Figure 8. Outer membrane exchange regulates developmental sporulation.

An A⁺S⁻ strain (DK8615) designated A⁺ Tra⁺ was sporulation proficient and arbitrarily set at a 100%; while a nonmotile strain (A⁻ Tra⁺; DK8601) did not sporulate. The traA::km mutation (Tra⁻) was crossed into these strains (DW1415 and DW1419, respectively) and their sporulation efficiencies did not significantly change. A-motile and nonmotile strains were then mixed at a 1∶1 ratio and sporulation of the A⁺ strain was blocked in a Tra⁺ dependent manner. Development was conducted on TPM starvation agar and cells were harvested after 5 days and viable spores determined in triplicate, averaged and error bars shown.