Protein synthesis during germination of Bacillus megayerium spores can be divided into two stages. During the first 75 min of germination (Stage I) endogenous nitrogen reserves are sufficient to support protein synthesis, and most amino acids are generated by proteolysis of dormant spore protein. The amino acids produced are excreted initially from the spore, but then reabsorbed and partially u...

The colonial growth of Bacillus subtilis vegetative and spore cells was evaluated by determining the time course of the growth heat changes (growth thermogram) with a microbial calorimeter. The actual heat evolution curve (f (t) curve) obtained from the thermogram was in good agreement with the viable cell number changes. From the logarithmic f (t) curve, the exponential growth phase was estima...

We have tested a series of inosine analogs for their effect on germinating B. cereus 569 spores. Our results showed that although inosine (hypoxanthine nucleoside) causes spore germination by itself, the kinetic pathway exhibited complex and strongly cooperative character. Contrary to inosine’s germinating effect, the purine pathway degradation products xanthine, xanthosine, uric acid, hypoxant...

As previously reported, gerP Bacillus subtilis spores were defective in nutrient germination triggered via various germinant receptors (GRs), and the defect was eliminated by severe spore coat defects. The gerP spores' GR-dependent germination had a longer lag time between addition of germinants and initiation of rapid release of spores' dipicolinic acid (DPA), but times for release of >90% of ...

The simultaneous nutrient germination of hundreds of individual wild-type spores of three Bacillus species and a number of Bacillus subtilis strains has been measured by two new methods, and rates of release of the great majority of the large pool of dipicolinic acid (DPA) from individual spores of B. subtilis strains has been measured by Raman spectroscopy with laser tweezers. The results from...

The spores of Bacillus subtilis show remarkable resistance to many environmental stresses, due in part to the presence of an outer proteinaceous structure known as the spore coat. GerQ is a spore coat protein essential for the presence of CwlJ, an enzyme involved in the hydrolysis of the cortex during spore germination, in the spore coat. Here we show that GerQ is cross-linked into higher-molec...