Oscillations in the activities of respiratory enzymes in synchronized Bacillus subtilis

Abstract The activities of NADH, succinate and lactate dehydrogenases have been measured during the cell cycle of Bacillus subtilis . All three enzymes showed an oscillatory pattern of activity expressed as two maxima and two minima per division cycle. For both succinate and lactate dehydrogenases the maxima occurred at approximately 0.2 and 0.6 of a cycle. The maxima of NADH dehydrogenase activity were out of phase at 0.4 and 0.9 of a cycle and occurred at the same time as the rises in respiratory activity previously reported for this bacterium.