NUCLEIC ACID PHOSPHORUS CONTENT OF BACILLUS ANTHRACIS AND BACILLUS CEREUS

II. THE NUCLEIC ACID PHOSPHORUS CONTENT OF THE SPORES

Abstract

Six strains of B. anthracis and three strains of B. cereus were studied with aid of a new technique to compare the nucleic acid contents of vegetative cells and of the spores derived from the same bacilli. Most of the vegetative cells of B. anthracis contained approximately twice as much nucleic acid phosphorus as their spores. Vegetative cells of B. cereus contained two to three times as much nucleic acid phosphorus as their spores. It was observed that spores of virulent strains of B. anthracis contained more DNA phosphorus than the spores of avirulent strains.