VITAMINE REQUIREMENTS OF CERTAIN YEASTS AND BACTERIA

Abstract

In a previous publication (1) we described a practical method for testing the vitamine requirements of yeast, based upon the work of Ide and his coworkers, and also of Williams, of Bachmann, and of Eddy.At that time we thought our test was specific for antiberi-beri vitamine; however, because of certain differences, the question was left open.In this connection, Emmett and Stockholm (2) suggested that the vitamine necessary for the growth of yeast had nothing to do with antiberi-beri vitamine.Later Fulmer, Nelson, and Sherwood (3), Souza and McCollum (4), and MacDonald and Mc-Collum (5), claimed that by improving the medium, results could be obtained similar to those noted after vitamine addition.These claims have been disproved by the work of Eddy, Heft, Stevenson, and Johnson (6), and our own findings are in accord with their conclusions in this particular.Our present results show rather conclusively that yeast requires for growth a different substance than that needed by animals, since we were able to separate from autolyzed yeast one substance active for yeast and another for rats and pigeons.This separation will enable us to study each substance individually.At the same time, in agreement with our findings, Ide (7) shows that by improving the medium one can actually obtain a slight>ly better growth, not to be compared in magnitude, however, with the action of the specific vitamine-like substance.Although the work thus far does not shed immediate light on the test for the antiberi-beri vitamine, it is of importance in the study of the vitamine requirements of yeasts and bacteria.We believe that we are dealing here with a specific substance-either