Evening star., 1933-09-12
RESPIRATION FIND
|. BY AGRICULTURAL
CHEMISTS HAILED
"Co-Enzyme" May Be One of
Most Fundamental Sub
stances in Life.
MATERIAL is NECESSARY
TO TAKING IN OF OXYGEN
Organisms Studied Were "Legume
Bacteria" Significant Fac.
tors in Nature.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

Discovery Of a respiration co-enZyme"
which may be one of the most fun
damental substances in the phenomena
OF life-has just been announced by
chemists of the Bureau Of Chemistry
and Soils Of the Department Of Agri-
culture.
1t Is a material which apparently is
necessary to "set off" the process of
respiration, or taking in of oxygen, by
the living cell. This, in turn. is the
basic phenomenon which makes posi-
BILE the processes Of growth and repro
duction which are the distinguishing
traits Of living matter.
The function of the newly discovered
"co-enZyme" as a breath starter holds
true. at least, with number of single
celled organisms of the nitrogen
fixing bacteria type studied at the
fixed nitrogen laboratory of the Agri-
culture Department at American Uni
versity. The discoverers. Franklin E.
Allison. Sam r. Hoover and Dean Burk,
are not prepared to say how much fur
ther it goes.
Study "Legume Bacteria"
The organisms studied were the So
called ''legumc bacteria -single-c -celled
organisms which penetrate the roots of
leguminous plants such as clover, draw
ing nitrogen from the soil for the bene-
mt Of the host plant from which. in
turn, they draw their food. These bac-
terra are significant factors in the
mechanism of nature
But the basic behavior Of the cell is
about the same throughout nature,
whether 1t be a complete organism as
n 10 IF ha
cell in the vast complex of q plant or
animal body. In either case it must
breathe-that is. take in oxygen. This
breathing enables it to absorb susie
nance and grow
Chemical Process Necessary.
But breathing. in turn. is a unique
property Of living protoplasm, and life
began on earth only when the first
nolecule acquired this ability. 1t has
been known for some time that the
cell breathes only in the presence of
a chemical substance known as an
engine, which serves to make possible
chemical process without itself TAX
ing part In 1t. There may be several
breathing engines found in different
kinds of cells. The one usually found
and best known is complex organic
compound of iron. closely related TO
and possibly identical with the hemo-
globin of the blood It never has been
possible to isolate this engine, but its
properties have been studied by spec
troscopic analysis.
Must Have Co-Enzyme.
Now, it appears from the new discov-
cry, this engine itself cannot work,
at least in the legume bacteria, without
m
off. This co-enZyme, according to its
discoverers, works in almost unbeliev-
able minute quantities. An addition
of five parts in a million to a culture
solution of these single celled organ
isms brings about a respiration rate,
and consequently a growth rate. since
the two run along in almost linear
relationship for short time, of one
half the maximum which it has been
possible to obtain. The pure sub
stance would doubtless be much more
potent than this. That used, although
the highest concentration which 1t has
been possible to reach. was only about
Is per cent pure. 1t was found that up
to the maximum, growth of the culture
colony increased in exact ratio to the
amount of the co-enzyme which was
added to the solution.
Obtained From cane sugar.
The co-enzyme, it was found, is al
most universally distributed in living
nature, That used in the Department
of Agriculture experiments was OBJ
tanned from cane sugar, but it has been
extracted from grass, goldenrod and
other plants. The discoverers believe
that every plant contains it. Most cells
apparently have the ability to make
their own supply, but these particular
legume bacteria do not. They must OBJ
tain it from the plant to which they
have attached themselves.
There is apparently fair supply Of
it in the soil itself, since they found
one free-living bacterium in the soil,
which synthesizes 1t readily. This par
ticular bacterium happens to have the
highest respiratory rate of any known
organism.
Although the discoverers cautiously
avoid drawing any conclusions regard.
ing their discovery outside the field OF
the legume bacteria, the essential sim
ilarity of the life processes throughout
the entire scale contains the implica-
ton that the co-enZyme may be key
stone to the whole structure of the liv-
ing world.
Although it appears much more stable
than the respiration engine, the CO.
engine could be obtained in pure form
only by an extremely laborious process,
and no attempt has been made as yet
to do this