Fig. 5a-f.

BacLight staining of dormant and germinated spores with or without prior scCO₂-PAA treatment or autoclaving. Spores of strain PS533 (wild-type) either untreated, autoclaved (30 min; 250°F) or treated with scCO₂-PAA wet and inactivated ~ 90% or treated dry and inactivated ~ 99% were stained with BacLight and photographed by fluorescence microscopy as described in Methods. scCO₂-PAA treated and untreated spores were also heat activated for 60 min at 75°C, and germinated for 45 min at 37°C in LB medium plus 10 mmol l⁻¹ L-valine, stained with BacLight and photographed by fluorescence microscopy. The various panels in the figure are: a) dormant untreated spores; b) wet dormant scCO₂-PAA treated spores; c) dormant autoclaved spores; d) germinated untreated spores; e) germinated spores that had been treated with scCO₂-PAA as wet spores; and f) germinated spores that had been treated with scCO₂-PAA as dry spores. The scale bar in the panel is five microns and all panels have the same magnification.