prokaryoyic cell

[Sinead Ryan]

At a recent lecture my lecturer said that prokaryotic cells contain a spore. I have looked in many books andhave found o mention of such a spore.
Could any one tellme if it does exist and what its function is??
Thanks
Sinead

[canalon]

At a recent lecture my lecturer said that prokaryotic cells contain a spore. I have looked in many books andhave found o mention of such a spore.
Could any one tellme if it does exist and what its function is??
Thanks
Sinead

Not all bacteria (prokaryotic cells) are spore forming. So it is not a trait shared by all cells. The highly studied Escherichia coli is not spore forming, but the bacteria of the genus Bacillus are.

Spores are a special kind of bacterial offspring with a highly dehydrated and condensed content, and special cell walls produced in a special form of mitosis, that help bacteria to survive hostile environment. It is a resistant form of the cell, that given good condition will form new "normal cells" to start new bacterial colony.

HTH

Patrick

[DevGrp]

Some bacteria (a prokaryote) can form spores examples include Bacillus, Clostridium and Anthrax
http://www.microbe.org/microbes/spores.asp

Spores are a way that bacteria can survive in a dormant form for long periods of time.

Some spores can survive for years. Thats why the British govenment had to spend millions in the 1990s cleaning a scotish island after a WW2 germ warfare experiment left it covered in Anthrax spores.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1457035.stm

[Sinead Ryan]

So a spore in bateria is kinda like a seed???

[canalon]

So a spore in bateria is kinda like a seed???

Yes and No.
Seeds are embryo, they have a different genetic material from the parent plant. Spores are just a highly resistant backup of the bacteria, genetically identical to its parent. But, they serve the same purpose: survival and dissemination of the genome.

Patrick

[Sinead Ryan]

thats great. Thanks a million!! one more thing when I'm here 'centrasome' in an animal cell serves what purpose??

[mith]

Do you mean centrosome?

[Sinead Ryan]

yea i did! Sorry

[canalon]

For a quick overview over the centrosome you could read this:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=mboc4.section.2995

And for this kind of research a good free site is:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/

Search in "Books" for "whatever your looking at". It even suggest some keywords in case of typo After that you just have to select which book you want to see (try the more general first...) and here is your answer. Complete and up-to date.

HTH

Patrick