NUTRITIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF BACILLUS POPILLIAE

Abstract

Bacillus popilliae grew consistently well in a semisynthetic medium containing a "vitamin-free," salt-free, acid hydrolysate of casein supplemented with dextrose, DL-tryptophan, and thiamine. However, when the casein hydrolysate was replaced with a complete array of amino acids, no growth occurred. The addition of barbituric acid to this synthetic medium resulted in consistent growth. A number of purines, pyrimidines, and other nitrogen-containing compounds were tested, but none was found that would replace barbituric acid. In synthetic media, B. popilliae was found to require biotin, thiamine, and 11 amino acids for growth. Three additional amino acids were stimulatory. Preliminary studies indicated that the nutritional requirements of B. lentimorbus, another species known to be pathogenic for Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) larvae, were similar to those for B. popilliae.

Production and Stabilization of Cells of Bacillus popilliae and Bacillus lentimorbus1

“…Therefore, a great variety of commercial products were tested. The basal medium used was the semisynthetic medium (SS-2) developed during the nutritional study (13). The enzymatic digests of casein were, in general, superior to the acid hydrolysates (Table 3), but there was considerable variation among the different types tested.…”

“…When sufficient fore, an effort was made to devise a medium in vide 0.1 % glucose which cells could complete the sporulation cycle. a broth culture at Nutritional studies demonstrated that these lent through 3 days bacteria have limited ability to synthesize their glucose was added own amino acids, and have a requirement for e-cell count did not thiamine (13). Thus, in these respects, these vhereas, when only bacteria are similar to some of the anaerobes.…”

“…However, these bodies may well represent immature, or atypical spores, since a few of them do have a parasporal-type body and their formation is inhibited by low levels of glucose, they are dense as compared with cells, and they possess a relatively high viability as compared with cells in media which do not support their formation. The requirement for the high level of barbiturate for production of the refractile bodies may be related to the requirement for this compound in synthetic media (13).…”

“…The rationale of the present study was that sporulation might occur in vitro if artificial media and cultural conditions were adjusted to permit the attainment of high populations of viable cells of B. popilliae and B. lentimorbus, providing that such cells retained their viability for a reasonable period of time. The extensive nutritional and metabolic studies reported previously (6,7,13) served as the primary basis for this investigation.…”

Oxidation of Acetate by Various Strains of Bacillus popilliae1

“…A high percentage of the I4C in the cells was recovered in the cold trichloro-acetic acid fractions, but significant amounts were associated with the lipid (ethanol soluble) and protein (residue) fractions (Table 3). One would not expect a great amount of incorporation of acetate by resting cells of this organism since a number of amino acids are required for its growth (17).…”