To better understand how the reducing power of either NADH or NADPH affects cell growth, Escherichia coli strains expressing either NADH-dependent or NADPH-dependent azoreductase (EC 1.6.5.2), which mediates the reduction of an azo dye, were cultured in glucose minimal medium in the presence of 200 mu M methyl red. Growth rates in NADH-perturbed, NADPH-perturbed, and control cells were 0.05, 0.12, and 0.13 h(-1), respectively. In addition, glucose consumption in NADH-perturbed cells was 10.8 g glucose/g cell, while that of control and NADPH-perturbed cells was very similar (3.6 vs 3.8 g glucose/g cell) during the perturbation phase. Therefore, NADH perturbation had a larger effect than NADPH on cellular growth.