Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Safranin (Safranin O or basic red 2) is a biological stain used in histology and cytology. Safranin is used as a counterstain in some staining protocols, colouring cell nuclei red. This is the classic counterstain in both Gram stains and endospore staining. It can also be used for the detection of cartilage, [2] mucin and mast cell granules.
Depending on pH growth conditions, the peptidoglycan forms around 40 to 90% of the cell wall's dry weight of gram-positive bacteria but only around 10% of gram-negative strains. Thus, presence of high levels of peptidoglycan is the primary determinant of the characterisation of bacteria as gram-positive. [ 5 ]
Gram staining differentiates bacteria by the chemical and physical properties of their cell walls. Gram-positive cells have a thick layer of peptidoglycan in the cell wall that retains the primary stain, crystal violet. Gram-negative cells have a thinner peptidoglycan layer that allows the crystal violet to wash out on addition of ethanol.
Gram-positive bacteria regulate autolysins with teichoic acid molecules attached to the tetrapeptide of the peptidoglycan matrix. The antibiotics complestatin and corbomycin prevent autolysin from remodeling the cell wall by binding to peptidoglycan, therefore stopping bacterial growth. [ 11 ]
The cell wall of both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria is a tight covalently bound and cross-linked peptidoglycan network and essential for bacterial growth, cell division and cellular structure. Therefore, bacteria need enzymes that can cleave the cell wall during bacterial growth and cell division. The cell wall of bacteria is built ...
The wrong decision can be catastrophic: a vegetative cell will die if the conditions are too harsh, while bacteria forming spores in an environment which is conducive to vegetative growth will be out competed. [3] In short, initiation of sporulation is a very tightly regulated network with numerous checkpoints for efficient control. [citation ...
During stationary growth phase when B. subtilis are at high cell density, approximately 10% of the cells in a population are induced to become competent. It is believed that this subpopulation becomes competent to take up DNA that could potentially be used for the repair of damaged (mutated) chromosomes . [ 41 ]
In eukaryotes, the cell cycle consists of four main stages: G 1, during which a cell is metabolically active and continuously grows; S phase, during which DNA replication takes place; G 2, during which cell growth continues and the cell synthesizes various proteins in preparation for division; and the M phase, during which the duplicated ...