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Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Single-cell Microfluidic Analysis of Bacillus subtilis
Published on: January 26, 2018
Membrane fluidity in Bacillus subtilis. Validity of homeoviscous adaptation
J Svobodová1, J Julák, J Pilar
1Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague.
Abstract:
The validity of the principle of homeoviscous adaptation for Bacillus subtilis was tested by comparing fluorescence anisotropy (1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene) and electron-spin resonance (16-doxylstearate) measurements carried out in isolated plasma membranes and in phospholipid fractions. The physical measurements were supplemented by fatty-acid analysis. The results support our previous findings on intact cells. The thermoadaptive mechanism of B. subtilis manifested as an increase in relative proportion of branched anteiso-C15 and anteiso-C17 fatty acids, are not strong enough to compensate for the marked physical change of membrane fluidity induced by temperature decrease.
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