Involvement of alanine racemase in germination of Bacillus cereus spores lacking an intact exosporium.

Elena Venir, Manuela Del Torre, Vincenzo Cunsolo, Rosaria Saletti, Rita Musetti, Mara Lucia Stecchini

Index: Arch. Microbiol. 196(2) , 79-85, (2014)

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Abstract

The L-alanine mediated germination of food isolated Bacillus cereus DSA 1 spores, which lacked an intact exosporium, increased in the presence of D-cycloserine (DCS), which is an alanine racemase (Alr) inhibitor, reflecting the activity of the Alr enzyme, capable of converting L-alanine to the germination inhibitor D-alanine. Proteomic analysis of the alkaline extracts of the spore proteins, which include exosporium and coat proteins, confirmed that Alr was present in the B. cereus DSA 1 spores and matched to that encoded by B. cereus ATCC 14579, whose spore germination was strongly affected by the block of conversion of L- to D-alanine. Unlike ATCC 14579 spores, L-alanine germination of B. cereus DSA 1 spores was not affected by the preincubation with DCS, suggesting a lack of restriction in the reactant accessibility.