Determination of the strength of the cell walls of vegetative cells of Bacillus megaterium and Bacillus stearothermophilus

The tensile strength of the cell walls of B. megaterium and B. stearothermophilus was found to be about 2.4 x 10 super(7) N/m super(2). The internal pressure and water activity of the cells were 14 atm, 0.99 a sub(w) for B. megaterium) and 28 atm, 0.98 a sub(w) for B. stearothermophilus). The greate...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current microbiology 1983-01, Vol.9 (1), p.13-17
Main Authors: Algie, JE, Lindsay, JA, Watt, I C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacillus megaterium
Bacillus stearothermophilus
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Summary:The tensile strength of the cell walls of B. megaterium and B. stearothermophilus was found to be about 2.4 x 10 super(7) N/m super(2). The internal pressure and water activity of the cells were 14 atm, 0.99 a sub(w) for B. megaterium) and 28 atm, 0.98 a sub(w) for B. stearothermophilus). The greater strength of B. stearothermophilus cells, considered as pressure vessels, restricts absorption of water by the protoplasm so that the water content on a dry weight basis is 3.4 g/g for B. megaterium cells in water but only 1.8 g/g for B. stearothermophilus .
ISSN:0343-8651
DOI:10.1007/BF01567127