title: Morphological and biochemical responses of Bacillus subtilis to selenite stress.
abstract: When introduced into a chemically defined minimal medium supplemented with 1 mM sodium selenite (79 ppm Se(o)), Bacillus subtilis was found to undergo a series of morphological and biochemical adaptations. The morphological changes included the formation of "round bodies" associated with the detoxification of selenite to elemental selenium. Round bodies observed transiently were not apparent during balanced growth of cells adapted previously to selenite-containing medium. Under balanced growth conditions, cell structures similar to "round bodies", could be produced by treating cells with lysozyme. The selenite-induced structural alterations in cells were accompanied by an increase in the content of thioredoxin and the associated enzyme, NADP-thioredoxin reductase. The results suggest that the biovalence transformation of high levels of selenite may involve a dithiol system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of California, Berkeley 94720, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Garbisu
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Carlson
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Adamkiewicz
authors.forename: B C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Yee
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Resto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Leighton
authors.forename: B B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Buchanan
mesh_terms: D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000648:ultrastructure; D007700:Kinetics; D018038:Sodium Selenite / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D018038:Sodium Selenite