Temperature-sensitive nature of the rodB maturation in Bacillus subtilis

The Mg2+ requirement of a morphological mutant of Bacillus subtlis, rodB strain 104 was highly temperature sensitive in the presence of halide or nitrate anions. Likewise the morphological change from rod shapes to spheres was dependent upon temperature, the same anions, and the Mg2+ concentration. The three factors interacted. Other rodB mutants behaved similarly. If the rodB strain 104 in its rod form was treated at high temperatures in the absence of either protein or peptidoglycan synthesis and restored to lower temperatures with the syntheses restarted, a partial temporary change toward cocci occurred. In the absence of halides or in the presence of Cl- but not Br-, the cells increased in volume when they changed from rods to cocci.