%0 Journal Article %A SHOHAYEB, MOHAMED %A CHOPRA*, IAN %T Composition of Membranes from Whole Cells and Minicells of Bacillus subtilis %D 1985 %J Microbiology, %V 131 %N 2 %P 345-354 %@ 1465-2080 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/00221287-131-2-345 %I Microbiology Society, %X The composition of membranes from whole cells and minicells of Bacillus subtilis strain BD474 was examined. Two-dimensional electrophoresis showed that the content of several individual polypeptides differed in the two membrane types. Whole cell membranes appeared to contain more penicillin binding protein (PBP) 2a, glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, succinate dehydrogenase and NADH dehydrogenase than minicell membranes, but less PBP2b, lactate dehydrogenase and malate dehydrogenase. Glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and succinate dehydrogenase were unstable, but the other enzymes and PBPs were stable after inhibition of protein synthesis by chloramphenicol. Minicells synthesized peptidoglycan because they incorporated 14C-labelled acetylglucosamine into acid precipitable material. However, the rate of incorporation in minicells was only 5% of the value observed in whole cells. Whole cell and minicell membranes contained the same polar lipids and fatty acids, but the whole cell membranes were enriched in phosphatidylglycerol, diglycosyldiacylglycerol, iso-C15 and anteiso-C15 fatty acids, but depleted of phosphatidylethanolamine, iso-C14, iso-C16, n-C16 and anteiso-C17 fatty acids. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-131-2-345