Thymine-requiring mutants of Bacillus subtilis and mutants that are temperature-sensitive for initiation of chromosome replication have been used to study the relationship between sporulation and chromosome formation. The DNA synthesis that normally occurs when cells are transferred to sporulation medium is essential for spore induction. This is shown by the fact that thymine-starved cells are ...

Some microorganisms have been shown to retain a chemical signature indicative of the medium used for culturing. However, the repeatability of medium-specific chemical signatures has not been demonstrated from samples of microorganisms produced in the same batch or in different batches by the same sporulation protocol. Here, the variation in Raman spectra of bacterial endospores repeatedly prepa...

The rate of global deposition of Cd, Pb, and Zn has decreased over the past few decades, but heavy metals already in the soil may be mobilized by local and global changes in soil conditions and exert toxic effects on soil microorganisms. We examined in vitro effects of Cd, Pb, and Zn on critical life stages in metal-sensitive ecotypes of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, including spore germin...

Recently developed techniques for isolating forespores from bacilli at all stages of spore morphogenesis have been exploited to investigate the contribution of each of the two compartments of the sporulating cell to the overall pattern of protein synthesis and degradation during sporulation in Bacillus megaterium. These studies have shown: (1) that protein synthesis continues in both compartmen...

Replication via sporulation is the replication strategy for all multicellular life, and may even be observed in unicellular life (such as with budding yeast). We consider diploid populations replicating via one of two possible sporulation mechanisms. (1) Asexual sporulation, whereby adult organisms produce single-celled diploid spores that grow into adults themselves. (2) Sexual sporulation, wh...

The genus Desulfotomaculum, belonging to the Firmicutes, comprises strictly anaerobic and endospore-forming bacteria capable of dissimilatory sulfate reduction. These microorganisms are metabolically versatile and are widely distributed in the environment. Spore formation allows them to survive prolonged environmental stress. Information on the mechanism of sporulation in Desulfotomaculum speci...

Bacteria adopt alternative cell fates during development. In Bacillus subtilis, the transition from planktonic growth to biofilm formation and sporulation is controlled by a complex regulatory circuit, in which the most important event is activation of Spo0A, a transcription factor and a master regulator for genes involved in both biofilm formation and sporulation. In B. cereus, the regulatory ...

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, meiosis and sporulation are highly regulated responses that are driven in part by changes in RNA expression. Alternative mRNA forms with extended 5' UTRs are atypical in S. cerevisiae, and 5' extensions with upstream open reading frames (uORFs) are even more unusual. Here we characterize the gene YPR036W-A, now renamed SPO24, which encodes a very small (67-amino-aci...

Bacillus subtilis cells may opt to forgo normal cell division and instead form spores if subjected to certain environmental stimuli, for example nutrient deficiency or extreme temperature. The resulting spores are extremely resilient and can survive for extensive periods of time, importantly under particularly harsh conditions such as those mentioned above. The sporulation process is highly tim...

The Cdc14 gene of Phytophthora infestans is transcribed specifically during sporulation, with no mRNA detectable in vegetative hyphae, and is required for sporangium development. To unravel the mechanisms regulating its transcription, mutated Cdc14 promoters plus chimeras of selected Cdc14 sequences and a minimal promoter were tested in stable transformants. This revealed that a tandem repeat o...