The Structure of the Exosporium of a Pigmented Clostridium

Summary: Exosporia surrounding spores of a pigmented Clostridium showed a hexagonal periodicity when negatively stained and were composed of up to 10 lamellae, each 2.6 nm thick, with a centre-to-centre spacing of 5.2 nm. Optical diffraction spectra revealed that isolated fragments of single lamellae contained hexagonal arrays of subunits with a predominant spacing of 5.2 nm and that negatively stained fragments composed of several lamellae showed interference patterns generated by slightly displaced layers of the same hexagonal lattice.