sporulating GNR

[John Perrin]

John Bowman (jbowman at utkvx.utk.edu) wrote:

: spore formation, i.e. spo genes (or least homologs of them) have been detected 
: in E. coli and Vibrio spp. but they do not seem to be expressed under 
: "normal" growth conditions. In any case spores can come in many different 
: forms with various degrees of "toughness". In terms of public health, the 
: spores of such bugs as Bacillus anthracis (anthrax) and Clostridium botulinum 
: (botulism) are the biggest concern.


: John Bowman, Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville

Many people here are missing a very important point, the organisms being 
discussed, Legionella sp., Vibrio sp., and E. coli, are gram negative 
rods.  Bacillus sp. and Clostridium sp. are gram positive rods.  At this 
time I am unaware of any human pathogenic gram negative rod that has the 
ability to form a viable spore.