A Preliminary Study of Ammonia Production by Coryne- bacterium renale and some other Pathogenic Bacteria

SUMMARY: Urease is a constituent enzyme of Corynebactmiurn rende and appears to account for the bulk of its arnmonia production. C. renale also contains an arginase and some amino-acid deaminases, but the former has not been fully char-acterized. Bovine urine supports the growth of a small inocdum of C. renale for a limited time but after growth has reached a maximum it diminishes rapidly and the ammonia and pH values increase. C. renale also contains uricase but its precise significance has not yet been determined. Of the other bacteria studied, C. owis has urease activity similar to C. renak, and C. p y 0. g ~ a stronger initial arginase. C. equi contains no appreciable urease or arghwe, although it tends to form ammonia from glutamine. Corynebacterium renale is the cause of a specific cystitis and pyelonephritis in cattle; the lesions in natural infections in cattle and in experimental infections in mice and rabbits after intravenous inoculation are localized in the medulla of the kidney (Lovell, 1946; Lovell & Cotchin, 1946; Feenstra, Thorp & Gray, 1949). This selective localization may, in part, be explained by the metaboli