Fig. 8
A Phase contrast microscopies displaying the state of the strains immediately before being boiled. The wildtype cultures were all visibly sporulating (arrow), while no signs of sporulation were detected in the ∆spo0A cultures. B OD600 measurements from cultures of wildtype and ∆spo0A P. thermoglucosidasius. Three replicates of each strain were allowed to grow to the point of nutrient starvation. The starved cultures were then boiled and transferred to rich medium for reculturing. After 24 h, the boiled wildtype cultures had grown to OD values comparable to those of the unboiled controls. In comparison, the boiled ∆spo0A cultures did not appear to recover within 72 h of culturing, even as the unboiled controls grew readily