Template Specificity of Ribonucleic Acid Polymerase in Asporogenous Mutants of Bacillus subtilis

Asporogenous mutants of Bacillus subtilis were examined for the change in template specificity of ribonucleic acid (RNA) polymerase characteristic of wild-type cells undergoing sporulation. Mutants blocked at stages II, III, and IV showed a changed specificity of the enzyme after the end of growth and were in this respect indistinguishable from the wild type. The RNA polymerase of eight stage-zero mutants (out of nine tested) which possess mutations that map at six distinct loci retained the template specificity of vegetative cells.