Role of glutathione in the morphogenesis of the bacterial spore coat

There is a marked increase in the half-cystine content of bacterial spores, especially the coat layers at the time of formation of the outer coat. When a cysteine auxotroph of Bacillus cereus T is grown on limiting cysteine, the spores contain the normal content of half-cystine, suggesting an alternate source. Glutathione appears to be such a supply of cysteine since it is hydrolyzed during sporulation and there are increased activities of the hydrolyzing enzymes at the same time. In addition, a cysteine auxotroph with a second alteration, a temperature-sensitive glutathione disulfide reductase, produces lysozyme-sensitive spores at 40 C. These spores appear to be defective in the formation of outer spore coat. During sporulation at 40 C, the double mutant accumulates oxidized glutathione which is a poor substrate for the hydrolytic enzymes. As a result, sporulating cells are deficient in half-cystines which are essential for outer spore coat morphogenesis. This alteration can be overcome by a shift to 30 C or by addition of cystinyl-pencillamine or cysteinyl-glycine to cultures sporulating at 40 C.