Figure 5. Effect of overexpression of Bc-SMase on growth of B. cereus or B. subtilis in mice.

A) B. cereus (ATCC21928) or B. subtilis (ISW1215) was transfected with the plasmid carrying smase or e53a. A) 50% ammonium sulfate precipitation fractions of the culture supernatants (1.0 mg protein) of each microorganism were subjected to SDS-PAGE and Western blotting using anti-Bc-SMase antibody. A representative result from one of three experiments is shown. B, C) Mice intraperitoneally received B. cereus or B. subtilis transformants (1×10⁸ CFU/mouse) carrying empty vector (vector), smase, or e53a. The microorganisms in the blood of mice about 12 h after the administration of these strains were cultured on Luria Broth agar plates. Values represent the mean ± SEM; n = 5 independent experiments. C) Mice were monitored every five hours after the injection. The duration of the experiment was set at 100 h. •, vector (B. cereus); ▪, smase (B. cereus); ▴, e53a (B.cereus); ○, vector (B. subtilis); □, smase (B. subtilis); △, e53a (B. subtilis).