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In this work, we characterized the germination kinetics of\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">B. subtilis<\/jats:italic>\n                      168 spores produced at reduced\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">\n                        a\n                        <jats:sub>w<\/jats:sub>\n                      <\/jats:italic>\n                      (0.98) using either glycerol (S\n                      <jats:sub>gly<\/jats:sub>\n                      spores) or NaCl (S\n                      <jats:sub>salt<\/jats:sub>\n                      spores) in comparison to spores prepared under optimal conditions (S\n                      <jats:sub>control<\/jats:sub>\n                      spores,\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">\n                        a\n                        <jats:sub>w<\/jats:sub>\n                      <\/jats:italic>\n                      ~0.99) in a variety of nutrient and chemical stimuli, along with the effect of thermal activation. Spores produced at reduced\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">\n                        a\n                        <jats:sub>w<\/jats:sub>\n                      <\/jats:italic>\n                      showed impaired germination to varying degrees depending on the nutrient and solute used to depress\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">\n                        a\n                        <jats:sub>w<\/jats:sub>\n                      <\/jats:italic>\n                      . While S\n                      <jats:sub>gly<\/jats:sub>\n                      spores exhibited germination defects in all the nutrients tested (a rich growth medium, L-alanine, L-valine, and the AGFK mixture) compared to S\n                      <jats:sub>control<\/jats:sub>\n                      spores, S\n                      <jats:sub>salt<\/jats:sub>\n                      populations showed an impaired response to L-alanine and L-valine. These nutrient germination defects of the S\n                      <jats:sub>gly<\/jats:sub>\n                      and S\n                      <jats:sub>salt<\/jats:sub>\n                      spores could not be reversed by heat activation. In addition, both populations displayed impaired germination in Ca-DPA, but increased germination rate in dodecylamine. The phenotypes of spores produced at reduced\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">\n                        a\n                        <jats:sub>w<\/jats:sub>\n                      <\/jats:italic>\n                      suggested plausible alterations in their coat properties. Using mutant spores with coat morphogenesis defects and a 4 kDa FITC-dextran probe permeability test, we could infer that the impaired germination of S\n                      <jats:sub>salt<\/jats:sub>\n                      spores in nutrients and Ca-DPA may involve alterations in the crust and\/or outer coat, leading to reduced permeability.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                    <jats:sec>\n                      <jats:title>IMPORTANCE<\/jats:title>\n                      <jats:p>\n                        Bacterial spores are causative agents of relevant zoonoses and foodborne diseases and are involved in food spoilage. Natural sporulation niches, such as soil, are exposed to a variety of changing environmental conditions, such as temperature and water activity (\n                        <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">\n                          a\n                          <jats:sub>w<\/jats:sub>\n                        <\/jats:italic>\n                        ), which strongly influence the dynamics of spore germination. This work provides the first data on the effect of lowering the\n                        <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">\n                          a\n                          <jats:sub>w<\/jats:sub>\n                        <\/jats:italic>\n                        of the sporulation medium on spore germination kinetics, which, together with previous data on the effect of other environmental sporulation conditions and inter- and intraspecific variability, will help accurately predict germination and thus prevent the negative impacts of pathogenic and food spoiling spores. Furthermore, we inferred that alterations related to the coat are associated with impaired nutrient germination of spores produced at reduced\n                        <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">\n                          a\n                          <jats:sub>w<\/jats:sub>\n                        <\/jats:italic>\n                        with the addition of NaCl. These findings may help develop novel and efficient strategies to control germination or eradicate spores.\n                      <\/jats:p>\n                    <\/jats:sec>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1128\/aem.00677-25","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,10]],"date-time":"2025-06-10T09:00:21Z","timestamp":1749546021000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1128\/asmj-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Sporulation at reduced water activity impairs germination kinetics of\n                    <i>Bacillus subtilis<\/i>\n                    spores"],"prefix":"10.1128","volume":"91","author":[{"given":"V\u00edctor","family":"Freire","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/012a91z28","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Animal Production and Food Science, AgrFood Institute of Aragon (IA2), Faculty of Veterinary, University of Zaragoza-CITA","place":["Zaragoza, Spain"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1902-0648","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Santiago","family":"Cond\u00f3n","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/012a91z28","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Animal Production and Food Science, AgrFood Institute of Aragon (IA2), Faculty of Veterinary, University of Zaragoza-CITA","place":["Zaragoza, Spain"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5895-2157","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Elisa","family":"Gay\u00e1n","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/012a91z28","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Animal Production and Food Science, AgrFood Institute of Aragon (IA2), Faculty of Veterinary, University of Zaragoza-CITA","place":["Zaragoza, Spain"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"235","reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_3_2_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodres.2009.10.024"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_3_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.14745\/ccdr.v45i04a05"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_4_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.resmic.2016.10.003"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_5_2","unstructured":"The state of food security and nutrition in the world 2022. 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