In this video, we're going to begin our lesson on sporulation. Recall from our previous lesson videos that sporulation, as its name implies, is the process of endospore formation from a vegetative cell or a normal cell. The process of sporulation starts when essential nutrients are depleted from the environment. As soon as the vegetative cell starts to detect damaging and unfavorable conditions, it can initiate the process of sporulation. Now, the process of sporulation takes place in a series of 5 steps that we have numbered down below 1 through 5. In this image, we're going to go over the steps of sporulation. In the very first step, the cell is actually going to stop growing, and the chromosomal DNA is going to be replicated. Over here, you can see that we have a cell that has stopped growing, and the chromosomal DNA has been replicated, as you can see here. In step number 2, a structure known as the septum is going to form to divide the cell into a large and a small compartment. Over here you can see the large compartment, and over here you can see the smaller compartment. Notice that the structure in between here is the septum that forms. Now, in step number 3, the small compartment is going to be engulfed by the large compartment. You can see that here, the smaller compartment is being engulfed by the larger compartment. This leads to step number 4, where the forespore, known as the forespore, is fully formed as the cortex and the coat layers of the endospore are produced. This precursor of an endospore is still completely engulfed inside the cell. In this image, for step number 4, we have the full cell here, but embedded inside we have this circular structure representing the forespore, this precursor spore that is going to end up turning into the full endospore. The dehydration of the forespore, you can see that we have water leaving the forespore here. H2O is leaving, and the dehydration stops enzyme activity. This helps to put the forespore into a dormant state, which we know the endospore is a dormant cell. In the 5th and final step, the fully mature endospore is going to be released, and the cell is going to lyse. You can see that the vast majority of the cell here is lysed, and the endospore is released. This is the highly resistant dormant cell that is able to survive these nutrient depleted and unfavorable conditions. As soon as the endospore is able to detect the environment going back to a favorable state, then the endospore can trigger another process known as germination, which is where the endospore reverts back into a vegetative cell. Germination is a very complicated process and essentially is going to be the opposite of sporulation. But we'll get to talk more about germination in our next lesson video. For now, this here concludes our introduction to sporulation, and we'll be able to get some practice applying these concepts as we move forward. So, I'll see you all in our next video.
7. Prokaryotic Cell Structures & Functions
Sporulation
7. Prokaryotic Cell Structures & Functions
Sporulation - Online Tutor, Practice Problems & Exam Prep
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concept
Sporulation
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Video transcript
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Problem
ProblemDuring sporulation, the formation of the _________ divides the cell into large and small compartments.
A
Forespore
B
Cell wall
C
Septum
D
Spore coat
E
Plasma membrane
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