Extracellular Glucose-1-Phosphate in Acetobacter Xylinum and Its Role in Cellulose Synthesis

Extracellular glucose-1-phosphate (G-1-P) was identified and isolated from suspensions of intact, washed, glucose-metabolizing cells of Acetobacter xylinum. The presence of this extracellular hexose phosphate was closely correlated with active glucose metabolism of the cells but the compound was not the immediate precursor of bacterial cellulose. The extracellular G-1-P was not a degradation product of uridine diphosphate glucose but could have been a fragment of a still larger, more complex molecule. Possible modes of transport of the ester across the bacterial cell membrane are discussed.