FIG 2.

Coat and cortex abnormalities in spoIVA ATPase motif mutants. (A) Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses of wild-type, ΔspoIVA, and spoIVA mutants carrying ATPase motif mutations in their native locus 23 h after sporulation induction. Scale bars represent 500 nm. Blue arrowheads mark properly localized coat, i.e., surrounding the entire forespore (FS); yellow arrowheads mark where the coat appears to detach from the forespore but stays partially associated, also known as “bearding” (25); and green arrowheads mark where the coat has fully detached from the forespore and is entirely cytosolic. A forespore with a cortex layer that varies markedly in thickness is highlighted with a yellow arrowhead. A misshapen forespore is marked with a black arrowhead. (B) Frequency of various phenotypes. At least 50 cells for each strain with visible signs of sporulation from a single biological replicate were analyzed.