Metabolic analysis of galactose toxicity in Escherichia coli with 2-deoxygalactose as the probe.

Biochemical basis of galactose toxicity has been studied in gal T mutants (CGSC 4974) using 2-deoxygalactose, a non-metabolizable analogue of galactose, as the probe. It is found that biochemical features of toxicity in wild type cells either with 2-deoxygalactose or with 2-deoxyglucose are very similar to the picture obtained with gal T mutants and the observed bacteriostasis is probably due to futile phosphorylation and not due to any specific inhibitory effect of phosphorylated galactose.