FIG. 4.

DPA release during the germination of C. perfringens spores with BHI broth. Heat-activated spores of strains SM101 (wild-type), DPS107 (sleC), DPS107(pDP138) (sleC strain complemented with wild-type sleC), DPS109 (sleM), and DPS110 (sleC sleM) were incubated at 40°C in BHI broth and, after 1 h (░⃞) and 18 h (▪), DPA release was measured as described in Materials and Methods. C. perfringens spores from various strains were also incubated in 25 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0), and after 1 (□) or 18 h (▤) the DPA release was measured as described in Materials and Methods. The data represent the average of two independent experiments with two different spore preparations, and error bars indicate the standard deviations.