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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2008, p. 5875-5881, Vol. 74, No. 19
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01228-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Protozoal Digestion of Coat-Defective Bacillus subtilis Spores Produces "Rinds" Composed of Insoluble Coat Protein{triangledown}

Alicia Monroe Carroll,1,{dagger} Marco Plomp,2 Alexander J. Malkin,2 and Peter Setlow1*

Department of Molecular, Microbial and Structural Biology, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut 06030,1 Chemistry, Materials, Earth and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 945512

Received 3 June 2008/ Accepted 28 July 2008

The Bacillus subtilis spore coat is a multilayer, proteinaceous structure that consists of more than 50 proteins. Located on the surface of the spore, the coat provides resistance to potentially toxic molecules as well as to predation by the protozoan Tetrahymena thermophila. When coat-defective spores are fed to Tetrahymena, the spores are readily digested. However, a residue termed a "rind" that looks like coat material remains. As observed with a phase-contrast microscope, the rinds are spherical or hemispherical structures that appear to be devoid of internal contents. Atomic force microscopy and chemical analyses showed that (i) the rinds are composed of insoluble protein largely derived from both outer and inner spore coat layers, (ii) the amorphous layer of the outer coat is largely responsible for providing spore resistance to protozoal digestion, and (iii) the rinds and intact spores do not contain significant levels of silicon.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular, Microbial and Structural Biology, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT 06032. Phone: (860) 679-2607. Fax: (860) 679-3408. E-mail: setlow{at}nso2.uchc.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 8 August 2008.

{dagger} Formerly Alicia Monroe.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2008, p. 5875-5881, Vol. 74, No. 19
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01228-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Qiu, X., Setlow, P. (2009). Structural and Genetic Analysis of X-Ray Scattering by Spores of Bacillus subtilis. J. Bacteriol. 191: 7620-7622 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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