Fig. 1.

(A to C) Rates of DPA release from wild-type B. subtilis spores germinating with l-valine and/or AGFK and degree of synergy when both germinants were used. Spores of B. subtilis (wild-type) strain PS533 were germinated with various concentrations of l-valine and/or l-asparagine, with the GFK components each at 10 mM in germinations with AGFK (note the different scales on the x axes in panels A and B), and rates of DPA release were determined and are given in arbitrary units (au) as described in Materials and Methods. Symbols in panels A and B: ○, l-valine germination; ▵, AGFK germination; •, sum of the rates with l-valine and AGFK germination alone; □, experimental curve with AGFK plus l-valine germination. (C) Synergy is present when the degree of synergy (defined in Materials and Methods) is greater than 1.