Suspensions of C. perfringens, when grown on a peptone-free, semi-defined medium, have been shown to remain resistant to autolysis for extended periods of time. The stability of these suspensions has been compared with that of cells grown on complex media. Extracts of cells grown on this semi-defined medium were found to contain all of the enzymes of the Embden-Meyerhof pathway of glycolysis, in addition to lactic acid dehydrogenase and the pyruvate-clastic system, but no evidence of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity could be demonstrated. Evidence has been presented for the implication of the Embden-Meyerhof pathway as the major pathway of glucose degradation by this organism. Resting suspensions of C. perfringens were shown to transport radioactive glucose and mannose, but not other carbohydrates by a common mechanism and accumulate glucose to concentrations several hundred times those found in the external medium. The transport system was found to be an enzymatic, energy-dependent, temperature-sensitive, and highly specific mechanism which was saturated at high substrate concentrations. The carbohydrate was found to be accumulated as an equilibrium mixture of phosphorylated hexoses. The phosphorylation mechanism involved in accumulation was demonstrated to be other than the soluble hexo-kinase. / Science, Faculty of / Microbiology and Immunology, Department of / Graduate