Physiology and Molecular-Genetics of 'Thermus' and 'Bacillus'. 1. Analysis of'Thermus' by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy

摘要

The cell surface composition of a plasmid-carrying parent strain and a plasmid-free, cured, Thermus strain was studied using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The elemental composition with regards to carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sodium and sulphur was measured. The most striking compositional difference was seen with reference to the phosphorus content, which in atomic fractions was equivalent to 0.13% in the parent and 0.37% in the cured strain. The carbon content was also lower (68.08%) in the parent than in the cured strain (69.94%) but the oxygen and nitrogen content was higher in the parent (19.59% and 12.00% respectively) than in the cured strain (18.58% and 10.86%) respectively. The results indicate that the presence of plasmids in Thermus correlates with specific cell surface properties. The significance of these findings must be further evaluated with studies on molecular structure and physico-chemical properties of the cell surface.