Phospholipid composition of Bacillus subtilis

Abstract

Bacillus subtilis contained at least five phospholipids, four of which have been isolated and identified as a polyglycerol phospholipid, probably cardiolipin, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, and lysylphosphatidylglycerol. Further purification of the latter phosphoglyceride was obtained by high-voltage electrophoresis, and it was shown that this treatment removed amino acid-containing, nonlipidic material from the phosphoglyceride. This associated material, which is not covalently linked to the lipid, gave rise to minor amounts of a number of amino acids, other than lysine, in acid hydrolysates of the lysylphosphatidylglycerol. The phospholipid composition of B. subtilis appeared to depend on the growth conditions. Addition of glucose to the medium lowered the pH during growth; this was accompanied by an increase in the amount of lysylphosphatidylglycerol and a decrease in the phosphatidylglycerol content, when compared with growth at neutral pH. The amount of the other phospholipids and the total amount of phospholipid remained constant under the different conditions. The shape and the osmotic susceptibility of the protoplasts of this organism appeared to depend on the growth conditions. Cells harvested from a neutral growth medium gave spherical protoplasts which lysed rapidly, whereas cells grown in an acidic medium maintained their rod-shaped form to a great extent after the cell wall had been removed, even after being suspended in a hypotonic medium. The latter observation suggests the presence of a more rigid membranous structure in cells which have been exposed to a low environmental pH during growth.