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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Mar 2.
Published in final edited form as: Cell. 2011 Sep 2;146(5):799–812. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2011.07.029

Figure 2. Spore maturation, germination and outgrowth.

Figure 2

(A) A forespore (S) in the middle of a mother cell (M) is surrounded by a double membrane (IsM and OsM) and a PG layer between them. Multiple layers of coat are deposited on the outside of the OsM.

(B) The IsM and OsM are separated apart (40 nm) as cortex is synthesized.

(C) The main features of a mature spore: core, storage granules (SG), IsM, inner and outer cortex (ICx, OCx, respectively), OsM, coat, exosporium (Ex, also see D).

(D) A germinating spore shows that cortex (Cx) hydrolysis is uneven. The IsM and OsM come closer together as the cortex gets degraded.

(E) Cortex degradation nears completion before outgrowth begins.

(F) Outgrowth of a bacterium shows the new IM and OM that are derived from an IsM and the OsM. Again each panel is a 20-nm thick tomographic slice through a 3-D reconstruction. Scale bars 200 nm.

See also Figure S3 and Figure S4.