Expression Level of Bacillus subtilis Germinant Receptors Determines the Average Rate but Not the Heterogeneity of Spore Germination

Zhang, Jingqiao; Griffiths, Keren K.; Cowan, Ann E.; Setlow, Peter; Ji, Yu

doi:10.1128/jb.02212-12

Cited by 26 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The precise level of specific GRs in spores is almost certainly the major factor determining the rate of germination of spores of different populations, and also of different individuals in a single population (Zhang et al . , , , ) as discussed further below under SD spores.…”

Section: Components Of the Spore Germination Apparatusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Summer meeting 2013 - when the sleepers wake: the germination of spores ofBacillusspecies

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

SummarySpores of Bacillus species can remain dormant and resistant for years, but can rapidly 'come back to life' in germination triggered by agents, such as specific nutrients, and non-nutrients, such as CaDPA, dodecylamine and hydrostatic pressure. Major events in germination include release of spore core monovalent cations and CaDPA, hydrolysis of the spore cortex peptidoglycan (PG) and expansion of the spore core. This leads to a well-hydrated spore protoplast in which metabolism and macromolecular synthesis begin. Proteins essential for germination include the GerP proteins that facilitate germinant access to spores' inner layers, germinant receptors (GRs) that recognize and respond to nutrient germinants, GerD important in rapid GR-dependent germination, SpoVA proteins important in CaDPA release and cortex-lytic enzymes that degrade cortex PG. Rates of germination of individuals in spore populations are heterogeneous, and methods have been developed recently to simultaneously analyse the germination of multiple individual spores. Spore germination heterogeneity is due primarily to large variations in GR levels among individual spores, with spores that germinate extremely slowly and termed superdormant having very low GR levels. These and other aspects of spore germination will be discussed in this review, and major unanswered questions will also be discussed.

show abstract

Section: Components Of the Spore Germination Apparatusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Summer meeting 2013 - when the sleepers wake: the germination of spores ofBacillusspecies

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Nutrient‐induced germination consists of two processes including a lag time which varies from minutes to hours. Bacillus subtilis spores heat activated at 75°C demonstrated heterogeneity in germination due to stochastic gene expression (Zhang et al ., 2013). It is established that germination rates of Bacillus spores are affected by temperatures with greater activation at higher temperatures (30–33°C) Granum et al ., 2013, compared to lower temps (3–8°C) (Rose et al .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the long‐term persistence of Bacillus spores on common surfaces

Enger

Mitchell

Murali

et al. 2018

Microbial Biotechnology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary Bacillus spores resist inactivation, but the extent of their persistence on common surfaces is unclear. This work addresses knowledge gaps regarding biothreat agents in the environment to reduce uncertainty in risk assessment models. Studies were conducted to investigate the long‐term inactivation of Bacillus anthracis and three commonly used surrogate organisms – B. cereus, B. atrophaeus and B. thuringiensis on three materials: laminate countertop, stainless steel and polystyrene Petri dishes. Viable spores were measured at 1, 30, 90, 196, 304 and 1038 days. Twelve different persistence models were fit to the data using maximum likelihood estimation and compared. The study found that (1) spore inactivation was not log‐linear, as commonly modelled; (2) B. thuringiensis counts increased at 24 h on all materials, followed by a subsequent decline; (3) several experiments showed evidence of a ‘U’ shape, with spore counts apparently decreasing and then increasing between 1 and 304 days; (4) spores on polystyrene showed little inactivation; and (5) the maximum inactivation of 56% was observed for B. atrophaeus spores on steel at 196 days. Over the range of surfaces, time durations and conditions (humidity controlled vs. uncontrolled) examined, B. thuringiensis most closely matched the behaviour of B. anthracis.

show abstract

“…However, a significant heterogeneity is observed in germination of spores within a single isogenic population. In the last decade, the rationale behind this heterogeneity has been studied extensively and some preliminary putative molecular mechanisms that may be at the basis of this observation have been identified 26-28 . Recently, the aspect of mRNA and protein synthesis in a germinating spore has been re-discussed after a gap of many years.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrative analysis of proteome and transcriptome dynamics duringBacillus subtilisspore revival

Swarge

Jonker

Abhyankar

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Bacillus subtilis forms highly resistant, metabolically inactive dormant spores upon nutrient limitation. These endospores pose challenges to the food and medical sectors. Spores reactivate their metabolism upon contact with germinants and develop into vegetative cells.The activation of the molecular machinery that triggers the progress of germination and spore outgrowth is still unsettled. To gain further insight in spore germination and outgrowth processes, the transcriptome and proteome changeover during spore germination and outgrowth to vegetative cells, was analysed. B. subtilis transcriptome analysis allow us to trace the different functional groups of genes expressed. For each time-point sample, the change in the spore proteome was quantitatively monitored relative to the reference proteome of 15 N metabolically labelled vegetative cells. We observed until the phase transition, i.e. completion of germination, no significant change in the proteome. We have identified 36 transcripts present abundantly in the dormant spores. This number is in close agreement with the previous findings. These transcripts mainly belong to the genes encoding small acid soluble proteins (sspE, sspO, sspI, sspK, sspF) and proteins with uncharacterized functions.We observed in total 3152 differentially expressed genes, but 'only' 323 differentially expressed proteins (total 451 proteins identified and quantified). Our data shows that 173 proteins from dormant spores, both spore unique proteins and protein shared with vegetative cells, are lost during the phase transitioning period. This loss is in addition to the active protein degradation, undertaken by the spore proteases such as Gpr, as germination and outgrowth proceeds. Further analysis is required to functionally interpret the observed protein loss. The observed diverse timing of the synthesis of different protein sets reveals a putative core-strategy of the revival of 'life' starting from the B. subtilis spore.

show abstract

Expression Level of Bacillus subtilis Germinant Receptors Determines the Average Rate but Not the Heterogeneity of Spore Germination

Cited by 26 publications

References 25 publications

Summer meeting 2013 - when the sleepers wake: the germination of spores ofBacillusspecies

Summer meeting 2013 - when the sleepers wake: the germination of spores ofBacillusspecies

Evaluating the long‐term persistence of Bacillus spores on common surfaces

Integrative analysis of proteome and transcriptome dynamics duringBacillus subtilisspore revival

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About