Effects of added germination agents on loss of optical density in electron-irradiated spores.

Spores of Bacillus megaterium ATCC 14581, subjected to partial-cell iradiation, were exposed to either lysozyme, H2O2, or glucose in an attempt to reduce or eliminate the nonmonotonic behavior in curves of percentage of germination versus energy, obtained when such spores were resuspended in phosphate buffer alone. Except at the lower doses. H2O2 effectively eliminated this anomalous dip in these curves, whereas lysozyme amplified it greatly. Glucose was generally ineffective. Coinciding with the increases in optical density when lysozyme was present was the formation of an occluding product.