Synchronous growth and sporulation of Bacillus megaterium.

Filtration of late log-phase cultures of Bacillus megaterium ATCC 19213 grown on defined sucrose salts medium (SS) or SS plus glutamate medium (SSG) through nine layers of Whatman no. 40 filter paper in a fritted-glass disc Büchner funnel resulted in filtrates containing cells which showed synchronous growth and proceeded to sporulation. SS cells completed one synchronous division after filtration; sporulation ensued after the cessation of growth. SSG cells completed two synchronous divisions and sporulation occurred during the second division. A high degree of synchrony of vegetative growth of SSG cells was evident by the stepwise pattern of growth, by the doubling of cell numbers at each division, the high division index, and by the rapid formation of sporulation cell types and homogeneity of cell types in the filtered cultures when compared with asynchronous cultures. Because the described system gives both good growth and sporulation synchrony, the method should be useful in delineating early events in sporulation and their regulation.