title: Spore germination and germinant receptor genes in wild strains of Bacillus subtilis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the germination of laboratory and wild strains of Bacillus subtilis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The spore germination of B. subtilis 168 (subsp. subtilis) was compared with that of the laboratory strain W23 (subsp. spizizenii) and desert-sourced isolates, including one member of subsp. subtilis (RO-NN-1), strains TU-B-10, RO-E-2, N10 and DV1-B-1, (all subsp. spizizenii), the B. mojavensis strain RO-H-1 and a B. subtilis natto strain. All germinated in L-alanine, although some were slower, and some 10-fold less sensitive to germinant. All germinated in calcium dipicolinate (CaDPA). Germination in asparagine, glucose, fructose + KCl was slow and incomplete in many of the strains, and decoating RO-NN-1 and W23 spores did not restore germination rates. Comparing the sequences of B. subtilis strains 168, RO-NN-1, W23, TU-B-10 and DV1-B-1, the operons encoding GerA, B and K germinant receptors were intact, although the two additional operons yndDEF and yfkQRST had suffered deletions or were absent in several spizizenii strains.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Wild strains possess an efficient germination machinery for L-alanine germination. AGFK germination is often less efficient, the gerB genes more diverged, and the two germinant receptor operons of unknown function have been lost from the genome in many subsp. spizizenii strains.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The two major subspecies of B. subtilis have conserved GerA receptor function, confirming its importance, at least in the natural environments of these strains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK; Department of Biotechnology, Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: O M
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Alzahrani
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moir
mesh_terms: D000409:Alanine / Q000378:metabolism; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D009876:Operon; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000235:genetics*; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D000409:Alanine
keywords: germination; receptor; spizizenii; spore; subtilis