Volume 253, Issue 2 pp. 231-235

The Clostridium botulinum GerAB germination protein is located in the inner membrane of spores

François Alberto

François Alberto

INRA UMR A408 Sécurité et Qualité des Produits d'Origine Végétale, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Domaine Saint-Paul, Site Agroparc, 84914 Avignon Cedex 9, France

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Lucien Botella

Lucien Botella

INRA UMR A408 Sécurité et Qualité des Produits d'Origine Végétale, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Domaine Saint-Paul, Site Agroparc, 84914 Avignon Cedex 9, France

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Fréderic Carlin

Fréderic Carlin

INRA UMR A408 Sécurité et Qualité des Produits d'Origine Végétale, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Domaine Saint-Paul, Site Agroparc, 84914 Avignon Cedex 9, France

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Christophe Nguyen-the

Christophe Nguyen-the

INRA UMR A408 Sécurité et Qualité des Produits d'Origine Végétale, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Domaine Saint-Paul, Site Agroparc, 84914 Avignon Cedex 9, France

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Véronique Broussolle

Corresponding Author

Véronique Broussolle

INRA UMR A408 Sécurité et Qualité des Produits d'Origine Végétale, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Domaine Saint-Paul, Site Agroparc, 84914 Avignon Cedex 9, France

*Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 432 722518; fax: +33 432 722492., E-mail address: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author
First published: 09 January 2006
Citations: 4

Edited by E. Ricca

Abstract

Clostridium botulinum dormant spores germinate in presence of l-alanine via a specific receptor composed of GerAA, GerAB and GerAC proteins. In Bacillus subtilis spores, GerAA and GerAC proteins were located in the inner membrane of the spore. We studied the location of the GerAB protein in C. botulinum spore fractions by Western-blot analysis, using an antipeptidic antibody. The protein GerAB was in vitro translated and used to confirm the specificity of the antibodies. GerAB was not present in a coat and spore outer membrane fraction but was present in a fraction of decoated spores containing inner membrane. These results strongly suggest that the protein GerAB is located in the inner membrane of the spore.

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