Direct selection of complementing diploids from PEG-induced fusion of Bacillus subtilis protoplasts

A minimal medium containing horse serum is described on which Bacillus subtilis protoplasts revert to bacillary forms at high frequency (ca. 30%). Used as a plating medium for a mixture of polyethyleneglycol-treated protoplasts from two complementary polyauxotrophic parental strains, it selects the prototrophic fusion products efficiently, and also allows isolation of various auxotrophic recombinants. These prototrophs and recombinants amount respectively to 1% and 10% of the regenerated bacteria. We confirm that two types of prototrophs can be isolated after fusion: stable recombinants and complementing diploids, the latter segregating into various types of recombinants. Based on easily recognized colonial aspects, an approximate estimation of the proportion of the two types becomes possible when a spoOA mutation has been introduced in one of the parents. At least 50% of the prototrophic fusion products are complementing diploids. Incidently, the data also settle a controversy by showing the dominance of spoOA mutations in heterozygotic bacteria.