Bacillus subtilis is a sporulating Gram-positive bacterium that lives primarily in the soil and associated water sources. Whilst this bacterium has been studied extensively in the laboratory, relatively few studies have been undertaken to study its activity in natural environments. The publication of the B. subtilis genome sequence and subsequent systematic functional analysis programme have pr...

We measured the rate of mutations impairing sporulation ability in Bacillus subtilis as 0.003 in a mutator population, following 6000 generations of strong selection for sporulation that have previously been described. This means that the product of the population size and the functional mutation rate is approximately 10(5), well within the parameter range for which genetic canalization of spor...

Bacterial twin-arginine translocases can export fully folded proteins from the cytoplasm. Such proteins are usually resistant to proteolysis. Here we show that multiple extracellular proteases degrade the B. subtilis Tat substrate YwbN. This suggests either that secreted YwbN is not fully folded or that folded YwbN exposes protease cleavage sites.

Bacillus subtilis J-5 was isolated from tomato rhizosphere soil and exhibited strong inhibitory activity against Botrytis cinerea To shed light on the molecular mechanism underlying the biological control on phytopathogens, the whole genome of this strain was sequenced. Genes encoding antimicrobial compounds and the regulatory systems were identified in the genome.

By treatment of Bacillus subtilis MO-101-P spoA- met thr- su- with ethyl methanesulfonate, a strong suppressor strain of nonsense mutations, B. subtilis MO-101-P spoA- [met-]+thr- su+44, was isolated. This strain does not suppress phage phi 29 mutant susB47, selected on a B. subtilis strain containing the su+3 suppressor isolated by Georgopoulos. A revertant from this mutant, susB610, was isola...

Here, we report the draft genome sequences of 10 isolates of Bacillus subtilis, a spore forming Gram-positive bacterium. The strains were selected from food products and produced spores with either high or low heat resistance.

Bacillus subtilis is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, spore-forming bacterium. We present the genome sequence of an undomesticated strain, BSP1, isolated from poultry. The sequence of the BSP1 genome supports the view that B. subtilis has a biphasic lifestyle, cycling between the soil and the animal gastrointestinal tract, and it provides molecular-level insight into the adaptation of B. subtilis t...

The study of bacteriophages infecting the model organism Bacillus subtilis has provided an abundance of general knowledge and a platform for advances in biotechnology. Here, we announce the annotated genome of CampHawk, a B. subtilis phage. CampHawk was found to be an SPO1-like phage with similar gene content and arrangement.

The instability of reiterated sequences in the Bacillus subtilis chromosome that was previously reported (M. Young, J. Gen. Microbiol. 130:1613-1621, 1984) results from the presence of a truncated pC194 replication origin together with an intact replication protein A gene in the amplified DNA. Removal of the truncated pC194 replication origin or inactivation of replication protein A stabilizes ...