This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Bylund, J E Articles by Higgins, M L Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Bylund, J E Articles by Higgins, M L

research-article

Axial filament formation in Bacillus subtilis: induction of nucleoids of increasing length after addition of chloramphenicol to exponential-phase cultures approaching stationary phase.

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19140.

ABSTRACT

When chloramphenicol was added to a culture of Bacillus subtilis in early exponential growth, microscopic observation of cells stained by 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole showed nucleoids that had changed in appearance from irregular spheres and dumbbells to large, brightly stained spheres and ovals. In contrast, the addition of chloramphenicol to cultures in mid- and late exponential growth showed cells with elongated nucleoids whose frequency and length increased as the culture approached stationary phase. The kinetics of nucleoid elongation after the addition of chloramphenicol to exponential-phase cultures was complex. Immediately after treatment, the rate of nucleoid elongation was very rapid. The nucleoid then elongated steadily for about 4 min, after which the rate of elongation decreased considerably. Nucleoids of cells treated with 6-(p-hydroxyphenylazo)-uracil (an inhibitor of DNA synthesis) exhibited the immediate rapid elongation upon chloramphenicol treatment but not the subsequent changes. These observations suggest that axial filament formation during stationary phase (stage I of sporulation) in the absence of chloramphenicol results from changes in nucleoid structure that are initiated earlier, during exponential growth.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Hilbert, D. W., Piggot, P. J. (2004). Compartmentalization of Gene Expression during Bacillus subtilis Spore Formation. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 68: 234-262 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Chary, V. K., Piggot, P. J. (2003). Postdivisional Synthesis of the Sporosarcina ureae DNA Translocase SpoIIIE either in the Mother Cell or in the Prespore Enables Bacillus subtilis To Translocate DNA from the Mother Cell to the Prespore. J. Bacteriol. 185: 879-886 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Minkovsky, N., Zarimani, A., Chary, V. K., Johnstone, B. H., Powell, B. S., Torrance, P. D., Court, D. L., Simons, R. W., Piggot, P. J. (2002). Bex, the Bacillus subtilis Homolog of the Essential Escherichia coli GTPase Era, Is Required for Normal Cell Division and Spore Formation. J. Bacteriol. 184: 6389-6394 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Sciochetti, S. A., Blakely, G. W., Piggot, P. J. (2001). Growth Phase Variation in Cell and Nucleoid Morphology in a Bacillus subtilis recA Mutant. J. Bacteriol. 183: 2963-2968 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Glaser, P, Sharpe, M E, Raether, B, Perego, M, Ohlsen, K, Errington, J (1997). Dynamic, mitotic-like behavior of a bacterial protein required for accurate chromosome partitioning.. Genes Dev. 11: 1160-1168 [Abstract]  
• Wu, L., Errington, J (1994). Bacillus subtilis spoIIIE protein required for DNA segregation during asymmetric cell division. Science 264: 572-575 [Abstract]