[Allozyme variability in strains of soil bacilli related to Bacillus subtilis]

Allozyme variability in 37 strains of soil bacilli related to Bacillus subtilis was studied. A study of electrophoretic mobility of corresponding enzymes showed that, with one exception the strains did not differ essentially from the standard strain Bacillus subtilis 168 Marburg, in accordance with the results on electrophoretic mobility of corresponding enzymes. However, considerable genetic diversity was revealed at the intraspecific level in the population of bacilli under study. Of the 8 isoenzyme loci, 7 were polymorphic, and the average number of alleles per locus was 3.14. The extent of genetic diversity and the Nei's genetic distance were, on average 0.28 and 0.46, respectively. Significant correlation (r = 0.836) between the value of genetic distance and the level of the DNA-DNA hybridization of the strains was demonstrated.