Kelsey's soil project

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Classification

Domain; Phylum; Class; Order; family [Others may be used. Use NCBI link to find]

Species

Domain: Bacteria

Kingdom: Eubacteria

Phylum: Firmicutes

Class: Bacilli

Order: Bacillales

Family: Bacillaceae

Species: Bacillus

Habitat Information

Describe the location and conditions under which the organism was isolated.

I located the sample of my soil under a big oak tree. The ground was very moist from raining a few days prior to getting the soil sample.

Date of Collection: 1/28/2015

Location of my soil sample: 10698 Deer Canyon Rd, Jonestown TX 78645.

Depth: 3 inches

Humidity: 50%

24hr Rainfall- 20%

Latitude: 30.501076

Longitude: -97.935123

Description and Significance

Describe the appearance (colonial and cellular), possible antimicrobial activity etc. of the organism, and why the organism might be significant.

Bacillus is a gram positive aerobic or anaerobic bacteria that is widely found in soil and water. Bacillus is a rod shaped bacteria. Bacillus will test positive for enzyme catalase when there has been oxygen used or present. Bacillus subtilis is present everywhere, in the air and in the soil and in plant compost. It has been predicted that it spends most of its time inactive and in spore form. When the bacteria does become active, it produces many enzymes. Bacillus Subtilis has become the model agent in laboratory research.

Genome Structure

Describe the size and content of the genome. How many chromosomes? Circular or linear? Other interesting features? What is known about its sequence? Include S Ribosomal sequence that you obtained from PCR and sequencing here.

Bacillus subtilis is one of the best characterized members of the gram positive bacteria. Its genome of 4,214,810 base pairs comprises 4,100 protein-coding genes. Of these protein-coding genes, 53% are represented once, while a quarter of the genome corresponds to several gene families that have been greatly expanded by gene duplication, the largest family containing 77 putative ATP-binding transport proteins

Cell Structure, Metabolism and Life Cycle

Interesting features of cell structure; how it gains energy; what important molecules it produces.

Bacillus subtilis is a organism for studying endospore formation in bacteria. The cell wall is a rigid structure outside the cell. The cell was is composed of peptidoglycan, which is a polymer of sugars and amino acids. The cell walls will form the barrier between the environment and the bacterial cell. It is also responsible for maintaining the shape of the cell and withstanding the cell's high internal turgor pressure.

Bacillus subtilis is a model organism for studying endospore formation in bacteria. Endospores in Bacillus subtilis bacteria are mostly formed in the tips of protuberances extending downward from liquid surface pellicles

Life Cycle

◾Vegetative cells proliferate by cell divisions that produce identical sister cells.

◾Starvation initiates sporulation.

◾Unequal cell division produces smaller forespore cell and larger mother cell.

◾Mother cell encloses forespore, deposits spore coat, eventually dies and lyses. This is an example of a terminally differentiated cell, because it cannot reproduce.

◾Forespore cell differentiates into an environmentally-resistant spore.

◾Spore is released when mother cell lyses, germinates under conditions favorable for vegetative growth. Thus a forespore, which will eventually give rise to future generations, is equivalent to a germ line cell.

Physiology and Pathogenesis

Biochemical characteristics, enzymes made, other characteristics that may be used to identify the organism; contributions to environment (if any).
If relevant, how does this organism cause disease? Human, animal, plant hosts? Virulence factors, as well as patient symptoms.

Bacillus subtilis can also be found in the human body, mostly on the skin or in the intestinal tract. However it is very rare for this bacterium to colonize on the human body. Along with enzymes, Bacillus subtilis also produces a toxin called subtilisin. Subtilisin can cause allergic reactions if there is repeated exposure in high concentrations.Bacillus subtilis is not considered pathogenic or toxic and is not a disease causing agent. Bacillus subtilis has a flagellum which makes motility faster.

B. subtilis was reviewed by the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine and found to present no safety concerns when used in direct-fed microbial products, so the Association of American Feed Control Officials has listed it approved for use as a animal feed ingredient under Section. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency Animal Health and Production Feed Section has classified Bacillus culture dehydrated approved feed ingredients as a silage additive under Schedule IV-Part 2-Class 8.6 and assigned the International Feed Ingredient number IFN 8-19-119.[