title: Membrane fluidity in Bacillus subtilis. Physical change and biological adaptation.
abstract: The thermotropic behaviour of membrane phospholipids was estimated in intact cells of Bacillus subtilis. Membrane fluidity (microviscosity) of intact cells depended markedly on the ambient temperature - increase in cultivation temperature led to an increase in membrane fluidity. Estimated as anisotropy of 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene fluorescence, a 30% difference was observed when cells cultivated at 20 and 40 degrees C were compared. This lack of rigorous homeostatic control of bulk-phase lipid fluidity prompted the reevaluation of the physiological significance of the "homeoviscous adaptation" in B. subtilis.
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000502:physiology*; D008560:Membrane Fluidity; D013696:Temperature