General use/application of Bacillus Subtilis

I got it - Bacillus Subtilis!!

The time I got to know it because my friends invite me to go for a Japanese food dinner and introduce the Natto bean to me, a sticky and ammonia-odor smell, which date back few years ago. From the experience of natto , I know that this bacillus subtilis are simply awesome. People manipulate it on probiotic food, aquaculture, agriculture, household and septic system.

My Natto Experiment:
After few times of trying and trying... eventually successfully making a 'sticky' and 'ammonia-like' natto bean:)

The natto self-designed incubator (polyethylene box), which i maintain the inside-temperature 40 Celsius for bacillus subtilis optimum growth

General application

Bacillus subtilis are attractive industrial organisms for a variety of reasons, including their high growth rates leading to short fermentation cycle times, their capacity to secrete proteins into the extracellular medium, and the GRAS (generally regarded as safe) status with the Food and Drug Administration. The application of bacillus fermentation in food, biopharmaceuticals, enzyme industry, agriculture, aquaculture has been widely recognized and commercialized. For instances,

In addition to its role as model organism, Bacillus Subtilis is used in

1. Commercial production of Natto Bean
2. Soil Inoculant for agricultural farming
3. Biological control agent.
4. As an immunostimulatory agent, probiotic to aid treatment of gastrointestinal and urinary tract diseases.
5. It can convert some explosives into harmless compounds of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and water.
6. Production of biosurfactant which having antibacterial effect apply in medical tools.
7. Production of various enzymes protein, such as amylase, hyaluronic acid.

 

Saw-dust /chicken dung organic fertilizer that inoculated with Bacillus Subtilis

Bacillus Subtilis ( the middle white spot), which i isolated from organic fertilizer (picture above)

Nowadays, in prospect of biochemistry, physiology, and genetics of B. subtilis, more and further development and exploitation are in advanced growth. The complete genome for B. subtilis 168 was recently published. With this great achievement in applied and industry microbiology, enable the scientist to produce new beneficial genetic-engineered products.

If u want to know more how this microbes functioning, please do google for that, I am you will be amazed by their works.

There are thousands of journals characterizing this microbe of interest, and it is impossible for me to introduce them in detailed way. Hence, I try to make a brief introduction of this particular microbe.

History ( From Wikipedia)

In 1835, the bacterium was originally named Vibrio subtilis by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, and renamed Bacillus subtilis by Ferdinand Cohn in 1872. Cultures of B. subtilis were used throughout the 1950s as an alternative medicine due to the immunostimulatory effects of its cell matter, which upon digestion has been found to significantly stimulate broad spectrum immune activity including activation of specific antibody IgM, IgG and IgA secretion and release of CpG dinucleotides inducing INF A/Y producing activity of leukocytes and cytokines important in the development of cytotoxicity towards tumor cells.

It was marketed throughout America and Europe from 1946 as an immunostimulatory aid in the treatment of gut and urinary tract diseases such as Rotavirus and Shigella, but declined in popularity after the introduction of cheap consumer antibiotics, despite causing less chance of allergic reaction and significantly lower toxicity to normal gut flora.

Morphologic and biochemistry

They are Gram-positive, catalase-positive bacterium, rod-shaped, and has the ability to form a tough, protective endospore, allowing the organism to tolerate extreme environmental conditions.

Reproduction

B. subtilis can divide from a single cell to make two daughter cells, within 30 min with favorable condition. Amazing right!!  In addition, it forms single endospore that can remain viable for decades and is resistant to unfavourable environmental conditions such as drought, salinity, extreme pH, radiation and solvents. The endospore is formed at times of nutritional stress, allowing the organism to persist in the environment until conditions become favorable. Most of the commercial product, agriculture and aquaculture grade are in spore-form condition, which mean they are simply in sleeping mode, covering them with a protective layer. Because of this characteristic of resistance and stability, people are happy to commercialize it into product, where they can keep it for long period.

Prior to the process of sporulation the cells might become motile by producing flagella, take up DNA from the environment, or produce antibiotics. These responses are viewed as attempts to seek out nutrients by seeking a more favourable environment, enabling the cell to make use of new beneficial genetic material or simply by killing of competition. Wild-type natural isolates of B. subtilis are difficult to work with compared to laboratory strains that have undergone domestication processes of mutagenesis and selection. These strains often have improved capabilities of transformation (uptake and integration of environmental DNA), growth, and loss of abilities needed "in the wild." And, while dozens of different strains fitting this description exist, the strain designated 168 is the most widely used.