Adenosine 5'-triphosphate release and membrane collapse in glycerol-requiring mutants of Bacillus subtilis.

Glycerol-requiring mutants of Bacillus subtilis could not sporulate in nutrient sporulation medium even when additional glycerol was added from the beginning of growth. Sporulation could be partially restored either by the frequent addition of small amounts of glycerol during the developmental period or by the single addition of both 10 mM glycerol and 10 mM malate. But sporulation could be completely restored by the addition of 50 mM glycerol-phosphate from the beginning. At the end of growth of the glycerol mutants in nutrient sporulation medium, the cell membrane collapsed and separated from the cell wall, and much of the cellular adenosine 5'-triphosphate was released into the medium. These observations were made in two glycerol mutants, one derived from strain 168 containing glycerol-teichoic acid in the cell wall and the other derived from strain W23 containing ribitol-teichoic acid.