FT-IR spectroscopic characteristics of differently cultivated Bacillus subtilis

Bacillus subtilis is an aerobic endospore forming bacterium widely spread in different environments. Because it represents a biological agent of some health relevance, its rapid detection and identification is highly desirable. By using FT-IR spectroscopy for this purpose slightly different characteristics were obtained from cell mass grown in differently composed cultural media, and harvested in different phases of bacterial. growth. If cultivated uniformly, i.e., 24h at 30degreesC in a minimum-strength nutrient broth, cell. mass of B. subtilis delivered a well. differentiated spectrum with major absorption bands of nucleic acid structures at 3300cm(-1), cell wall constituents at 3000-2800cm(-1), proteinaceous structures at 1660, 1544 and 1235cm(-1), and some aliphatic structural units at 1080cm(-1). Attenuated total, reflectance, and absorption/ transmission scanning techniques, delivered structurally identical spectra but those obtained by the former technique were more expressed. (C) 2004 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.