title: Germination of Bacillus cereus endospores: a proposed role for heat shock and nucleosides.
abstract: Spores of Bacillus cereus T prepared in a glucose - yeast extract - salts broth germinated in L-alanine or more rapidly in L-alanine plus inosine or adenosine. The nucleosides alone were not germinative. Inosine was shown to produce no pregerminative changes in spores that prepared them for more rapid germination later in L-alanine. Experiments which measured the interaction of nucleosides, heat shock, and D-alanine on germination rates suggested that nucleosides may potentiate L-alanine-induced germination by causing discrimination against D-alanine at the L-alanine binding site(s) in the spore. D-Alanine is germinative when used with inosine probably because of L-alanine formation by alanine racemase. Heat shock, a prerequisite to D-alanine plus inosine-induced germination, may facilitate entry of inosine into the spore in amounts needed to discriminate against D-alanine.
mesh_terms: D000241:Adenosine / Q000494:pharmacology; D000409:Alanine / Q000494:pharmacology; D000411:Alanine Racemase / Q000378:metabolism; D001409:Bacillus cereus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology / Q000254:growth & development*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D007288:Inosine / Q000494:pharmacology; D009705:Nucleosides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology / Q000254:growth & development; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D009705:Nucleosides; D007288:Inosine; D000411:Alanine Racemase; D000241:Adenosine; D000409:Alanine