The Uptake of Amino Acids During the Terminal Bacteraemia in Guinea Pigs Infected with Bacillus anthracis

Summary: As part of an attempt to study the metabolism of Bacillus anthracis in vivo and its connexion with virulence, the utilization of amino acids by this pathogen was examined whilst it was growing in the blood of guinea pigs during the terminal phases of anthrax. Under these conditions, B. anthracis used relatively large quantities of glutamine, threonine, tryptophan and glycine, whereas histidine, lysine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, methionine and alanine did not appear to be taken up in appreciable quantities.