Urea: An intermediate of aerobic and anaerobic purine degradation in Rhodopseudomonas capsulata

A mutant strain (pur‐) defective in utilization of purines was isolated from Rhodopseudomonas capsulata. In the mutant, the loss of purine utilization correlated with urease deficiency. In contrast to the wild‐type strain, the mutant catalyzed release of urea from purines. The nitrogen of the purine ring was completely liberated as urea indicating that the latter compound is an intermediate of the purine degradation pathway in Rps. capsulata. The degradation pattern was identical under aerobic and anaerobic conditions.