[Formation of stable diploid bacteria by fusion of protoplasts of Bacillus subtilis and the effect of rec- mutations on the fusion products formed].

A minority among the prototrophic clones formed when protoplasts from two polyauxotrophic strains of B. subtilis are fused has been shown to be diploid, carrying the parental deficient alleles in their DNA, and generally segregating auxotrophs when grown in nutrient medium. This is true whether the strains being fused are Rec+ or Rec-, since the rec- mutations used hardly affect recombinations occurring between chromosomes in diploid Bacteria.