Although Virtanen and Laine (Enzymologia, 3, 226, 1937) have claimed that Rhizobium legumino8arium decarboxylates aspartic acid with the formation of beta-alanine, as determined by the isolation and chemical identification of this product from a 47-day fermentation mash containing aspartic acid, actual proof of the conversion of aspartic acid to beta-alanine is lacking. The decarboxylation of a dicarboxylic amino acid, aspartic acid, could yield either alpha-alanine or beta-alanine depending on

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... which carboxyl group is attacked. We have been studying the enzymatic decarboxylation of aspartic acid