A Cytochemical Localization of Reductive Sites in a Gram-Positive Bacterium: Tellurite Reduction in Bacillus subtilis

In bacteria the exact location of a respiratory enzyme system comparable to that of the mitochondria of other cells has remained uncertain. On the one hand, the existence of particulate "bacterial mitochondria" has been advocated (Mudd); on the other hand, important enzymes of the respirat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of cell biology Vol. 20; no. 3; pp. 361 - 375
Main Authors van Iterson, Woutera, Leene, W.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Rockefeller Institute Press 01.03.1964
Subjects
Bacillus subtilis
Bacteria
Cell Biology
Cell Membrane
Cell membranes
Cell walls
Cells
Cytoplasm
Cytoplasmic Granules
Electron microscopy
Electron Transport
Electrons
Enzymes
Histocytochemistry
Membranes
Microscopy
Microscopy, Electron
Mitochondria
Old Medline
Organelles
Oxidation-Reduction
P branes
Tellurium
TELLURIUM
CYTOPLASMIC GRANULES
OXIDATION-REDUCTION
ENZYMES
EXPERIMENTAL LAB STUDY
HISTOCYTOCHEMISTRY
MITOCHONDRIA
PROTOPLASM
CYTOPLASM
BACILLUS SUBTILIS
MICROSCOPY, ELECTRON
CYTOLOGY
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Summary:In bacteria the exact location of a respiratory enzyme system comparable to that of the mitochondria of other cells has remained uncertain. On the one hand, the existence of particulate "bacterial mitochondria" has been advocated (Mudd); on the other hand, important enzymes of the respiratory chain were recovered in the cytoplasmic membranes associated with some granular material (Weibull). In order to gain insight into this question, sites of reducing activity were localized in thin sections of bacteria using the reduction of potassium tellurite as an indicator. When this salt was added to the culture medium of Bacillus subtilis, it turned out that in this Gram-positive organism the reduced product is strictly bound at two sites, and that the plasma membrane does not materially gain in electron opacity through deposition of the reduced product. The reduction product is found on or in the membranes of particular organelles, which may possibly be regarded as the mitochondrial equivalents in Gram-positive bacteria, and which are sometimes seen connected to the plasma membrane. The second location is in thin rod-like elements at the cell periphery, possibly the sites from which the flagella emerge.
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ISSN:0021-9525
1540-8140
DOI:10.1083/jcb.20.3.361