Effect of starvation on survival of three bacterial isolates from an arctic soil

Three isolates, a Pseudomonas sp., a Bacillus sp. and an Arthrobacter sp., which had been isolated from a meadow soil at Devon Island, Canada, were subjected to starvation under varying conditions. The viabilities of the three isolates during starvation for 30 days in a carbon-free medium was assess...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Journal of Microbiology
Main Authors: Nelson, Louise M., Parkinson, D.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1978
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/m78-235
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/m78-235
Description
Summary:Three isolates, a Pseudomonas sp., a Bacillus sp. and an Arthrobacter sp., which had been isolated from a meadow soil at Devon Island, Canada, were subjected to starvation under varying conditions. The viabilities of the three isolates during starvation for 30 days in a carbon-free medium was assessed after the organisms had been grown continuously at varying rates in carbon- and nitrogen-limited media at 5 and 15 °C. Pseudomonas M216 was the most resistant to starvation stress. Bacillus M153 the least, and Arthrobacter M51 was intermediate in its response. Cells grown and starved at 5 °C survived longer than those at 15 °C. Carbon-limited Bacillus and Arthrobacter cells grown at high rates prior to starvation survived longer than those grown slowly, while in nitrogen-limited Arthrobacter the reverse was observed. The pattern of endogenous metabolism of the three isolates during starvation at 15 °C for 10 days was similar to that observed in other organisms. Levels of endogenous substrates such as carbohydrate and protein showed a rapid decrease in the initial 20 h of starvation, followed by a gradual decline over the remainder of the starvation period. The rates of endogenous metabolism of the isolates were positively correlated with their survival rates during starvation.