THE BACTERIAL ENDOSPORE 53 



growth of the vegetative cells. In this way, it functions very much 

 like the esters we reported above. The action of this inhibitor 

 was reversed by citrate, isocitrate, succinate, and malonate, but 

 not by fumarate, acetate, pyruvate, or a-ketoglutarate. This is 

 shown in Table VII. 



TABLE VII 



EFFECT OF SOME ORGANIC ACIDS ON THE INHIBITION OF SPORULATION 

 BY FLUOROACETIC ACID (FAA) * 



Addition (final concentration 10'^ M) Viable cells/ml Heat-stable cells/ml 



* An active culture was used and all compounds were added immediately 

 after inoculation. 



We also tried sodium bisulfite as an inhibitor, reasoning that, 

 if the glyoxylic acid shunt is involved, bisulfite should tie up the 

 glyoxylic acid because of its aldehyde group, and thus break the 

 cycle; of course, it may also tie up the ketone group of the 

 oxalacetate which is common to both the glyoxylic acid shunt 

 and the TCA cycle. In any event, we found that bisulfite did 

 effectively interfere with sporulation but did not interfere with 

 the growth of the vegetative cells, as shown in Table VIII. This 

 inhibitor was reversed by citrate, c/5-aconitate, isocitrate, suc- 

 cinate, methyl malonate, malonate, and glyoxylate. It was not 

 reversed by pyruvate, acetate, a-ketoglutarate. aspartate or 



References p. 59 



