Requirements for production and germination of spores of anaerobic bacteria.

The important role of amino acids in spore germination was established by Hills (1949) and Stewart and Halvorson (1953). Their studies, however, were limited to the aerobic forms because the anaerobes could not be made to produce sufficient quantities of spores in media within a specified time. Using an autoclaved 1 per cent solution of glucose phosphate, Wynne et al. (1954) germinated anaerobic spores in 1 hr, but rapid germination in a medium of well-defined nutrients has not been reported. The investigation reported here had three phases: (1) the development of media and methods for growing and harvesting anaerobic spores, (2) the determination of the optimum conditions and minimal nutritional requirements for their rapid germination, and (3) a study of the effect of inhibitors on germination.