Question

what are endospores?

Answer 1

Endospores are specialized resisting structures produced by bacteria in conditions of stress or starvation. these organisms are provided with complex systems to detect the persistance of these stresses. in these cases they start an intricate procedure of genetic activation that leads to the formation of the daughter endospore, which contains the genetic information of the mothercell. the mothercell provides the endospore with a though coat of proteins resistant to essiccation, radiation and heat. once having created the endospore (which is so called because the motherspore engulfs it to build its protein coat), the motherspore dies and releases the spore into the environment. these spores are so resistant that they can survive in difficult environments for months. when the right conditions return, the spore is capable of detecting the new situation and "awakens" restabilishing the normal morphology and life cicle of a bacterium of its own type. endospores are important indicators to identify the type of bacterium you're working on. shape, size, composition of the spore coat and localization inside the motherspore are species-specific.