Spores and Their Significance

By P. Setlow, Eric A. Johnson. Food microbiology, 2019

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This chapter describes the fundamental basis of sporulation and problems that spores present to the food industry. The first obvious morphological event in sporulation is an unequal cell division. One purpose of the chapter is to highlight the state of knowledge of molecular mechanisms of sporulation, spore resistance and dormancy, and spore germination and outgrowth, and hopefully, provide a counterpoint to more applied aspects of this system. The chapter focuses on molecular mechanisms, most of which have been examined in Bacillus subtilis. The sporulating bacteria discussed in the chapter form heat-resistant endospores that contain dipicolinic acid (DPA) and are refractile or phase bright under phase-contrast microscopy. Most studies on sporulation, spores, and spore germination have been carried out with species of either the aerobic bacilli or the anaerobic clostridia. The discussion of gene expression control mechanisms has been simplified and concentrates on major regulatory gene products. As detailed mechanistic data is available for B. subtilis, the discussion on spore resistance is concentrated on B. subtilis. The most effective way to kill pressure-germinated spores is by heat, and thus pressure treatments are often carried out at elevated temperatures. In the anaerobic growth environment of clostridia, transition metals would be expected to have important roles in the sporulation and resistance properties of spores. The scientific investigation of sporeformers has greatly contributed to the development of microbiology for the enhancement of food safety and quality.

Subfields: Biotechnology, Food Science, Molecular Biology

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