MECHANISM OF CA-2+ AND DIPICOLINIC ACID REQUIREMENT FOR L-ALANINE INDUCED GERMINATION OF BACILLUS-CEREUS BIS-59 SPORES

  • 1 January 1985
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 44  (177) , 33-44
Abstract
Spores prepared from different sporulating media containing varying amounts of Ca and dipicolinic acid (DPA), exhibited differential responses to germination in L-alanine (0.25 M). Ca-spores with moderately high Ca and DPA contents could be triggered to germination by L-alanine, whereas P-spores with low contents of Ca and DPA could not be germinated by L-alanine unless Ca2+ or DPA was exogenously added. The initiation of L-alanine induced germination by P-spores in the presence of 45CaCl2 was associated with a marked uptake of 45Ca2+. Experiments involving stepwise extraction of 45Ca from prelabelled spores indicated that a part of the spore calcium may be involved in L-alanine induced germination. Both Ca2+ and DPA seemed to have a stimulatory effect on the incorporation of 14C-L-alanine.