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Properties of Bacillus anthracis spores prepared under various environmental conditions

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Abstract

Bacillus anthracis makes highly stable, heat-resistant spores which remain viable for decades. Effect of various stress conditions on sporulation in B. anthracis was studied in nutrient-deprived and sporulation medium adjusted to various pH and temperatures. The results revealed that sporulation efficiency was dependent on conditions prevailing during sporulation. Sporulation occurred earlier in culture sporulating at alkaline pH or in PBS than control. Spores formed in PBS were highly sensitive towards spore denaturants whereas, those formed at 45°C were highly resistant. The decimal reduction time (D-10 time) of the spores formed at 45°C by wet heat, 2 M HCl, 2 M NaOH and 2 M H2O2 was higher than the respective D-10 time for the spores formed in PBS. The dipicolinic acid (DPA) content and germination efficiency was highest in spores formed at 45°C. Since DPA is related to spore sensitivity towards heat and chemicals, the increased DPA content of spores prepared at 45°C may be responsible for increased resistance to wet heat and other denaturants. The size of spores formed at 45°C was smallest amongst all. The study reveals that temperature, pH and nutrient availability during sporulation affect properties of B. anthracis spores.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Philip. C. Hanna (University of Michigan) for his suggestions during the course of study and Ms Prabha Sarangi and Ribhu Nayar for technical support. Financial support by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (SMM 0003) is acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Mall Road, Delhi, 110007, India

    Renu B. Baweja, Mohd S. Zaman, Abid R. Mattoo, Kirti Sharma, Vishwas Tripathi, Anita Aggarwal, Gyanendra P. Dubey, Raj K. Kurupati, Munia Ganguli & Yogendra Singh

  2. Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, Delhi, India

    N. K. Chaudhury

  3. The Centre for Genomic Application, 254 Okhla Industrial Area, New Delhi, India

    Somdutta Sen

  4. All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

    Taposh K. Das

  5. Department of Biotechnology, Pune University, Pune, India

    Wasudev N. Gade

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  1. Renu B. Baweja
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  2. Mohd S. Zaman
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  14. Yogendra Singh
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Correspondence to Yogendra Singh.

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Communicated by Erko Stackebrandt.

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Baweja, R.B., Zaman, M.S., Mattoo, A.R. et al. Properties of Bacillus anthracis spores prepared under various environmental conditions. Arch Microbiol 189, 71–79 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-007-0295-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-007-0295-9

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