BACKGROUND Different strains of the genus Bacillus are versatile candidates for the industrial production and secretion of heterologous proteins. They can be cultivated quite easily, show high growth rates and are usually non-pathogenic and free of endo- and exotoxins. They have the ability to secrete proteins with high efficiency into the growth medium, which allows cost-effective downstream p...

Spores of Bacillus megaterium QM B1551 are encased in a morphologically distinctive exosporium. We demonstrate here that genes encoded on the indigenous pBM500 and pBM600 plasmids are required for exosporium assembly and or stability in spores of this strain. Bioinformatic analyses identified genes encoding orthologues of the B. cereus-family exosporium nap and basal layer proteins within the B...

One hundred fifty rhizobacteria isolated from roots of Swiss chard grown in a soil suppressive to the sugar beet cyst nematode, Heterodera schachtii, were tested for their influence on the nematode's ability to hatch and infect roots. Two screening systems were used that focused on the ability of bacteria to inhibit either nematode hatching or root infection. Most of the bacterial strains reduc...