Germination of the decoated spores of Bacillus megaterium.

Decoated spores of Bacillus megaterium ATCC 12872 were prepared by extracting the inner coat components with an alkaline solution containing sodium dodecyl sulfate and dithiothreitol (SDS-DTT) from outer coat-deficient mutant spores, which were produced from one of the mutants isolated and named MAE-05 by us. The decoated mutant spores germinated as well as the intact spores of the mutant and the parent, indicating that the outer and inner spore cats cannot be essential structures for the initiation of germination. When the SDS-DTT-treated MAE-05 spores were converted to H-spores by incubation in citrate-phosphate buffer (pH 3.5) at 30 C for 3 hr, they lost their germinability by glucose and KNO3. Ca-spores, prepared by treating H-spores with 10 mM calcium acetate at 37 C for 60 min, regained the germinability. Experiments on the interaction of 45Ca with the cortex and the inner membrane isolated from H-spores suggested that the calcium present in the inner membrane might be related to germinability.