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Small, acid-soluble proteins bound to DNA protect Bacillus subtilis spores from being killed by freeze-drying
H Fairhead1, B Setlow, W M Waites
1Department of Applied Biochemistry and Food Science, University of Nottingham, Loughborough, Leicestershire, United Kingdom.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology
|July 1, 1994
Abstract:
Wild-type spores of Bacillus subtilis were resistant to eight cycles of freeze-drying, whereas about 90% of spores lacking the two major DNA-binding proteins (small, acid-soluble proteins alpha and beta) were killed by three to four cycles of freeze-dryings, with significant mutagenesis and DNA damage accompanying the killing. This role for alpha/beta-type small, acid-soluble proteins in spore resistance to freeze-drying may be important in spore survival in the environment.