Spores of microorganisms

Bacillus cereus spores labelled with radioactive diaminopimelic acid (DAP) in different phases of spore development germinated and the fate of the individual DAP-containing fractions during germination and postgerminative development was studied. Envelope structures not depolymerized during germination were formed in the prespore stage. During maturation of the spores, structures degraded during germination and released into the medium were mainly formed. Some of the DAP-containing material remained in the cells in a labile form during germination and could probably be re-utilized in synthesis of the cell wall during postgerminative development.