Sporulation deficiency

Critical amounts of cortex (a peptidoglycan layer of bacterial spores) are required for different properties of Bacillus sphaericus spores. Characteristic properties of the spores, such as the refractility and the resistance to xylene, octanol, and heat, were measured. Reduction with sodium borotritide and acid hydrolysis, etc., has been used to detect muramic lactam, which is located specifically in the cortical peptidoglycan of bacterial spores. The cortex content of several sporulation-deficient mutants of B. subtilis was examined using this procedure. 

Mutants of B. subtilis deficient in a-amylase and neutral protease synthesis sporulate normally thus removing these enzymes from category (i). However, serine protease deficient mutants that retained the ability to... 

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