Permeability of bacterial spores. III. Permeation relative to germination.

Black, S. H. (The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) and Philipp Gerhardt. Permeability of bacterial spores. III. Permeation relative to germination. J. Bacteriol. 83:301-308. 1962.-The passive diffusion of solutes into dormant spores, characterized previously with the test organism Bacillus cereus strain terminalis, has now been examined in relation to germination. Dormant spores did not take up specific germinants differently than they did other compounds, under conditions optimal for germination. Germinated spores, viable but prevented from growing out, displayed some changes in permeability, evidenced by increased total uptake of glucose and water and by observable penetration of a fluorescigenic dye. Heat-killed spores were as permeable to glucose and the dye as germinated ones.