Open AccessRegularly structured and non‐regularly structured surface layers of Bacillus sphaericus
Author(s) -
Word Nancy S.,
Yousten Allan A.,
Howard Lawrence
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1983.tb00418.x
Subject(s) - bacillus sphaericus , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , bacillales , bacteria , bacillus subtilis , genetics
A variety of Gram-posit ive and Gram-negative bacteria have been shown to possess a protein or glycoprotein layer which overlies the cell wall or the outer membrane [1,2]. These layers have been recognized by the arrangement of their component subunits into tetragonal or hexagonal arrays. The protein subunits range in size from apparent M r values of 51000 in Lactobacillus brevis [3] to 150 000 in Sarcina ureae [4]. Some have been shown to reassemble in vitro into sheets with regular arrays identical to those seen on intact cells. The arrangement of the subunits, tetragonal or hexagonal, was shown to be determined by the proteins composing the layer rather than by the underlying wall onto which the subunits assembled [5]. The function of the regularly structured (RS) layers is unknown in most bacteria although in one strain of Bacillus sphaericus, the protein serves as a bacteriophage receptor [6]. The RS layer (also called T-layer) on B. sphaericus NCTC9602 and P-I has been studied in detail [6-8], but it is