Surviving Between Hosts: Sporulation and Transmission

To survive adverse conditions, some bacterial species are capable of developing into a cell type, the "spore," which exhibits minimal metabolic activity and remains viable in the presence of multiple environmental challenges. For some pathogenic bacteria, this developmental state serves as...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Microbiology spectrum 2016-08, Vol.4 (4)
Main Authors: Swick, Michelle C, Koehler, Theresa M, Driks, Adam
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Anthrax
Anthrax - microbiology
Anthrax - transmission
Bacillus anthracis
Bacillus anthracis - growth & development
Bacterial Genetics, Cell Biology, Physiology
Clostridium difficile
Clostridium difficile - growth & development
Clostridium Infections
Clostridium Infections - microbiology
Clostridium Infections - transmission
Humans
Spores, Bacterial
Spores, Bacterial - growth & development
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:To survive adverse conditions, some bacterial species are capable of developing into a cell type, the "spore," which exhibits minimal metabolic activity and remains viable in the presence of multiple environmental challenges. For some pathogenic bacteria, this developmental state serves as a means of survival during transmission from one host to another. Spores are the highly infectious form of these bacteria. Upon entrance into a host, specific signals facilitate germination into metabolically active replicating organisms, resulting in disease pathogenesis. In this article, we will review spore structure and function in well-studied pathogens of two genera, Bacillus and Clostridium, focusing on Bacillus anthracis and Clostridium difficile, and explore current data regarding the lifestyles of these bacteria outside the host and transmission from one host to another.
ISSN:2165-0497
2165-0497
DOI:10.1128/microbiolspec.VMBF-0029-2015