I am currently doing my research. It's about antagonism between culture endophytic bacteria and a pathogen bacteria (B. subtilis). It had an inhibition zone. And after I identify it by 16s, turned out the species most likely to be B. subtilis too. I've been diving on the Internet for hours but still can't find the relevant paper. Anyone can help me?
Could be your one strain has a plasmid or lysogen that is giving it additional metabolic capacity. Also when it comes to bacteria there can be a lot of genomic differences between strains but they are still classified as the same species.
In fact there are some elements that confer inhibition ONLY of very close strains. For example colicins produced by E. coli generally only work on E. coli or very closely related strains.
Michael J. Benedik Hi, really appreciate you for this. Your answer has led me to find a relevant paper. Have a nice day!
The Bacillus subtilis group contains other species such as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus pumilus and Bacillus subtilis sensu stricto, among them there may be competition. For this genus, defining a species based solely on the 16S gene is difficult, due to its similarity in said gene; for more precise identification other genes are also used.
yes, bacteria from the same species can indeed inhibit each other through a phenomenon known as "bacterial interference" or "bacterial antagonism." Bacterial interference occurs when one strain or isolate of bacteria produces substances that inhibit the growth or activity of another strain or isolate of the same species.
In the case you mentioned, if the identified endophytic bacteria and the pathogenic bacteria both belong to the species Bacillus subtilis, it is possible for them to exhibit antagonism toward each other. This antagonism can manifest as the inhibition zone you observed in your research.
While I don't have access to specific research papers, I can suggest some general strategies to find relevant literature: Search through scientific databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, or Web of Science using keywords like "Bacillus subtilis antagonism," "bacterial interference," or "inhibition between same species bacteria." This should help you find relevant research articles.