The positions of spores within chains of four sporangia (‘quads’) of Bacillus subtilis have been determined. These data have been used to test statistical models constructed to predict the patterns of sporulation in cultures containing these quads. If the probability that a spore is formed distally in relation to the newest division septum is used as a measure of cell polarity, then a cell’s polarity is influenced by the behaviour of its sister sporangium (i.e. sister cells do not position their spores independently), but not by its position within a quad. During the course of this work it was also found that cell polarity in B. subtilis is markedly affected by the ionic composition of the growth medium.
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