Disulfide bonds are important for the correct folding, structural integrity, and activity of many biotechnologically relevant proteins. For synthesis and subsequent secretion of these proteins in bacteria, such as the well-known "cell factory" Bacillus subtilis, it is often the correct formation of disulfide bonds that is the greatest bottleneck. Degradation of inefficiently or incorrectly oxid...

The sequence of 1267 nucleotides spanning the replication terminus, terC, of the Bacillus subtilis 168 chromosome has been determined. The site of arrest of the clockwise fork, which defines terC, has been localized to a 30-nucleotide portion (approximately) within this sequence. The arrest site occurs in an A + T-rich region between two open reading frames and very close to one of two imperfec...

“Variants” isolated from cultures of Bacillus subtilis 168 grown in a medium containing copper sulfate differ significantly from the parent organism in the cytosine-guanine content of their deoxyribonucleic acid (1). In an attempt to correlate these changes with a given phenotypic change, a study of the cell walls was undertaken. In the course of this work an organism designated 4G-SC was isola...

Acetoin is widely used as flavor agent and serves as a precursor for chemical synthesis. Here we focused on identifying the best physiological conditions (initial substrate concentrations, pH, temperature, and agitation) for enhanced acetoin accumulation by Bacillus subtilis 168. The optimal physiological conditions support maximum acetoin accumulation by minimizing byproduct (acetate and butan...

Within the framework of the European project to sequence the whole Bacillus subtilis 168 genome, a 23911 bp long chromosomal DNA fragment located around 233 degrees on the B. subtilis genetic map was cloned and sequenced. From the generated sequencing data and the results of the homology search, the primary structure of this region was determined. In addition to the whole lev operon, the region...

Competent cultures of Bacillus subtilis 168 have been fractionated into a high-competent and a low-competent fraction by a large-scale separation technique. Membrane vesicles isolated from both cell fractions are equally active in the transport of L-glutamate. Both membrane vesicle preparations seem to have similar endo- and exonuclease activities. Also, both preparations are capable of binding...

Assays of CDP-glycerol:poly(glycerophosphate) glycerophosphotransferase (CGPTase) (EC 2.7.8.12) in membranes isolated from Bacillus subtilis 168 wild type and 11 strains bearing conditional lethal thermosensitive mutations in tagB, tagD, or tagF revealed that CGPTase deficiency was associated only with mutant tagF alleles. In vitro, thermosensitivity of CGPTase strongly suggests that the struct...

The localization of ATP-hydrolysing activity in vegetative cells, spores and isolated membranes of Bacillus subtilis 168 was studied by a cytochemical method combined with electron microscopy. The activity was located mainly in the cytoplasmic membrane and the mesosomes, and was also found in the inner layer of the cell wall facing the cytoplasmic membrane. Activity was also detected in the cro...

The relative amounts of two valyl-tRNA species from Bacillus subtilis W23 were compared by methylated albumin Kieselguhr column chromatography and by diethylaminoethyl cellulose column chromatography after T1 ribonuclease digestion. The ratio of the two valyl-tRNAs changes significantly during sporulation, during step-up and step-down growth transitions, during the stationary phase of an asporo...