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. 1962 May;83(5):960–967. doi: 10.1128/jb.83.5.960-967.1962

PERMEABILITY OF BACTERIAL SPORES IV.

Water Content, Uptake, and Distribution

S H Black 1, Philipp Gerhardt 1
PMCID: PMC279394  PMID: 13869667

Abstract

Black, S. H. (The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) and Philipp Gerhardt. Permeability of bacterial spores. IV. Water content, uptake, and distribution. J. Bacteriol. 83:960–967. 1962.—Dormant and germinated spores of Bacillus cereus strain terminalis were examined for water properties. Respectively, they exhibited a mean density of 1.28 and 1.11 g/ml, a water content of 64.8 and 73.0%, and a total water uptake of 66.6 and 75.6%, based on spore weight, or 86.0 and 83.9%, based on spore volume. The results confirmed a previous report that internal and external water are in virtually complete equilibrium, but refuted a prevailing hypothesis that heat resistance is attributable to a dry core. A model of spore ultrastructure that evolved from the cumulative results pictures a moist, dense, heteroporous core. A new hypothesis is formulated as an explanation for thermostability in spores and possibly in other instances; it postulates the occurrence of an insolubly gelled core with cross-linking between macromolecules through stable but reversible bonds so as to form a high-polymer matrix with entrapped free water.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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