1887

Abstract

SUMMARY: Spores of 1604 can be induced to germinate by incubation in L-Ala (the ALA pathway) or in a combination of β-D-gIucose (Glc), β-fructose (Fru), L-Asn and K (the GFAK pathway). Biochemical analysis of the germination response of a mutant deficient in the ALA pathway revealed that L-Ala can replace L-Asn in the GFAK pathway (the GFAlaK pathway). In contrast to the ALA pathway of both the wild-type and of a mutant, the GFAlaK pathway w as insensitive to D-Ala and showed the same overall inhibitor profile as the GFAK pathway of wild-type and spores. It is deduced that a second L-Ala receptor with different characteristics to that functioning in the ALA pathway is present in wild-type spores. Analysis of the germination response of a mutant showed that whilst the rate of ALA germination could be stimulated by Glc as well as by Fru in the presence of Glc, the spores could not germinate in GFAK. In addition, Glc and Fru were unable to reverse D-Ala inhibition of L-Ala germination which they do in the wild-type. Thus, in the mutant, the L-Ala/L-Asn receptor in the GFAK pathway is defective. It is concluded that the germination receptors in the ALA and GFAK pathways can functionally interact with each other to initiate spore germination. This conclusion is discussed in relation to proposed models of triggering of spore germination.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-139-8-1921
1993-08-01
2024-11-06
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/micro/139/8/mic-139-8-1921.html?itemId=/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-139-8-1921&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Bright J.J., Johnstone K. 1987; Germination kinetics of spores of Clostridium bifermentans M86b.. Microbios 52:17–28
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Feavers I.M., Miles J.S., Moir A. 1985; The nucleotide-sequence of a spore germination gene (gerA) of Bacillus subtilis 168.. Gene 38:95–102
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Foster S.J., Johnstone K. 1989; The trigger mechanism of bacterial spore germination.. In Regulation of Prokaryotic Development pp. 89–108, Edited by. Smith I., Slepecky R.A., Setlow P. Washington, D.C.:: American Society for Microbiology.;
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Freese E., Cashel M. 1965; Initial stages of germination.. In Spores III pp. 144–151, Edited by. Campbell L.L., Halvorson H.O. Ann Arbor, Michigan:: American Society for Microbiology.;
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Freese E., Fortnagel U. 1969; Growth and sporulation of Bacillus subtilis mutants blocked in the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex.. Journal of Bacteriology 99:745–756
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Irie R., Okamoto T., Fujita Y. 1980; Initiation of germination of Bacillus subtilis spores by allylglycine.. Journal of General and Applied Microbiology 26:425–428
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Irie R., Okamoto T., Fujita Y. 1982; A germination mutant of Bacillus subtilis deficient in response to glucose.. Journal of General and Applied Microbiology 28:345–354
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Kanda K., Yasuda Y., Tochikubo K. 1988; Germination-initiating activities for Bacillus spores of analogues of L-alanine derived by modification at the amino or carboxyl group.. Journal of General Microbiology 134:2747–2755
    [Google Scholar]
  9. 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., Dring G.J., Ellar D.J., Gould G.W., Wolf J. London:: Academic Press.;
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Moir A., Smith D.A. 1985; The genetics of spore germination in Bacillus subtilis.. In Fundamental and Applied Aspects of Bacterial Spores pp. 89–100, Edited by. Dring G.J., Ellar D.J., Gould G.W. London:: Academic Press.;
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Moir A., Smith D.A. 1990; The genetics of bacterial spore germination.. Annual Review of Microbiology 44:531–553
    [Google Scholar]
  12. 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]
  13. Prasad C., Disterhaft M., Freese E. 1972; Initiation of spore germination in glycolytic mutants of Bacillus subtilis.. Journal of Bacteriology 110:321–328
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Rather P.N., Moran C.P. 1988; Compartment-specific transcription in Bacillus subtilis : identification of the promoter for gdh.. Journal of Bacteriology 170:5086–5092
    [Google Scholar]
  15. 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]
  16. Smith D.A., Moir A., Lafferty E. 1977; Spore germination genetics in Bacillus subtilis.. In Spore Research 1976 pp. 69–85, Edited by. Barker A.N., Dring G.J., Ellar D.J., Gould G.W., Wolf J. London:: Academic Press.;
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Stewart G.S.A.B., Johnstone K., Hagelberg E., Ellar D.J. 1981; Commitment of bacterial spores to germinate: a measure of the trigger reaction.. Biochemical Journal 198:101–106
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Strauss N. 1983; Role of glucose dehydrogenase in germination of Bacillus subtilis spores.. FEMS Microbiology Letters 20:379–384
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Trowsdale J., Smith D.A. 1975; Isolation, characterization and mapping of Bacillus subtilis 168 germination mutants.. Journal of Bacteriology 123:83–95
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Venkatasubramanian P., Johnstone K. 1989; Biochemical analysis of the Bacillus subtilis 1604 spore germination response.. Journal of General Microbiology 135:2723–2733
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Wax R., Freese E. 1968; Initiation of the germination of Bacillus subtilis spores by combination of compounds in place of L-alanine.. Journal of Bacteriology 95:433–438
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Wax R., Freese E., Cashel M. 1967; Separation of two functional roles of L-alanine in the initiation of Bacillus subtilis spore germination.. Journal of Bacteriology 94:522–529
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Woese C.R., Morowitz H.J., Hutchison C.A. 1958; Analysis of action of L-alanine analogues in spore germination.. Journal of Bacteriology 76:578–588
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Wolgamott G.D., Durham N.N. 1971; Initiation of spore germination in Bacillus cereus: a proposed allosteric receptor.. Canadian Journal of Microbiology 17:1043–1048
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Yasuda Y., Tochikubo K. 1984; Relation between D-glucose and L-alanine and D-alanine in the initiation of germination of Bacillus subtilis spores.. Microbiology and Immunology 28:197–207
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Yasuda Y., Tochikubo K. 1985; Germination-initiation and inhibitory activities of L-alanine and D-alanine analogs for Bacillus subtilis spores-modification of methyl-group of L-alanine and D-alanine.. Microbiology and Immunology 29:229–241
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Yasuda Y., Namiki-Kanie S., Hachisuka Y. 1978a; Inhibition of germination of Bacillus subtilis spores by alcohols.. In Spores VII pp. 104–108, Edited by. Chambliss G., Vary J.C. Washington, D.C.:: American Society for Microbiology.;
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Yasuda Y., Namiki-Kanie S., Hachisuka Y. 1987b; Inhibition of Bacillus subtilis spore germination by various hydrophobic compounds: demonstration of hydrophobic character of the L-alanine receptor site.. Journal of Bacteriology 136:484–490
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Yasuda Y., Tochikubo K., Hachisuka Y., Tomida H., Ikeda K. 1982; Quantitative structure-inhibitory activity relationships of phenols and fatty acids for Bacillus subtilis spore germination.. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 25:315–320
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Zuberi A.R., Feavers I.M., Moir A. 1985; Identification of three complementation units in the gerA spore germination locus of Bacillus subtilis.. Journal of Bacteriology 162:756–762
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Zuberi A.R., Moir A., Feavers I.M. 1987; The nucleotide-sequence and gene organization of the gerA spore germination operon of Bacillus subtilis 168.. Gene 51:1–11
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-139-8-1921
Loading
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-139-8-1921
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