This is due to the fact that cells under nutrient deficiency stop the production of a metabolic enzyme and thus existing enzymes have to be distributed to the offspring when spores are formed. However, by tracking the developmental history of the individual spores, the researchers discovered that the earlier a spore is formed, the faster it germinates and the more likely a new cell will grow out from the spore again. Until now, it was apparently a coincidence whether or when a spore revives with new nutrients.
Using time-lapse video techniques in combination with fluorescent markers, the team has succeeded for the first time in investigating both processes, sporulation and revival, in correlation - with surprising results and consequences. Ilka Bischofs and her team from the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology and the University of Heidelberg are investigating the processes and signaling pathways that are involved in sporulation. Due to their high adaptability, bacterial endospores are omnipresent: as undesirable permanent guests in areas with high hygiene requirements, but also as highly biotechnologically useful target of industrial production, for example in probiotics for animal breeding and in biological plant protection. When environmental conditions are suitable again, they revive within minutes and form a new cell that is capable of reproduction.
Like tiny space capsules, endospores protect the bacterial genome from heat, drought and starvation. Terrestrial Microbiology/ Bischofs-Pfeifer
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