Cell surface acid-base properties of Escherichia coli and Bacillus brevis and variation as a function of growth phase, nitrogen source and C:N ratio

Potentiometric titration has been conducted to systematically examine the acid–base properties of the cell surfaces of Escherichia coli K-12 and Bacillus brevis as a function of growth phase, nitrogen source (ammonium or nitrate), and carbon to nitrogen (C:N) ratio of the growth substrate. The two bacterial species revealed four distinct proton binding sites, with pK_a values in the range of 3.08–4.05 (pK₁), 4.62–5.57 (pK₂), 6.47–7.30 (pK₃), and 9.68–10.89 (pK₄) corresponding to phosphoric/carboxylic, carboxylic, phosphoric, and hydroxyl/amine groups, respectively. Two general observations in the data are that for B. brevis the first site concentration (N₁), corresponding to phosphoric/carboxylic groups (pK₁), varied as a function of nitrogen source, while for E. coli the fourth site concentration (N₄), corresponding to hydroxyl/amine groups (pK₄), varied as a function of C:N ratio. Correspondingly, it was found that N₁ was the highest of the four site concentrations for B. brevis and N₄ was the highest for E. coli. The concentrations of the remaining sites showed little variation. Finally, comparison between the titration data and a number of cell surface compositional studies in the literature indicates one distinct difference between the two bacteria is that pK₄ of the Gram-negative E. coli can be attributed to hydroxyl groups while that of the Gram-positive B. brevis can be attributed to amine groups.