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Results and discussion
Alteration of enzymatic activities of the Krebs R428 in H. pylori from the spiral to the coccoid form.
Fig. 1.
The Krebs cycle of H. pylori. The existence of unusual enzymes, namely, KOR, that converts alpha-ketoglutarate to succinate, and CoAT, that converts succinyl CoA to succinate.
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Fig. 2.
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Effect of NaI on the CoAT activity and bacterial growth
In this study, exposure to 10 mM NaI inhibited the CoAT activity of H. pylori by 41% ( Fig. 3A). Although CoAT activity was inhibited by applying NaI to exponentially growing H. pylori cell cultures, the colony-forming ability (cfu per milliliter) of the organisms was not influenced by this procedure ( Fig. 3B). As shown in Fig. 3C and D, while the CoAT activity was inhibited during the growth of the spiral form, the KOR activity increased by 2.3-fold (p energy metabolism in the spiral form of H. pylori. The catalytic pathway involving KOR which directs oxidation of alpha-ketoglutarate to succinate as a salvage pathway is an essential pathway of energy metabolism in H. pylori when the CoAT activity is suppressed.