Genome function, replication, integrity, and propagation rely on the dynamic structural
organization of chromosomes during the cell cycle. Genome folding in interphase provides …

Although prokaryotes ordinarily undergo binary fission to produce two identical daughter
cells, some are able to undergo alternative developmental pathways that produce daughter …

Bacillus subtilis is the best-characterized member of the Gram-positive bacteria. Its genome
of 4,214,810 base pairs comprises 4,100 protein-coding genes. Of these protein-coding …

Spore formation in bacteria poses a number of biological problems of fundamental
significance. Asymmetric cell division at the onset of sporulation is a powerful model for …

If fully stretched out, a typical bacterial chromosome would be nearly 1 mm long,
approximately 1,000 times the length of a cell. Not only must cells massively compact their …

In the absence of an overt cytoskeleton, the external cell wall of bacteria has traditionally
been assumed to be the primary determinant of cell shape. In the Gram-positive bacterium …

The genus Mycobacterium is best known for its two major pathogenic species, M.
tuberculosis and M. leprae, the causative agents of two of the world's oldest diseases …

The bacterial chromosome must be compacted more than 1,000-fold to fit into the
compartment in which it resides. How it is condensed, organized and ultimately segregated …

SMC condensin complexes play a central role in compacting and resolving replicated
chromosomes in virtually all organisms, yet how they accomplish this remains elusive. In …

▪ Abstract The process of sporulation in the bacterium Bacillus subtilis proceeds through a
well-defined series of morphological stages that involve the conversion of a growing cell into …