The Breakdown of Asparagine, Glutamine, and Other Amides by Microorganisms From the Sheep's Rumen

Abstract

Microorganisms from the rumen of sheep rapidly broke down asparagine, glutamine, nicotinamide, and formamide, with the production of ammonia, but only slowly attacked acetamide and propionamide. Microorganisms from different animals, or collected at different times, had different activities. The results suggested that a separate enzyme or enzymes were involved for each substrate, including perhaps a D- as well as an L-asparaginase. The amide groups of casein were also broken down, but it is uncertain to what extent prior hydrolysis had taken place. -while the a·ctivities could not be correlated with any morphologically recognizable group of microorganisms, it appeared that asparaginase was mainly associated with the bacteria, glutaminase to a large extent with the protozoa.