The ''military'' strains also grow more readily on media containing D,L-diaminopimelic acid (meso-DAP), a major component of bacterial peptidoglycan. Corn steep liquor is derived from the incubation of corn in water at 42-55uC, during which a lactic fermentation by a community of wild organisms including numerous uncharacterized Bacillus spp. occurs. Total bacterial counts at the conclusion of CSL production can be quite high [44] , thus the availability of such compounds for growth is not surprising. Another potential source of meso-DAP could be bacterial autolysis during sporulation. The relative roles of each of the alleles in growth on lactate and/or meso-DAP is the subject of current investigation in our laboratory.