[Conditions for initiating heat stress in Pseudomonas geniculata]

The heating of Pseudomonas geniculata 338 at an elevated temperature causes a heat stress in the culture. The extent of the stress depends on the temperature and duration of heating. The incubation of the bacterium at 40 and 45 degrees C did not inhibit its growth after 30 min of heating, and no essential quantities of intracellular compounds absorbing at 260 nm were lost (E260 increased by 12-19%). When the bacterium was heated at 50 degrees C for the same period of time, a three-hour lag-phase appeared during the subsequent cultivation of the bacterium whereas. E260 rose by a factor of 1.7. The resistance of the bacterium to heating depended on the physiological state of the culture: cells at the logarithmic growth phase were most susceptible to heating while the bacterium became more resistant to heating in the course of aging. The addition of NaCl at a concentration of 1.5% or of 10(-3)-10(-4) M EDTA to the reparation medium makes it possible to estimate the population of bacterial cells in the state of stress.