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Bacterial Spores - resistance, dormancy and water status

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The Properties of Water in Foods ISOPOW 6

Abstract

The formation of endospores by Bacillus and Clostridium bacteria and by members of a few other genera can be considered an extreme response to stress in that it results in major remodeling of the entire cell. The spore produced differs markedly in structure, resistance and metabolism from the vegetative cell or sporangium within which it is formed. Bacterial endospores are considered to be inert metabolically, although they can be triggered into activity by germinants. However, the fully dormant spore is truly latent life, and at least some spores can resist the ravages of time for centuries, maybe even for as long as 25 million years, at least according to recent reports of recovery of viable spores from insects preserved in amber (Cano and Borucki, 1995). The basis for this extreme dormancy is not entirely clear, and in fact, there may be multiple bases. The spore protoplast becomes dehydrated in stages during sporulation, but is certainly not devoid of water when spores are in aqueous environments. For greatest longevity, spores have to be further dehydrated by environmental drying Murrel and Scott (1966). Spores are highly resistant to dehydration damage, and part of this resistance appears to be due to small acid-soluble spore proteins (SASP) which bind to DNA to protect it against dehydration damage, which may involve oxidative damage (Fairhead et al., 1994). Dehydration of the protoplast would be expected to lead to reduced metabolism, especially if water becomes restructured in the protoplast. In addition, the mature spore also has a very low energetic potential and is deficient in ATP and NAD(P)H, although it does contain 3-phosphoglycerate which can be used for ATP synthesis during germination (Setlow, 1994). Moreover, it is in an oxidized state with nearly all of its sulfhydryl groups in the form of disulfides (Setlow, 1983). The metabolic bases for the low energy state of spores are not well defined. During germination, the cells can degrade SASP proteolytically to provide amino acids for anabolic and catabolic metabolism (Setlow, 1994).

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  1. Robert E. Marquis
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  1. Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California, Davis, USA

    David S. Reid

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Marquis, R.E. (1998). Bacterial Spores - resistance, dormancy and water status. In: Reid, D.S. (eds) The Properties of Water in Foods ISOPOW 6. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0311-4_22

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