Influence of growth environment on the phosphoenolpyruvate: glucose phosphotransferase activities of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella aerogenes: a comparative study.

A consistent difference was found between glucose-limited cultures of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella aerogenes strains in the manner which their apparent cellular content of glucose:phosphoenolpyruvate phosphotransferase (glucose-PTS) varied with growth rate. With the former strains, activity increased as a function of growth rate; in the latter it decreased. However, under glucose-sufficient conditions (potassium- or ammonia-limitation) both species behaved similarly; the glucose-PTS activity was lower and bore no obvious relationship to the rate of glucose consumption expressed by the growing culture.