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J. Bacteriol., 07 1995, 3985-3991, Vol 177, No. 14
Copyright © 1995, American Society for Microbiology

Role of methylation in aerotaxis in Bacillus subtilis

LS Wong, MS Johnson, IB Zhulin and BL Taylor
Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Loma Linda University, California 92350, USA.

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 depleted of methionine to prevent methylation of the methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins. There was a transient increase in methanol release when wild- type B. subtilis, but not a cheR mutant that was deficient in methyltransferase activity, was stimulated by a step increase or a step decrease in oxygen concentration. The methanol released was quantitatively correlated with demethylation of methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins. This indicated that methylation is involved in aerotaxis in B. subtilis in contrast to aerotaxis in Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium, which is methylation independent.

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