenous pyrimidines.

ABSTRACT

By measuring enzyme activities in crude extracts and studying the effect of toxic analogs (5-fluoropyrimidines) on cell growth, the metabolism of pyrimidines in Lactococcus lactis was analyzed. Pathways by which uracil, uridine, deoxyuridine, cytidine, and deoxycytidine are metabolized in L. lactis were established. They are similar to those found in Escherichia coli except that lactococci are unable to utilize cytosine.