Metabolism of D-Alanine in Rhodospirillum rubrum and its Bacilliform Mutants

THE photosynthetic bacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum affords a particularly simple and versatile system for study of variability in bacterial form. Its morphology can be altered by nutritional, genetic or chemical means. In addition to spirilla, this organism readily forms rods, vibrios, filaments, circular cells, chains of rods and chains of spirilla1–3. Many of these variants have one feature in common: they can be induced either by D-alanine or agents which affect D-alanine metabolism. D-Alanine is a main constituent of bacterial cell walls4, and the dipeptide derived from it is essential for the terminal cross-linking step in cell wall synthesis5–9.

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