Table 2.

Germination properties of gerBC mutant spores and GerBC protein behavior^a

gerBC mutant	Relative rate of spore germinationb				Level of GerBC in spore inner membranec	Protein solubility in E. coli (ΔΝ24)d
	PS832 background		FB10 (FB8) background
	AGFK	l-Valine	l-Asparagine	l-Valine
WT	100	100	100 (100)	100 (100)	+++++	Yes
Region 1
BC1	0	92	—e	—	+++++	−
BC2	22	79	—	—	+++++	−
BC3	0	85	—	—	+++++	Yes
BC4	0	83	0	94	+	Yes
Region 2
BC5	44	90	56	73	++	−
BC6	11	110	0 (0)	74 (77)	++	No
BC7	78	98	—	—	+++++	−
BC8	0	81	0	60	ND	−
BC9	0	56	0	87	ND	No
Region 3
BC10	0	48	0	65	ND	Yes

^aRates of spore germination, levels of GerBC variants in spores' inner membrane, and folding of GerBC variants expressed in E. coli were determined as described in Materials and Methods.

^bThe initial rates of the germination of the wild-type spores were set at 100.

^cLevels of GerBC in spores with the wild-type background were estimated from the Western blotting results (Fig. 4) as described in Methods. +++++, ≥80% of wild-type level; ++, 20 to 30% of wild-type level; +, 10 to 20% of wild-type level; ND, not detected by Western blotting.

^dSolubility of purified GerBC proteins (residues 25 to 374; ΔΝ24) was assessed by proteins' presence in the supernatant or pellet fractions from disrupted E. coli cells expressing the GerBC variants.

^e—, not determined.