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An endospore is a dormant, tough, and non-reproductive structure produced by some bacteria in the phylum Bacillota. [1] [2] The name "endospore" is suggestive of a spore or seed-like form (endo means 'within'), but it is not a true spore (i.e., not an offspring). It is a stripped-down, dormant form to which the bacterium can reduce itself.
Endospore staining is a technique used in bacteriology to identify the presence of endospores in a bacterial sample. [1] Within bacteria, endospores are protective structures used to survive extreme conditions, including high temperatures making them highly resistant to chemicals. [ 2 ]
A stained preparation of Bacillus subtilis showing endospores as green and the vegetative cell as red. The Schaeffer–Fulton stain is a technique designed to isolate endospores by staining any present endospores green, and any other bacterial bodies red. [1]
B. subtilis can divide symmetrically to make two daughter cells (binary fission), or asymmetrically, producing a single endospore that is resistant to environmental factors such as heat, desiccation, radiation and chemical insult which can persist in the environment for long periods of time. The endospore is formed at times of nutritional ...
The location of an endospore within a cell is species-specific and can be used to determine the identity of a bacterium. Dipicolinic acid is a chemical compound which composes 5% to 15% of the dry weight of bacterial spores and is implicated in being responsible for the heat resistance of endospores.
There is debate as to whether endospory or heterospory evolved first. Some debate centers upon the requirement of endospory to develop before heterospory. [2] Endospory is assumed to follow heterospory but it has been suggested that without endospory, early plant species dependency on water fertilization and environmental impacts on gametophytic gene expression would have reduced the chances ...
An endospore is a non-metabolizing survival structure that begins to metabolize and cause infection once in an adequate environment. Hence, stepping on a nail (rusty or not) may result in a tetanus infection, as the low-oxygen (anaerobic) environment may exist under the skin, and the puncturing object can deliver endospores to a suitable ...
Importantly, encystment is a process observed to precede cell division, [8] while the formation of an endospore involves non-reproductive cellular division. The study of the encystment process was mostly confined to the 1970s and '80s, resulting in the lack of understanding of genetic mechanisms and additional defining characteristics, though ...