General questions about Bacillus subtilis - (Nov/27/2007 )

Hello,

I research gram negative bacteria, but I need some information about B. subtilis that I cannot seem to find. I was wondering if anyone could answer some basic questions about this organism and possibly point me to some good review articles about the genetic manipulation and protocols for in in vitro growth.

Questions:

1) What is the composition of Difco sporulation media? I checked Difco and BD website but couldn't find this product. A google search also yielded no results. I could find no recipe.
2) Why does sporulation medium induce sporulation? Are there less nutrients present?
3) Does B. subtilis grow better at 30 C or 37 C?

Thanks for helping me out.

Try yahoo. I put in the Difco sporulation media and got plenty of hits including papers referencing this media. It appears to simply be a sporulating media from the company Difco (BD Biosciences). Perhaps you will need to call the company if you can't find it on the website. Sporulation is a response to adverse conditions including starvation so I would imagine the media is deficient is specific nutrients. As for the growth, I'm not sure but I found a paper (in my yahoo search) that was looking at the growth of this bug under various conditions. This is a good place for you to start your research.