Abstract
THE occurrence of filamentous forms of rod shaped microorganisms is well documented, and in Escherichia coli mutant filamentous strains (lon) have been isolated and the locus of the gene mapped1. This gene has also been introduced into a coccal mutant of E. coli to give giant forms2. Filament formation can also be readily induced phenotypically by interfering with wall formation (for example, by the presence of low concentrations of penicillin in the growth medium) or by interfering with DNA replication or initiation (for example, by thymine starvation of thymineless mutants or by growing temperature-sensitive mutants affected in DNA synthesis at 45° C (ref. 3)). It is usually thought that filament formation is caused by inhibition of cell division. Other more radical types of morphological disturbance have not been well explored, although it has been shown4 that growth of a strain of Staphylococcus aureus in 4.5 per cent NaCl leads to bizarre forms. This communication describes mutants of bacilli with grossly disturbed morphology, the expression of which is modified by the concentration of sodium chloride in the growth medium.
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ROGERS, H., MCCONNELL, M. & BURDETT, I. Cell Wall or Membrane Mutants of Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus licheniformis with Grossly Deformed Morphology. Nature 219, 285–288 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/219285a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/219285a0
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