In this Master's thesis, we investigated the interactions between the potential probiotic, Bacillus subtilis, and the pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium to determine how nutrients and different strains of B. subtilis affect their relationship. The bacteria were cocultured in nutrient-rich TSB medium, where sporulation is inhibited, nutrient-rich sporulation medium that promotes the sporulation of B. subtilis, and nutrient-poor 1/20 TSB medium, which also promotes sporulation. After incubation, pahogen-probiotic interactions were characterized using colony-forming units (CFU/mL) and B. subtilis sporulation frequency. We also determined the spatial distribution of cells in static medium and the biofilm thickness of S. Typhimurium by confocal laser scanning microscopy. We demonstrated that only B. subtilis NCIB 3610 reduces the biofilm thickness of S. Typhimurium SL1344 and that the spatial distribution of cells in the coculture is not altered by any of the other B. subtilis strains tested (NCIB 3610, TA7-1, TA19-1). We found that all tested strains of B. subtilis inhibited the growth of S. Typhimurium SL1344 in nutrient-rich TSB medium (NCIB 3610, TA7-1, TA19-1) and sporulation medium (NCIB 3610, PS-216, PS-218, PS-196), but no B. subtilis strain inhibited the growth of S. Typhimurium SL1344 in nutrient-poor 1/20 TSB. We have shown that S. Typhimurium SL1344 inhibits sporulation in nutrient-poor 1/20 TSB medium in all B. subtilis strains (NCIB 3610, PS-216, PS-218, PS-196) but not in sporulation medium. We monitored the dynamics of sporulation of B. subtilis PS-218 over time in coculture with S. Typhimurium SL1344 compared to monoculture by measuring the expression of fluorescent reporter fusions for the Pspo0A and PspoIIQ promoters. The results showed that the expression of both genes was lower in coculture, consistent with sporulation inhibition. As the spo0A expression curve increased slightly towards the end of the experiment, we cannot exclude that sporulation is merely delayed.
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