Abstract
SINCE Kögl and Erxleben showed, in 1939, that D-glutamic acid can be isolated from cancerous tissue, D-peptidases have been the subject of many researches. Kögl and Erxleben's demonstration seems to have particular interest, when considered together with the fact that penicillins, on acid hydrolysis, yield an amino-acid of D-configuration, penicillamine, on one hand, and the fact that both antibiotics, tyrocidin and gramicidin S, give D-phenylalanine as their hydrolysis product, on the other. While engaged in the study of capability of soil bacteria to metabolize benzoic acid and its related compounds, and some amino-acids1, we have recently observed that, of thirty-four strains of soil bacteria employed in our experiment, two strains, KT82 and KT83, have the ability to utilize benzoyl-D-phenylalanine (melting point 139°–140°; [α]D13= − 14.9) as well as benzoyl-L-phenylalanine (melting point 139°–140°; [α]D13= + 14.8) as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen.
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Kameda, Y., and Toyoura, E., J. Pharm. Soc. Japan (in the press).
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KAMEDA, Y., TOYOURA, E., KIMURA, Y. et al. Hydrolysis and Metabolism by Soil Bacteria of Benzoyl-D-Phenylalanine. Nature 169, 1016 (1952). https://doi.org/10.1038/1691016a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1691016a0
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