Change in the Metabolism of Microorganisms grown on Irradiated Culture Medium

Abstract

O. WYSS et al. ¹ report that the growth of drug-resistant pathogen micro-organisms grown on culture media irradiated with ultra-violet rays increased strikingly without the micro-organisms themselves being exposed to the action of irradiation. The experiments demonstrated that mainly in cultures containing protein, under the action of ultra-violet rays the oxidation-reduction potential showed an average decrease of 300 mV., whereas under that of X-rays the decrease was 100–110 mV.; at the same time the value of the redox capacity increased too. In order also to find an energetic explanation for the change of the metabolism of the micro-organisms cultured on irradiated medium the following tests were carried out on aerobic cultures of Serracia marcesens strains. The strains examined were inoculated into the medium irradiated with ultra-violet rays of a quartz mercury lamp for 3 hr., and simultaneously the increase of the cell count, the oxidation-reduction potential and prodigiosin production were measured.