Novel protein composition of a bacterial membrane

The ghosts of a Bacillus sp. (Bacillus PP) isolated from a culture of Bacillus megaterium KM were dissociated by treatment with urea-sodium deoxycholate and fractionated by gel filtration. Examination of the protein composition of the unfractionated and the fractionated membrane components by disc gel electrophoresis under dissociating conditions revealed the presence of a protein band of MW 32,000 that comprised at least 90% of the total protein of the ghosts. An electrophoretically identical protein was found to be a relatively minor component of the ghosts of Bacillus megaterium KM