Revisiting bacterial spore germination in the presence of peptidoglycan fragments.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial spores of Bacillus species are metabolically inert cell types formed in response to nutrient starvation. Spores must undergo the process of germination to resume vegetative growth. This process is stimulated by the interaction of various nutrient molecules with specialized clusters of membrane-localized germinant receptors (GRs) present within spores. A second route to spore germination involving the stimulation of the PrkC Ser/Thr kinase by soluble peptidoglycan fragments was proposed in 2008 and has been subject to much less scrutiny. The current study examined the germinative response of spores of Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, and Bacillus megaterium when incubated in the presence of complex mixtures of peptidoglycan fragments or purified pept

SUBMITTER: Heydenreich R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12288470 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature