Fig 1. Rates of germination of wild-type and gerW B. subtilis spores with various L-alanine concentrations. Heat shocked wild-type (PS832, ◯), gerW1 (PS4389, □) and gerW2 (PS4399, Δ) B. subtilis spores were germinated with various L-alanine concentrations and DPA released was monitored as described in Methods.

Rates of spore germination are averages of values determined from maximum slopes of DPA release curves in two separate experiments, and these values varied by < 15%.