Chemotaxis towards sugars by Bacillus subtilis.

Many sugars and derivatives were tested in the capillary assay for their attraction of Bacillus subtilis. The major attractants were 2-deoxy-D-glucose, D-fructose, gentiobiose, D-glucose, maltose, D-mannitol, D-mannose, N-acetylglucosamine, alpha-methyl-D-glucoside, beta-methyl-D-glucoside, N-acetylmannosamine, alpha-methyl-D-mannoside, D-sorbitol, L-sorbose, sucrose, trehalose and D-xylose. Only glucose chemotaxis was completely constitutive. Competition experiments were carried out to determine the specificities of chemoreceptors. There were 25 instances of no influence of two sugars on each other's taxis, 92 instances of one sugar interfering non-reciprocally with chemotaxis towards another and 49 instances of two sugars reciprocally competing. However, in most of the last instances, other sugars were identified that interfered with chemotaxis towards one member of the pair but not the other. Thus, nearly all sugars and related compounds appear to be detected by their own chemoreceptors, but many secondary interactions exist.     

Methyl transfer in chemotaxis toward sugars by Bacillus subtilis.

Like amino acids, the sugars glucose and the nonmetabolizable 2-deoxyglucose caused a turnover of methyl groups on the methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins. These sugars also caused methanol formation on addition. Thus, in contrast to chemotaxis in Escherichia coli, taxis to phosphotransferase sugars by Bacillus subtilis utilizes the methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins.     

Chemotaxis toward amino acids by Bacillus subtilis.

Conditions for assaying chemotaxis in Bacillus subtilis are described. The chemotaxis medium we used afforded excellent motility for hours. In it, chemotaxis measured by capillary assays was insensitive to pH between 5.5 and 9, and to temperature between 28 degrees C and 42 degrees C. Chemotaxis was observed toward all 20 common amino acids, with thresholds varying from 3nM for alanine to 0.1 mM for glutamate, in the capillary assay, and from 0.1 muM for alanine to 0.32 mM for glutamate in the microscope assay.     

Transport and incorporation of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine in Bacillus subtilis

Bacillus subtilis 168 has been found to possess a high-affinity transport system for N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAC). The Km for uptake was approximately 3.7 microM GlcNAc, regardless of the nutritional background of the cells. Apparent increases in Vmax were noted when the bacteria were grown in the presence of GlcNAc. The uptake of GlcNAc by B. subtilis was highly stereoselective; D-glucose, D-glucosamine, N-acetyl-D-galactosamine, D-galactose, D-mannose, and N-acetylmuramic acid did not inhibit GlcNAc uptake. In contrast, glycerol was an effective inhibitor of [3H]GlcNAc transport and incorporation. Partial inhibition of GlcNAc uptake was observed with azide, fluoride, and cyanide anions, carbonyl cyanide-m-chlorophenyl hydrazone, methyltriphenylphosphonium bromide, N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, gramicidin, valinomycin, monensin, and nigericin. Two anions, arsenite and iodoacetate, were potent inhibitors of the uptake of GlcNAc in B. subtilis. Results from paper chromatography showed that there was no intracellular pool of free GlcNAc and that the acetylamino sugar was probably phosphorylated during transport. A modification of the Park-Hancock cell fractionation scheme indicated that cells grown on glycerol or D-glucose incorporated [3H]GlcNAc primarily into the cell wall fraction. When GlcNAc was used as the sole carbon source, label could be demonstrated in fractions susceptible to protease and nuclease, as well as lysozyme, showing that the N-acetylamino sugar was utilized in macromolecular synthesis and energy metabolism.     

The effect of amino acids on the motile behavior of Bacillus subtilis

Constant levels of amino acids enhanced the velocity of Bacillus subtilis 60015 cells about 2-fold and stimulated the response in motility assays. The stimulation of velocity did not occur via the receptors for chemotaxis. Cysteine and methionine, general inhibitors of chemotaxis, both completely inhibited the smooth response in a temporal gradient of attractant. After methionine starvation B. subtilis 60015 showed no measurable response in a temporal gradient of attractant, this in contrast to the effect observed with some other bacteria. Addition of methionine to starved cells restored the response toward attractant. Revertants of B. subtilis 60015 for methionine requirement could not be starved and showed a normal behavior toward temporal gradients of attractant.Abbreviation O.D.₆₀₀ optical density measured at 600 nm     

Bacillus subtilis aminopeptidase: specificity toward amino acyl-beta-naphthylamides.

