The enzymes of
B. coli communis
. Part V.—(a) anaerobic growth followed by anaerobic and aerobic fermentation. (b) the effects of aeration during the fermentation
In the present communications the effect of oxygen upon the fermentation of glucose and upon the growth of the bacteria, in so far as this affects fermentation, is considered. To this end the organisms have been grown both aerobically and anaerobically, and subsequently made to ferment glucose, both aerobically and anaerobically, with the object of comparing the products of decomposition in the two cases. There are clearly two problems : firstly, the effect of exposure to oxygen during growth upon the subsequent fermentation, whether aerobic or anaerobic, and, secondly, the effect of oxygen admitted during the fermentation. The first question relates to the part played by oxygen in the formation of enzymes, the second to the part played by oxygen in their action on carbohydrates. The first question is considered, though in but a preliminary way, in Section A, the second, more fully, in Section B. Section A. Object of the Experiments . Two results were aimed at in these experiments. Firstly, to compare the products of fermentation of glucose anaerobically, after anaerobic growth, with the products of fermentation anaerobically after previous growth aerobically. And, secondly, to obtain information as to the effect of introducing oxygen during the fermentation itself. This latter consideration, however, though brought to notice by these experiments, is considered only incidentally here because it forms the subject of Section B. In the present section we wish to direct attention particularly to those differences which exist between the fermentation after anaerobic and aerobic growth, not upon the effect of aeration during the fermentation. To point out the difference which previous growth aerobically or anaerobically has made, several analyses from previous experiments are included in Table IV side by side with the completely anaerobic experiments of Tables I, II, and III.