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. 1967 Oct;94(4):1124–1130. doi: 10.1128/jb.94.4.1124-1130.1967

Unrelatedness of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and Bacillus subtilis

N E Welker a,1, L Leon Campbell a
PMCID: PMC276783  PMID: 4963774

Abstract

Eight strains of highly amylolytic, sporeforming bacilli (hereafter referred to as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens) were compared with respect to their taxonomic relationship to B. subtilis. The physiological-biochemical properties of these two groups of organisms showed that B. amyloliquefaciens differed from B. subtilis by their ability to grow in 10% NaCl, characteristic growth on potato plugs, increased production of α-amylase, and their ability to ferment lactose with the production of acid. The base compositions of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of the B. subtilis strains consistently fell in the range of 41.5 to 43.5% guanine + cytosine (G + C), whereas that of the B. amyloliquefaciens strains was in the 43.5 to 44.9% G + C range. Hybrid formation between B. subtilis W23 and B. amyloliquefaciens F DNA revealed only a 14.7 to 15.4% DNA homology between the two species. Transducing phage, SP-10, was able to propagate on B. subtilis W23 and B. amyloliquefaciens N, and would transduce B. subtilis 168 (indole−) and B. amyloliquefaciens N-10 (arginine−) to prototrophy with a frequency of 3.9 × 10−4 and 2.4 × 10−5 transductants per plaque-forming unit, respectively. Attempts to transduce between the two species were unsuccessful. These data show that Bacillus amyloliquefaciens is a valid species and should not be classified as a strain or variety of B. subtilis.

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Selected References

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

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