Morphological study of the reversion to bacillary form of Bacillus megaterium protoplasts

Abstract

Protoplasts of B. megaterium readily reverted to bacillary form in liquid media and when plated in a soft agar layer onto the surface of appropriate agar media. Three phases of the reversion sequence could be differentiated by phase contrast microscopy: increase in size of the individual protoplats, non oriented division of the protoplasts, and outgrowth of the bacillary forms. With time lapse photomicrography, reversion sequences of single protoplasts were demonstrated.