Effect of salinity on the adaptive capacity of recombinant strains ofEscherichia coliandBacillus subtilis

The effect of different concentrations of salts on natural and recombinant strains ofBacillus subtilisandEscherichia coliwas studied. The recombinant strain ofB. subtiliswas found to be more osmotolerant than the wild-type strain of this bacterium, whereas the opposite situation was observed for the recombinant and wild-type strains ofE. coli. Some salts exerted a bacteriostatic effect onE. coliandB. subtilis. The adaptive capacity of recombinant strains depended on the number of plasmid copies in the cells. The introduction of recombinant bacteria into model ecosystems resulted in the generation of their variants with increased osmotolerance.