ENZYMES DOKMANT I^ 11 1 E INTACT SPOKE J 19 



more like there is a surface pheiionieiion. or a pheiioinenoii eonnecleil with 

 the cell surface, which rnay be a primary reaction in activation. I should 

 like to discuss an observation made with Neurospora by Dr. David God- 

 dard who suggested that the key activating step may be attributable to the 

 presence or absence of the enzyme pyruvic carboxylase. In our work we 

 discovered that if we made grindates of the dormant cells, we got thorough 

 decarboxylation of pyruvate; and almost as much of the enzyme is found 

 in extracts of dormant spores as those from activated cells. However, if one 

 added the pyruvate, as Goddard did, to the intact spore, no decarboxylation 

 occurred. The resolution of these disparate observations seems to me to be 

 an experiment in which we showed that lysozyme added to the dormant 

 spore "activated" the pyruvate carboxylase to the extent that pyruvate was 

 not decarboxylated by the dormant cells. The analogy that I would like to 

 draw is that here we might have the stripping off of a masking substance 

 or layer from an enzyme associated with activated spores, and a concomi- 

 tant activation of an enzyme which may be required for germination. 



