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Journal of Bacteriology, December 1998, p. 6493-6502, Vol. 180, No. 24
Department of
Biochemistry,1
Central Electron
Microscope Facility,3 and
Department of
Pediatric Dentistry,4 University of Connecticut
Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut 06032, and
Department of
Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,
Blacksburg, Virginia 240612
Received 27 July 1998/Accepted 15 October 1998
The loss of Bacillus subtilis penicillin-binding
protein (PBP) 2a, encoded by pbpA, was previously shown to
slow spore outgrowth and result in an increased diameter of the
outgrowing spore. Further analyses to define the defect in
pbpA spore outgrowth have shown that (i) outgrowing
pbpA spores exhibited only a slight defect in the rate of
peptidoglycan (PG) synthesis compared to wild-type spores, but PG
turnover was significantly slowed during outgrowth of pbpA
spores; (ii) there was no difference in the location of PG synthesis in
outgrowing wild-type and pbpA spores once cell elongation
had been initiated; (iii) outgrowth and elongation of pbpA
spores were dramatically affected by the levels of monovalent or
divalent cations in the medium; (iv) there was a partial redundancy of
function between PBP2a and PBP1 or -4 during spore outgrowth; and (v)
there was no difference in the structure of PG from outgrowing wild-type spores or spores lacking PBP2a or PBP2a and -4; but also (vi)
PG from outgrowing spores lacking PBP1 and -2a had transiently decreased cross-linking compared to PG from outgrowing wild-type spores, possibly due to the loss of transpeptidase activity.
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Analysis of Outgrowth of Bacillus
subtilis Spores Lacking Penicillin-Binding Protein 2a
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Biochemistry, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT 06032. Phone: (203) 679-2607. Fax: (203) 679-3408. E-mail:
setlow{at}sun.uchc.edu.
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