Chapter 13 -- Endospore Stain

Question 1

vegetative cells

Answer 1

actively metabolizing cells – when stressed by such factors as nutrient limitation, temperature changes and waste accumulation, they will begin the process of sporulation

Question 2

endospore

Answer 2

survival structure formed within a bacterial cell wall that allows the cell to survive until environmental conditions improve

Question 3

spore coat

Answer 3

composed of keratin, protein, calcium, dipicolinic acid and peptidoglycan

Question 4

sporulation

Answer 4

starts with replication of bacterial chromosome and spatial separation of the chromosomes in different regions within the cell’s cytoplasm – a septum is formed

Question 5

forespore

Answer 5

located of one side of spetum – this will eventually become the endospore

Question 6

sporangium

Answer 6

opposite side of septum from foreshore – its metabolically active and produces and deposits compounds necessary for completion of the spore coat layers

Question 7

free spore

Answer 7

mature endospore, highly environmentally resistant and can exist as a resting spore for decades

Question 8

terminal endospore

Answer 8

endospore that develops at the end of the cell

Question 9

central endospore

Answer 9

endospore located in the middle of the cell

Question 10

subterminal endospore

Answer 10

endospores located between the center and the end of the cell

Question 11

endospore stain

Answer 11

classified as a differential, or structural, stain – heat-fixed smears are steamed over boiling water with the primary stain, malachite green, after slide has cooled it is decolorized and the the counter stain (safranin) is applied to vegetative cells