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Spore formation in B acillus subtilis
Author(s) -
Tan Irene S.,
Ramamurthi Kumaran S.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
environmental microbiology reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.229
H-Index - 69
ISSN - 1758-2229
DOI - 10.1111/1758-2229.12130
Subject(s) - bacillus subtilis , cell fate determination , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , cell division , transcription factor , asymmetric cell division , spore , transcription (linguistics) , endospore , sporogenesis , cell , genetics , bacteria , gene , linguistics , philosophy
Summary Although prokaryotes ordinarily undergo binary fission to produce two identical daughter cells, some are able to undergo alternative developmental pathways that produce daughter cells of distinct cell morphology and fate. One such example is a developmental programme called sporulation in the bacterium B acillus subtilis , which occurs under conditions of environmental stress. Sporulation has long been used as a model system to help elucidate basic processes of developmental biology including transcription regulation, intercellular signalling, membrane remodelling, protein localization and cell fate determination. This review highlights some of the recent work that has been done to further understand prokaryotic cell differentiation during sporulation and its potential applications.