Fig. 6.

Effects of mutations of highly conserved residues in B. subtilis gerAA and gerBA on spore germination. (A) Molecular surface of GerK₃A^NTD with the regions colored in red representing residues at least 80% identical among all 253 GerK₃A^NTD orthologs (see also SI Appendix, Fig. S1). (B) The five highly conserved residues in the N2 domain selected for mutagenesis are shown in licorice stick representation. (C) DPA release from spores with the gerAA conserved mutations in the PS832 background in the presence of 10 mM l-valine (Left) or 10 mM AGFK (Right). (D) DPA release from spores with the gerBA conserved mutations in the FB10 background in the presence of 10 mM l-valine (Left) or 10 mM l-asparagine (Right). Note that the spores of PS832 and FB10 transformed with the WT gerAA or gerBA genes, respectively, are considered and labeled as the control spores in these experiments to assess any effects of the cloning alone. For each strain in C and D, the percentage of DPA release was normalized against the RFU readings obtained from the same spores boiled in water. Data represent means ± SD for at least three independent measurements.