The effect of growth temperature on esterase patterns in psychrotrophic Bacillus species and other gram-positive...

The growth temperature of Bacillus stearothermophilus was previously reported to affect the esterase band pattern obtained after gel electrophoresis. In this study gel electrophoresis of esterases was done on a group of Antarctic bacterial strains cultivated at different temperatures to investigate whether band shift due to a change in growth temperature was a general phenomenon or limited only to select groups. Most strains studied were in the Bacillus genus. Standard strains of known Bacillus species and other Gram-positive genera were examined for comparative purposes. A change in the esterase band pattern was observed as a result of variation in growth temperature. Two major esterase band were dominant in this diverse group of species.