Incorporation of Specific Fatty Acid Precursors During Spore Germination and Outgrowth in Bacillus thuringiensis

Authors

Kenneth W. Nickerson, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Lee A. Bulla Jr., U.S. Department of Agriculture, Manhattan, Kansas

Date of this Version

7-1-1980

Comments

Published in APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, July 1980, p. 166-168. Copyright © 1980 by the American Society for Microbiology. Used by permission.

Abstract

The selective incorporation of precursors specific for individual fatty acids in germinating and outgrowing spores of Bacillus thuringiensis is described. The specific precursors utilized were [¹⁴C]butyrate, -isobutyrate, -valerate, and -isovalerate, which were incorporated into even-numbered normal-chain isomers, even-numbered iso-isomers, odd-numbered normal-chain acids, and odd-numbered isohomologs, respectively. This preferential incorporation by B. thuringiensis allows the terminal carbons of specific normal and branched-chain fatty acids, contained within the cytoplasmic membrane, to be labeled with ¹⁴C and, potentially, ¹³C.