Prokaryotic Cell Structure: Endospores

Learning Objectives for "Prokaryotic Cell Structure: Endospores"

After completing this section you should be able to perform the following objectives.

1. Name 2 common genera of bacteria capable of producing endospores and state which is an obligate anaerobe.

2. Briefly discuss the function of a bacterial endospore.

3. Describe the structure of a bacterial endospore.

4. Define sporulation and germination.

5. Name three infections that may be transmitted to humans by endospores.

Highlighted Bacterium

1. Read the description of Clostridium tetani and match the bacterium with the description of the organism and the infection it causes.

Think-Pair-Share Questions

Botulism is caused by Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium that is found in the intestinal tract of many grazing animals and is an obligate anaerobe. When growing at a near neutral pH, the bacterium synthesizes and secretes an exotoxin that prevents acetylcholine from being released from the neural motor end plate of neurons at the synapse between the neuron and the muscle to be stimulated. As a result, the affected muscles don't contract or contract very weakly.

A person grows some green beans in a garden fertilized with manure. The beans are washed, boiled, placed in glass jars, and sealed with a lid. A couple of months later, that person heats one of the jars of beans, eats them, contracts botulism, and dies of respiratory failure.

Thinking of what we know about the genus Clostridium, its oxygen requirements, where it normally lives, and what its exotoxin does, explain the sequence of events that led to the person contracting botulism and dying.

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