Summary: The prototrophic clones formed after fusion of mixed protoplasts from two polyauxotrophic strains of Bacillus subtilis have been counted both as L-form colonies and as bacterial colonies, by plating on selective medium in the presence and in the absence of methicillin. On average, one hundred times as many prototrophic colonies were counted when cell wall regeneration was prevented by the antibiotic. Thus genetic inactivation, which occurs regularly in bacterial exfusants, may be dependent on cell wall regeneration.
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