Enzyme changes during Bacillus subtilis sporulation caused by deprivation of guanine nucleotides

When sporulation is initiated by nutrient limitation, e.g., at the end of growth, certain biochemical processes occur in sequence. To determine which of these processes occur, even when the cells sporulate in the presence of a rapidly metabolizable carbon source, we induced sporulation of Bacillus subtilis by deprivation of guanine nucleotides, in a synthetic medium containing excess glucose, ammonium ions, and phosphate. The deprivation was produced either by decoyinine addition to a standard strain or by guanosin limitation of a guanine auxotroph. At 1 h after the onset of this deprivation, an extensive turnover of proteins began whose appearance was chloramphenicol sensitive. At least one enzyme (aspartate transcarbamylase) lost 70% of its activity within 15 min, indicating its rapid destruction. Whereas the magnitude of the above two changes was similar to that observed during sporulation at the end of growth in nutrient sporulation medium, protease (intracellular and extracellular) increased to less than one-tenth of the specific activity in nutrient sporulation medium, and alkaline phosphatase increased to less than one-half. However, glucose dehydrogenase, an enzyme made only in forespores, increased to the same specific activity under both conditions, presumably because the forespore compartment is protected from media (e.g., glucose) influences by the double membrane (two bilayers with opposite polarity).