Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Biophysical Journal logoLink to Biophysical Journal
. 1969 Apr;9(4):634–643. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(69)86408-8

Passive Electrical Properties of Microorganisms

IV. Studies of the Protoplasts of Micrococcus lysodeikticus

Charles W Einolf Jr, Edwin L Carstensen
PMCID: PMC1367541  PMID: 4888132

Abstract

Observations of protoplasts of Micrococcus lysodeikticus show that removal of the cell wall of this organism decreases the dielectric constant by two orders of magnitude. The upper limit of the effective, homogeneous conductivity for the protoplast is 0.001 mho/m as compared with 0.045 mho/m for the intact cell. These results conclusively demonstrate the dominant effect of the cell wall on the low frequency dielectric properties of bacteria.

Full text

PDF
634

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Carstensen E. L., Cox H. A., Mercer W. B., Natale L. A. Passive Electrical Properties of Microorganisms: I. Conductivity of Escherichia coli and Micrococcus lysodeikticus. Biophys J. 1965 May;5(3):289–300. doi: 10.1016/s0006-3495(65)86717-0. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Carstensen E. L., Marquis R. E. Passive electrical properties of microorganisms. 3. Conductivity of isolated bacterial cell walls. Biophys J. 1968 May;8(5):536–548. doi: 10.1016/s0006-3495(68)86506-3. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cole K. S. ALTERNATING CURRENT CONDUCTANCE AND DIRECT CURRENT EXCITATION OF NERVE. Science. 1934 Feb 16;79(2042):164–165. doi: 10.1126/science.79.2042.164. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Einolf C. W., Jr, Carstensen E. L. Bacterial conductivity in the determination of surface charge by microelectrophoresis. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1967 Nov 28;148(2):506–516. doi: 10.1016/0304-4165(67)90149-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. FEW A. V., GILBY A. R., SEAMAN G. V. An electrophoretic study on structural components of Micrococcus lysodeikticus. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1960 Feb 12;38:130–136. doi: 10.1016/0006-3002(60)91202-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Pauly H., Schwan H. P. Dielectric properties and ion mobility in erythrocytes. Biophys J. 1966 Sep;6(5):621–639. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(66)86682-1. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. SCHWAN H. P. Electrical properties of tissue and cell suspensions. Adv Biol Med Phys. 1957;5:147–209. doi: 10.1016/b978-1-4832-3111-2.50008-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Schwan H. P. Altenating current electrode polarization. Biophysik. 1966;3(2):181–201. doi: 10.1007/BF01191612. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Biophysical Journal are provided here courtesy of The Biophysical Society

RESOURCES