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An endospore stain of the cell Bacillus subtilis showing endospores as green and the vegetative cell as red Phase-bright endospores of Paenibacillus alvei imaged with phase-contrast microscopy. An endospore is a dormant, tough, and non-reproductive structure produced by some bacteria in the phylum Bacillota.
Bacillus can reduce themselves to oval endospores and can remain in this dormant state for years. The endospore of one species from Morocco is reported to have survived being heated to 420 °C. [2] Endospore formation is usually triggered by a lack of nutrients: the bacterium divides within its cell wall, and one side then engulfs the other.
Bacillus subtilis (/ b ə ˈ s ɪ l. ə s s u b ˈ t iː. l i s /), [3] [4] known also as the hay bacillus or grass bacillus, is a gram-positive, catalase-positive bacterium, found in soil and the gastrointestinal tract of ruminants, humans and marine sponges.
Endospores can last for decades in multiple hard conditions, such as drying and freezing. This is because the DNA inside the endospore can survive over a long period. Most bacteria are unable to form endospores due to their high resistance, but some common species are the genera Bacillus ( over 100 species) and Clostridium (over 160 species). [2]
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 ...
An S-layer (surface layer) is a cell surface protein layer found in many different bacteria and in some archaea, where it serves as the cell wall. All S-layers are made up of a two-dimensional array of proteins and have a crystalline appearance, the symmetry of which differs between species.
The genome of B. cereus has been characterized and shown to contain over 5 million bp of DNA. Out of these, more than 5500 protein-encoding genes have been identified, of which the top categories of genes with known functions include: metabolic processes, processing of proteins, virulence factors, response to stress, and defense mechanisms.
Some bacteria also produce endospores with an exosporium, of which the most commonly studied are Bacillus species, particularly Bacillus cereus and the anthrax-causing bacterium Bacillus anthracis. The exosporium is the portion of the spore that interacts with the environment or host organism, and may contain spore antigens. [1]