The effect of growth temperature on esterase patterns in psychrotrophic Bacillus species and other gram-positive genera.

The growth temperature of Bacillus stearothermophilus was previously reported to affect the esterase band pattern obtained after gel electrophoresis. In this study gel electrophoresis of esterases was done on a group of Antarctic bacterial strains cultivated at different temperatures to investigate whether band shift due to a change in growth temperature was a general phenomenon or limited only to select groups. Most strains studied were in the Bacillus genus. Standard strains of known Bacillus species and other Gram-positive genera were examined for comparative purposes. A change in the esterase band pattern was observed as a result of variation in growth temperature. Two major esterase band were dominant in this diverse group of species.