Cold-sensitive mutant with defective growth at 5 °C from a psychrotrophic bacterium

Abstract

A cold-sensitive (CS) mutant of the psychrotroph, Bacillus psychrophilus, was obtained by N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine mutagenization and penicillin counterselection. In the presence of citrate, the wild type grew well at both 5 and 20 °C whereas the CS mutant grew well at 20 °C (the permissive temperature) but, at 5 °C (the restrictive temperature), grew at a reduced rate for two to three generations followed by a complete plateau in growth. Upon return of the CS mutant to 20 °C, after a delay of about 40 h, growth resumed at the appropriate rate. The CS mutant exhibited growth rates similar to parental rates on a wide variety of carbon sources at 5 °C, but when Krebs cycle intermediates were used as substrates and in the presence of an equimolar amount of citrate, the typical cold-sensitive growth pattern occurred. Comparison of oxidative phosphorylation in the parent and CS mutant indicated that no phosphorylation occurred at 5 °C in the CS mutant during the plateau in growth. Examination of the effect of temperature on ATPase activity showed that at 5 °C the specific activity of ATPase isolated from the CS mutant grown at 5 °C was 15-fold less than the ATPases isolated from wild-type cells grown at either 5 or 20 °C and 10.5-fold lower than ATPase from CS mutant cells grown at 20 °C. The large reduction in CS mutant ATPase activity at 5 °C appears to be at least partly due to an effect on synthesis since citrate did not inhibit preformed ATPase.