Physical, Chemical and Morphological Studies of Spore Coat of Bacillus subtilis

SUMMARY: Spore coat of Bacillus subtilis ATCC6051 was fractionated as described by Kondo & Foster (1967). X-ray diffraction, infrared spectra, amino acid analyses and N-terminal amino acid studies showed that most of the fractions resembled each other in physical and chemical structure and constituents. Electron micrographs of sections and shadowed replicas of the coat fractions at various stages showed that the inner part of the coat disappeared during treatment; no drastic morphological change was observed throughout the fractionation. The amounts of cystine in the coat and the coat fractions were less than in keratins. This result and solubilizing experiments suggested that the spore coat does not chemically resemble keratins.