Stimulation of Germination of Bacterial Spores by Analogues of D-Alanine

Jones, A. A.; Gould, G. W.

doi:10.1099/00221287-53-3-383

Cited by 16 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…However, this support rested on the assumption that similar mechanisms were involved in the observed stimulatory effects, and this appeared not to be true, at least in the case of hydroxylamine. It was reported elsewhere that, by inhibiting alanine racemase in B. cereus spores, hydroxylamine could relieve an auto-inhibition of germination arising from isomerization of L-alanine (Jones & Gould, 1968). Experiments subsequent to the above comparisons of amines (to be published elsewhere) revealed that inhibition of alanine racemase could account for almost all of the stimulatory effect of hydroxylamine (Fig.…”

Section: I-mentioning

confidence: 71%

Stimulation of Germination of Unactivated Bacillus cereus Spores by Ammonia

Preston

Douthit

1984

Microbiology

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Inclusion of ammonia in germinant mixtures containing L-alanine and inosine stimulated germination of unactivated Bacillus cereus spores at rates equal to those obtained using heatactivated spores without ammonia. D-Alanine had little effect on germination of heat-activated spores, but severely inhibited germination of unactivated spores in the presence of ammonia. Ammonia did not replace the requirement for either L-alanine or inosine : all three compounds were required for rapid germination. Kinetic analysis suggested that the functions of ammonia and L-alanine were more closely related than the functions of ammonia and inosine. With ratesaturating concentrations of L-alanine and inosine, germination rates showed saturation kinetics for ammonia with a K , for NH4C1 of 5 mM. Comparisons of the effects of salts, amines and pH on germination rates suggested that NH40H rather than NH,+ was the rate-limiting form of ammonia. In comparisons of various strains of B. cereus, stimulation of germination by ammonia occurred in all cases, although spores of most soil isolates germinated more rapidly than B . cereus T spores in the absence of ammonia.

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Section: I-mentioning

confidence: 71%

Stimulation of Germination of Unactivated Bacillus cereus Spores by Ammonia

Preston

Douthit

1984

Microbiology

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“…studied. OCDS is a powerful inhibitor of spore alanine racemase, and the observed potentiation of germination has been shown to be due to prevention by OCDS of the formation of D-alanine catalysed by the racemase enzyme (Gould, 1966;Jones & Gould, 1968). Nevertheless, even using organisms whose spores are more easily germinated than those of most bacteria, in rich media to which had been added the most effective germinants we know, germination still levelled off to leave a population of surviving spores only 10-to 100-fold smaller than in controls.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Limitations of the Initiation of Germination of Bacterial Spores as a Spore Control Procedure

Gould

And

Wrighton

1968

Journal of Applied Bacteriology

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Germination of spores of Bacillus cougulans, B. cereus and mixed soil spores in nonnutritive buffer, in rich laboratory media and in foods was accelerated, and the final amount of germination was increased, when germinants were added (e.g. L-alanine, L-or-aminobutyric acid, inosine, combinations of L-alanine with ribosides like guanosine and adenosine). Further potentiation of the rate and amount of L-alanine-initiated germination was caused by adding the inhibitor of alanine racemase, o-carbamyl-D-serine. The germination rate always decreased markedly after about the first 10or 100-fold fall in level of surviving ungerminated spores, in keeping with the concept that populations of bacterial spores are heterogeneous as regards germinability of the individual spores. Although the presence of the germinants and potentiators of germination lowered the levels of spores remaining ungerminated after incubation in various media and foods, a superdormant fraction of the spore populations always remained. The limitations imposed by superdormancy on the use of initiation of germination as a step in spore destruction processes are highlighted, and some difficulties in the study of superdormant spores are discussed.

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“…Jones and Gould [5] and Yousten [22] reported that inosine might enhance the activity of alanine racemase. From this point of view, it is possible that the inhibition of subsequent germination of the spores preincubated with inosine may be due to the effect of D-alanine which was converted from L-alanine by active alanine racemase.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Purine ribosides are also effective germinants for various species of spores [2,5,6,9]. In particular, it was pointed out that inosine greatly stimulated germination in the presence of L-alanine [1,5,14,22].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, it was pointed out that inosine greatly stimulated germination in the presence of L-alanine [1,5,14,22]. Among B. cereus spores, even dormant spores (in the sense of unactivated spores) germinated in the presence of L-alanine and inosine at very low concentrations, even though they could not germinate in the presence of either germinant alone, except for aged or activated spores [22].…”

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confidence: 99%

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