Fig 7.

Levels of β-galactosidase and DPA during sporulation of strains with a gerKDbs-lacZ fusion and with or without sporulation-specific RNA polymerase σ factors. Various B. subtilis strains carrying gerKDbs-lacZ were sporulated by resuspension, and equal aliquots of cultures were assayed for β-galactosidase (○, ●, △, ▲, □) or DPA (■) as described in Materials and Methods. The strains analyzed were PS4290 (has all sigma factors) (○, ■), PS4293 (no σ^E) (●), PS4294 (no σ^F) (△), PS4295 (no σ^G) (▲), and PS4296 (no σ^K) (□). Strain PS533 that lacks a lacZ fusion was also sporulated by resuspension in parallel, and the levels of β-galactosidase from this strain were subtracted from those of other samples taken at the same time. The maximum value of these subtracted values was <10% of the maximum value obtained with the wild-type strain carrying gerKDbs-lacZ.