Disposition of Membranes in Alcaligenes Faecalis

Pinchot (1957) obtained particulates from Alcaligenes faecalis extracts which were able to carry out oxidative phosphorylation in the pres-ence of a polynucleotide fraction and a heat-labile enzyme fraction. The present study grew from a desire to find the site of this biochemical activity in the intact cell. A possible basis for the localiza-tion in the cell of the particles suggested itself when it was found that the particles were mem-brane-bounded vesicles and that they became dense on fixation with potassium permanganate