The structure of peptidoglycans of Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis is similar except for a few minor modifications, but murein (cell wall) structures are extremely different because the major cell wall constituents, anionic polymers, are not attached to peptidoglycans of E. coli but are attached to those of B. subtilis. Thickness of the cell walls in B. subtilis and the presence of an ou...

AmyL, an extracellular alpha-amylase from Bacillus licheniformis, is resistant to extracellular proteases secreted by Bacillus subtilis during growth. Nevertheless, when AmyL is produced and secreted by B. subtilis, it is subject to considerable cell-associated proteolysis. Cell-wall-bound proteins CWBP52 and CWBP23 are the processed products of the B. subtilis wprA gene. Although no activity h...

Cell extracts of Bacillus subtilis contain a methyltransferase that appears to remove the O6-methyl group from O6-methylguanine in DNA in situ. This reaction proceeds in a stoichiometric fashion, as in Escherichia coli. However, the basal level of the enzyme (approximately 240 molecules per cell) is significantly higher in B. subtilis than in E. coli. In addition, the methyltransferase level in...

The transcription factor Spo0A is a master regulator for entry into sporulation in Bacillus subtilis and also regulates expression of the virulent B. subtilis phage phi29. Here, we describe a novel function for Spo0A, being an inhibitor of DNA replication of both, the phi29 genome and the B. subtilis chromosome. Binding of Spo0A near the phi29 DNA ends, constituting the two origins of replicati...

Biosurfactants are amphiphilic compounds produced by various bacteria and fungi which reduce surface and interfacial tension. Oil contaminated soil were collected from four different automobile shop in Mayiladuthurai, Tamilnadu, India. Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were isolated and identified from these four samples and these were screened for biosurfactants production using veg...

A host-vector system for inducible secretion during the logarithmic growth phase in Bacillus subtilis has been developed. The B. subtilis levansucrase gene promoter and the region encoding its signal sequence have been used. The endoglucanase A of Clostridium thermocellum was used as a model protein to test the efficiency of the system. Effective inducible secretion of the endoglucanase A was o...

A novel Bacillus subtilis KD1 strain was isolated and identified from healthy broilers, and its phylogenetic classification was subsequently analyzed. To evaluate its probiotic availability, its growth characteristics and tolerance for the gut environment were evaluated in vitro. The results suggest that B. subtilis KD1 is superior in secreting neutral protease and is highly tolerant of gastric...

Studies were carried out on the decolorization of azo dyes by Bacillus species from effluent of textile industries. About 10 bacterial strains were isolated from the effluent of textile industries, Bacillus sp. showed remarkable ability in decolorizing the widely utilized azo dyes. Phenotypic characterization and phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rDNA sequence comparisons indicate that these s...

Taxis to oxygen (aerotaxis) in Bacillus subtilis was characterized in a capillary assay and in a temporal assay in which the concentration of oxygen in a flow chamber was changed abruptly. A strong aerophilic response was present, but there was no aerophobic response to high concentrations of oxygen. Adaptation to a step increase in oxygen concentration was impaired when B. subtilis cells were ...

A bacterial strain isolated from soil for its potential to control the anthracnose disease caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides was identified as a Bacillus subtilis. Bacillus subtilis CMB32 produced antifungal agents on M9 broth at 30degreesC. Biosurfactant lipopeptides produced by Bacillus subtilis CMB32 were precipitated by adjusting to pH 2 and extracting using chloroform/methanol, and ...