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Killing of spores of Bacillus subtilis by peroxynitrite appears to be caused by membrane damage

Department of Biochemistry, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT 06032, USA¹

Author for correspondence: Peter Setlow. Tel: +1 860 679 2607. Fax: +1 860 679 340. e-mail: setlow{at}sun.uchc.edu

During an infection of a higher eukaryote, dormant spores of a Bacillus species have been previously shown to be present in cells that can generate the toxic agent peroxynitrite (PON). Dormant spores of Bacillus subtilis were much more resistant to killing by PON than were growing cells, and spore-coat alteration or removal greatly decreased PON resistance. Spores were not killed by PON through DNA damage and lost no dipicolinic acid (DPA) during PON treatment. However, PON-killed spores lost DPA during subsequent heat treatments that caused much less DPA release from untreated spores. Although dead, the PON-killed spores germinated and initiated metabolism but never went through outgrowth; the great majority of germinated PON-killed spores also took up propidium iodide, indicating that they had suffered significant membrane damage and were dead. Together these data suggest that spore killing by PON is through some type of damage to the spore’s inner membrane.

Keywords: spore resistance, spore killing, membrane damage

Abbreviations: DPA, dipicolinic acid; PON, peroxynitrite; SASP, small acid-soluble protein

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