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What is Sporulation?
Spores are cells of bacteria, fungi or plants which are created when an organism encounters harsh conditions. These spores have a thick cell wall which helps them withstand harsh conditions. They preserve the organism’s genetic material and resume multiplying once favourable conditions are available. The formation of these spores is known as sporulation.
Sporulation provides a multilayered structure that can be maintained for a long time. Spores are designed to protect a bacterium from dryness, heat, and intense radiation for a long time, relative to the normal life span of the microorganism. Endospores of Bacillus subtilis have been recovered from substances that are thousands of years old. Also, these are capable of resuscitation into a healthy and dividing cell. There has been a recovery of spores from amber that is more than 250 million years old.
What is the process of sporulation in bacteria?
While Sporulation allows diseases such as anthrax and botulism to spread, it may prove to be a dangerous process. While these are harmful spores, there are others that are helpful as well. Most of the fungi reproduce through spores, including useful fungi such as edible mushrooms and mould that are processed in penicillin.
Many plants do not reproduce through sporification, but a few primitive plants do. These plants are essential for understanding the Evolution that led to the beginning of plant life on Earth. Tumbleweeds, mosses, and ferns are some of the well-known plants that reproduce through spores.
Spores hold an advantage over seeds and other types of reproduction due to their hardness. They can be stable and survive at extreme temperatures and pressure and without water. Plants and fungi use spores for reproduction and dispersal but are often used for survival without reproduction in bacteria.
Sporulation in Amoeba
Amoeba reproduces by the formation of spores internally, under unfavourable conditions. It begins with the breakdown of the nuclear membrane and releases chromatin that blocks into the cytoplasm. Each and every Chromatin block obtains a nuclear membrane and becomes a small daughter nucleus. The newly produced nuclei are surrounded by cytoplasm to form amoebulae.
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