The kinetic parameters for the hydrolyses of different l-α-amino acid-β-naphthylamides by Bacillus subtilis aminopeptidase have been measured for the native enzyme and for the enzyme activated in 5 mm Co(NO₃)₂. In most cases Co²⁺ activation decreased K_m(app) values and increased k_cat values, in other cases k_m(app) and k_cat values were increased; for the remainder of the substrates tested k_m(app) values and k_cat values were decreased. In all cases tested the ratios of $\text{(}\text{k}\text{cat}\text{K}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>m(</mtext><mtext>app</mtext><mtext>)</mtext>}}\text{)}\text{CO}{}^{\mathrm{2+}}\text{/(}\text{k}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>cat</mtext>}}\text{K}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>m(</mtext><mtext>app</mtext><mtext>)nativ</mtext>}}\text{)}$ were increased (2- to 108-fold). For the native enzyme the order of specificity toward the l-amino acid-β-naphthylamides was Arg > Met > Trp > Lys > Leu and for the Co²⁺ activated enzyme the order of specificity was Lys > Arg > Met > Trp > Leu. The native enzyme hydrolyzed Pro-β-naphthylamide, but not α-Glu-β-naphthylamide; Co²⁺ activation of the enzyme affected an appreciable rate of hydrolysis of the latter substrate.     

Analysis of free amino acids during fermentation by Bacillus subtilis using capillary electrophoresis

A high performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE) method was presented to identify and quantitate free amino acids during fermentation by Bacillus subtilis. Amino acids, pre-column derivatized with phenylisothicyanate, were separated and characterized by HPCE. In order to optimize separation conditions, the assay was developed by varying the β-cyclodextrin concentration and pH of the background electrolyte. A buffer system comprising 30 mM phosphate and 3 mM β-cyclodextrin at pH 7.0, voltage of 20 kV and detection wavelength of 254 nm showed the best results, with 17 out of 20 phenylthioncarbamyl amino acids in a solution adequately separated. For quantification, p-aminobenzoic acid was added as an internal standard. Analysis of free amino acids in Bacillus subtilis culture medium using this method revealed good consistency with the values obtained using conventional ninhydrin-based amino acid analyzer. Four free amino acids (aspartic acid, glutamic acid, proline, and tyrosine) concentration in an extracellular matrix during fermentation by Bacillus subtilis were mainly monitored using this method.     

Differential amino acid requirements for sporulation in Bacillus subtilis

The amino acid requirements for sporulation were studied by use of auxotrophic mutants of Bacillus subtilis 168. Cells were grown to T(0) in medium containing the test amino acid and were then transferred to a minimal medium lacking that amino acid. Omission of leucine caused no reduction in sporulation. Omission of methionine, lysine, and phenylalanine appeared to cause reduced levels of sporulation, and sporulation was completely inhibited when isoleucine, tryptophan, and threonine were omitted. The amino acids in this third class showed a sequence of requirements, with tryptophan required earlier than isoleucine, which in turn was required earlier in the sporulation process than threonine. Isoleucine omission did not affect the early sporulation functions of extracellular protease formation or septum formation, but prevented the increased levels of protein synthesis and oxygen consumption that normally accompany early sporulation stages. Isoleucine did not appear to be metabolized to other compounds in significant amounts during sporulation. The role of isoleucine in the sporulation process remains unclear.     

The production of antifungal volatiles by Bacillus subtilis

A strain of Bacillus subtilis which produces an antibiotic metabolite was also found to produce a volatile compound(s) which was antifungal to Rhizoctonia solani and Pythium ultimum.
Growth of the fungi was severely impaired in the presence of the volatiles and physiological abnormalities of the hyphae were observed, including hyphal distortion and vacuolation. A range of media were tested for volatile production and potato dextrose agar (PDA) was found to be the most active. Temperature had a considerable effect on antifungal volatile activity with the greatest inhibition occurring at 30°C. Addition of iron (III) chloride to Sabouraud's glucose agar (SGA) also enhanced the antifungal effect. The volatiles were found to be water soluble and remained active when trapped in SGA.     

Effect of proteolysis inhibitors on the incorporation of labelled amino acids into proteins]

Role of peptide bond breaks in the incorporation of amino acids into proteins in a "protein--amino acid" system is investigated. For this purpose the incorporation of labelled amino acids into trypsin under the inhibition of its autolysis by a specific inhibitor from soybean and epsilon-amino-caproic acid is studied. The trypsin inhibitor from soybean is found to suppress considerably the incorporation of 14C-glycine, 14C-lysine and 14C-methionine into crystal trypsin and not to affect the incorporation of labelled amino acids into chomotrypsin, papain and carboxypeptidase. Epsilon-Aminocaproic acid inhibited 14C-glycine incorporation into crystal trypsin by 40% and did not change its incorporation level into serum albumin. The dependency of amino acid incorporation level into trypsin on the activity of autolysis in the "protein--amino acid" system is demonstrated.