Optimal spore germination in Clostridium botulinum ATCC 3502 requires the presence of functional copies of SleB and YpeB, but not CwlJ

Germination, the process by which dormant endospores return to vegetative growth, is a critical process in the life cycle of the notorious pathogen Clostridium botulinum. Crucial is the degradation by hydrolytic enzymes of an inner peptidoglycan spore layer termed the cortex. Two mechanistically different systems of cortex lysis exist in spores of Clostridium species. C. botulinum ATCC 3502 harbours the Bacillus-like system of SleB, CwlJ and YpeB cortex lytic enzymes (CLEs). Through the construction of insertional gene knockout mutants in the sleB, cwlJ and ypeB genes of C. botulinum ATCC 3502 and the production of spores of each mutant strain, the effect on germination was assessed. This study demonstrates a reduced germination efficiency in spores carrying mutations in either sleB or ypeB with an approximate 2-fold reduction in heat resistant colony forming units (CFU/OD600) when plated on rich media. This reduction could be restored to wild-type levels by removing the spore coat and plating on media supplemented with lysozyme. It was observed that cwlJ spores displayed a similar germination efficiency as wild-type spores (P > 0.05). An optimal germinant commixture was identified to include a combination of l-alanine with sodium bicarbonate as it resulted in a 32% drop in OD600, while the additional incorporation of l-lactate resulted in a 57% decrease. Studies of the germination efficiency of spores prepared from all three CLE mutants was performed by monitoring the associated decrease in optical density but a germination defect was not observed in any of the CLE mutant strains. This was likely due to the lack of specificity of this particular assay. Taken together, these data indicate that functional copies of SleB and YpeB, but not CwlJ are required for the optimal germination of the spores of C. botulinum ATCC 3502.