DISTRIBUTION OF MEVALONATE AND GLYCERALDEHYDE 3-PHOSPHATE PYRUVATE ROUTES FOR ISOPRENOID BIOSYNTHESIS IN SOME GRAM-NEGATIVE BACTERIA AND MYCOBACTERIA/

Labeling experiments using [l-C-13]acetate or [l-C-13]glucose were per formed with opportunistic pathogenic bacteria, with innocuous bacteria related to pathogenic species or with phyropathogenic species. The la beling pattern was determined in the isoprenic moiety of ubiquinone or menaquinone derivatives. These experiments showed that Acinetobacter, Citrobacter, Erwinia, Pseudomonas, Burkholderia, Ralstonia and Mycoba cterium synthesize their isoprenoids via the mevalonate-independent gl yceraldehyde 3-phosphate/pyruvate route. Enzymes of this novel bacteri al metabolic route, which is apparently absent in vertebrates and man, therefore represent potential targets for a novel type of antibacteri al drugs. (C) 1998 Fed-ration of European Microbiological Societies. P ublished by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.