Bacillus Thuringiensis Essay Sample

Aerobic spore-forming bacteria constitute a fairly large group of microorganisms. They are widely distributed in nature and play an important role in various biological processes. Bacillus thuringiensis is also used in commercial production of industrially valuable enzymes, antibiotics, organic acids and other compounds (Schallmey, Singh & Ward, 2004). Among the spore forming spore-forming group of bacteria, are pathogenic bacteria that have both humans and animals as host. Thus, the anthrax bacillus has been carefully studied. There is also evidence of pathogenic properties of certain types of spore-forming bacteria in plants that cause the development of rots and other lesions (Ricca, Henriques & Cutting, 2004).
These spore-forming bacteria produce a one-of-a-kind resting form known as spores, which are the subject of numerous studies to elucidate the nature of this parabiotic state of living matter. Spore-forming bacteria are ubiquitous - in the air, water bodies, on plant and animal residues and other natural substrates (Gould, 2006).

The structure of bacterial spores

The surface of the outer shell varies in aerobic spore producing bacteria being either smooth or with protuberances, protrusions, and buds. The shell constitutes a significant part of the spore. Its main components are proteins (60-90%) and lipids. The composition of amino acids in the envelope proteins varies among different species of bacterial spores, but the majority of the cystine contained in the majority of the spores is detected mainly in the envelope (Rank & Riley, 1998).

References

Lesney, Mark, pubs.acs.org, http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/archive/mdd/v04/i06/html/06disease.html
Ricca, E., Henriques, A. O., & Cutting, S. M. (2004). Bacterial spore formers: probiotics and emerging applications. Horizon Bioscience.
Schallmey, M., Singh, A., & Ward, O. P. (2004). Developments in the use of Bacillus species for industrial production. Canadian journal of microbiology, 50(1), 1-17.