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GROWTH OF CELLULAR FORMS IN CULTURES OF CHROMATIN BODIES ISOLATED FROM BACILLUS MEGATERIUM

Department of Microbiology, Baylor University College of Medicine, Houston, Texas

ABSTRACT

CHATTERJEE, B. R. (Baylor University College of Medicine, Houston, Texas) AND ROBERT P. WILLIAMS. Growth of cellular forms in cultures of chromatin bodies isolated from Bacillus megaterium. J. Bacteriol. 85:623–627. 1963.—Chromatin bodies isolated from old cultures of Bacillus megaterium were capable of growing into protoplastlike cells when cultured in broth enriched with horse serum, yeast extract, adenosine triphosphate, and penicillin. A tendency toward formation of rod forms of bacteria was observed in such cultures. Omission of penicillin from the medium resulted in development of short bacterial forms. In 3 of 29 experiments, actual bacillary forms indistinguishable from the parent B. megaterium organism were recovered. Culture of the chromatin bodies in plain nutrient broth did not produce any growth. Inoculation on serum-enriched agar medium of a culture of chromatin bodies, after they had begun multiplication in serum-enriched broth, resulted in development of large bodies characteristic of L forms. Ability of chromatin bodies to grow was not affected by heating for 2 hr at 80 C or by sonic treatment for up to 25 min. The possible role of such resistant chromatin bodies in the latency and persistence of infectious diseases was discussed.