Compositions and methods for the germination of wild-type or super-dormant Bacillus strains

Abstract

[00177] A germination composition for activating one or more wild-type and / or super-dormant spores, particularly Bacillus spores, comprises L-isoleucine or L-valine, or both. A germination composition may also comprise a buffer, a potassium source, an industrial preservative, and one or more additional L-amino acids. Wild-type and / or super-dormant spores can be incubated with a germination composition by heating them to an incubation temperature of 26 to 60 °C for an incubation period of 30 minutes to 36 hours. The incubation may be a one-step process without pre-activation or heat shock, or a two-step process. A pre-activation method comprises combining spores with a germination composition and bioprocessing or heat-treating them, then drying them. An incubated bacterial solution preferably comprises at least 50% of spores activated after an incubation period of 24 hours and more preferably after 1 hour.