Effect of glutathione L-cystein and L-djenkolic acid in the synthesis and mutagenicity of azide metabolite in Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633 strain

The Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633 strain synthesizes a mutagenic metabolite f rom sodium azide and O-acetylserine. Mutagenicity of azide was decreased in growth media containing 10(-4) M glutathione, L-cysteine or L-djenkolic ac id whereas dithiothritol (DTT) added at the same concentration did not redu ce the mutagenicity of. azide. Likewise, glutathione, L-cysteine, L-djenkol ic acid, and DTT were found to have no effect in reducing the mutagenicity of the in vitro produced metabolite using bacterial cell-free extract. Thes e results suggest that O-acetyl-serine sulfhydrylase catalyzes the reaction of azide and O-acetylserine to form a mutagenic metabolite, which is ninhy drin positive and migrates in TLC to an R-f value similar to that of azidoa lanine in both acidic and basic solvent systems.