Summer meeting 2013 – when the sleepers wake: the germination of spores of Bacillus species

Spores of Bacillus species can remain dormant and resistant for years, but can rapidly ‘come back to life’ in germination triggered by agents, such as specific nutrients, and non‐nutrients, such as CaDPA, dodecylamine and hydrostatic pressure. Major events in germination include release of spore core monovalent cations and CaDPA, hydrolysis of the spore cortex peptidoglycan (PG) and expansion of the spore core. This leads to a well‐hydrated spore protoplast in which metabolism and macromolecular synthesis begin. Proteins essential for germination include the GerP proteins that facilitate germinant access to spores' inner layers, germinant receptors (GRs) that recognize and respond to nutrient germinants, GerD important in rapid GR‐dependent germination, SpoVA proteins important in CaDPA release and cortex‐lytic enzymes that degrade cortex PG. Rates of germination of individuals in spore populations are heterogeneous, and methods have been developed recently to simultaneously analyse the germination of multiple individual spores. Spore germination heterogeneity is due primarily to large variations in GR levels among individual spores, with spores that germinate extremely slowly and termed superdormant having very low GR levels. These and other aspects of spore germination will be discussed in this review, and major unanswered questions will also be discussed.