1887

Abstract

Summary: A mutation, , causing defective spore germination has been located between and on the map and is 92% cotransduced with by phage PBS1. Spores of strains containing will respond to germinants but the fall in absorbance is only 60% of that of the wild-type. During germination, mutant spores reach only an intermediate phase-grey stage, in contrast to those of the wild-type which become dark. The germination response, measured by the release of dipicolinic acid and the loss of resistance to heat, chloroform, octanol or toluene, is normal. The release of hexosamine-containing fragments from mutant spores is incomplete but has similar kinetics to that of wild-type spores. The mutant spores are more sensitive to heating at 90 °C which may point to a structural abnormality, but there is no evidence of a spore coat deficiency from electron microscopy of thin sections or freeze fractures or from the chemical resistances of the spores. Thus, the germination of mutant spores is initiated normally, but blocked at a late stage.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-124-2-243
1981-06-01
2024-05-02
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/micro/124/2/mic-124-2-243.html?itemId=/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-124-2-243&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Anagnostopoulos C., Spizizen J. 1961; Requirements for transformation in Bacillus subtilis . Journal of Bacteriology 81:741–746
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Aronson A.I., Fitz-James P.C. 1975; Properties of Bacillus cereus spore coat mutants. Journal of Bacteriology 123:354–365
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Cheng Y.-S.E., Aronson A.I. 1977; Alterations of spore coat processing and protein turnover in a Bacillus cereus mutant with a defective postexponential intracellular protease. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 74:1254–1258
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Cheng Y.-S.E., Fitz-James P., Aronson A.I. 1978; Characterisation of a Bacillus cereus protease mutant defective in an early stage of spore germination. Journal of Bacteriology 133:336–344
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Dring G.J., Gould G.W. 1971; Sequence of events during rapid germination of spores of Bacillus cereus . Journal of General Microbiology 65:101–104
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Dring G.J., Gould G.W. 1975; Reimposition of heat resistance on germinated spores of Bacillus cereus by osmotic manipulation. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 66:202–208
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Ferrari E., Canosi U., Galizzi A., Mazza G. 1978; Studies on transduction process by SPP1 phage. Journal of General Virology 41:563–572
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Gould G.W. 1969; Germination. In The Bacterial Spore pp. 397–444 Edited by Gould G. W., Hurst A. London: Academic Press.;
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Hamilton W.A., Stubbs J.M. 1967; Comparison of the germination and outgrowth of spores of Bacillus cereus and Bacillus polymyxa . Journal of General Microbiology 47:121–129
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Hashimoto T., Gerhardt P. 1960; Monochromatic ultraviolet microscopy of microorganisms - preliminary observations on bacterial spores. Journal of Biophysical and Biochemical Cytology 7:195–196
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Hashimoto T., Frieben W.R., Conti S.F. 1969a; Germination of single bacterial spores. Journal of Bacteriology 98:1011–1020
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Hashimoto T., Frieben W.R., Conti S.F. 1969b; Microgermination of Bacillus cereus spores . Journal of Bacteriology 100:1385–1392
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Hoch S.O., Roth C.W., Crawford I.P., Nester E.W. 1971; Control of tryptophan biosynthesis by the methyltryptophan resistance gene in Bacillus subtilis . Journal of Bacteriology 105:38–45
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Lafferty E., Moir A. 1977; Further studies on conditional germination mutants of Bacillus subtilis 168. In Spore Research 1976 pp. 87–105 Edited by Barker A. N., Wolf J., Ellar D. J., Dring G. J., Gould G. W. London: Academic Press.;
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Luft J.H. 1956; Permanganate - a new fixative for electron microscopy. Journal of Biophysical and Biochemical Cytology 2:799–802
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Marmur J. 1961; A procedure for the isolation of deoxyribonucleic acid from micro-organisms. Journal of Molecular Biology 3:208–218
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Moir A. 1981; Germination properties of a spore coat-defective mutant of Bacillus subtilis 168. Journal of Bacteriology (in the Press)
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Moir A., Lafferty E., Smith D.A. 1979; Genetic analysis of spore germination mutants of Bacillus subtilis 168: the correlation of phenotype with map location. Journal of General Microbiology 111:165–180
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Nester E.W., Schafer M., Lederberg J. 1963; Gene linkage in DNA transfer; a cluster of genes concerned with aromatic biosynthesis in Bacillus subtilis . Genetics 48:529–551
    [Google Scholar]
  20. O’Connor R.S., Halvorson H.O. 1959; Intermediate metabolism of aerobic spores: alanine deamination during germination of spores of Bacillus cereus . Journal of Bacteriology 78:844–851
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Piggot P.J. 1973; Mapping of asporogenous mutations of Bacillus subtilis: a minimum estimate of the number of sporulation operons. Journal of Bacteriology 114:1241–1253
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Powell J.F., Strange R.E. 1953; Biochemical changes during the germination of bacterial spores. Biochemical Journal 54:205–209
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Sammons R.L., Moir A., Smith D.A. 1981; Isolation and properties of spore germination mutants of Bacillus subtilis 168 deficient in the initiation of germination. Journal of General Microbiology 124:229–241
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Santo L.W., Doi R.H. 1974; Ultrastructure analysis during germination and outgrowth of Bacillus subtilis spores. Journal of Bacteriology 120:475–481
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Scott I.R., Ellar D.J. 1978; Study of calcium dipicolinate release during bacterial spore germination by using a new, sensitive assay for dipicolinate. Journal of Bacteriology 135:133–137
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Scott I.R., Stewart G.S.A.B., Koncewicz M.A., Ellar D.J., Crafts-Lighty A. 1978; Sequence of biochemical events during germination of Bacillus megaterium spores. In Spores VII pp. 95–103 Edited by Chambliss G., Vary J. C. Washington, D.C.: American Society for Microbiology.;
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Sousa J.C.F., Silva M.T., Balassa G. 1974; Biochemical genetics of bacterial sporulation. V. Fine structure analysis of two sporulation mutants of Bacillus subtilis derepressed for late functions. Molecular and General Genetics 128:261–272
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Spurr A.R. 1969; A low viscosity epoxy resin embedding medium for electron microscopy. Journal of Ultrastructure Research 26:31–43
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Stelma G.N. JR Aronson A.I., Fitz-James P.C. 1980; A Bacillus cereus mutant defective in spore coat deposition. Journal of General Microbiology 116:173–185
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Sterlini J.M., Mandelstam J. 1969; Commitment to sporulation in Bacillus subtilis and its relationship to actinomycin-resistance. Biochemical Journal 113:29–37
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Trowsdale J., Smith D.A. 1975; Isolation, characterisation and mapping of Bacillus subtilis 168 germination mutants. Journal of Bacteriology 123:83–95
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Vary J.C., Halvorson H.O. 1965; Kinetics of germination of Bacillus spores. Journal of Bacteriology 89:1340–1347
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Waites W.M., Stansfield R., Bayliss C. 1979; Effect of sporulation medium on the structure and heat resistance of spores of Clostridium bifermentans . FEMS Microbiology Letters 5:365–368
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Warth A.D. 1971; Action of spore lytic enzymes on the cortex. In Spores V pp. 28–34 Edited by Halvorson H. O., Hanson R., Campbell L. L. Washington, D.C.: American Society for Microbiology.;
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Wolf J., Mahmoud S.A.Z. 1957; The effects of l-alanine and d-alanine on the germination of some Bacillus spores. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 20:373–383
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-124-2-243
Loading
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-124-2-243
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error