Germination

in this video, we're going to begin our lesson on germination. And so germination is actually the process by which an endospore exits its dormant state and reverts back to a vegetative cell. And so practically germination is the opposite of sport regulation which we covered in our previous lesson videos. And that's because speculation starts with a vegetative cell and ends with an endospore. Whereas germination, which we're covering here in this video starts with an endospore and ends with a vegetative self. So they're practically opposites of one another. Now, the endospore has an amazing ability to be able to detect nutrients in the environment that are actually favorable for the vegetative cell growth. And so the core will begin to absorb water and that absorbed water allows cellular enzymes to become active and those activated enzymes allows the cell to continue to grow and to ultimately revert back to the vegetative cell. And so eventually uh the endospore grows out of its protective layers and returns to a vegetative cell. And so if we take a look at our image down below, we can get a better understanding of this idea of germination. And so notice on the far left hand side we're showing you an endospore which would have been formed by the process of speculation. And so over a long period of time uh the endospore can last in this state and eventually whenever the endospore detects nutrients that are favorable in the environment, such as detecting these glucose molecules that we have represented here as hexagons. Once it detects those favorable nutrients, the endospore will start to absorb water or H. 20 And so you can see that water is being absorbed by the core of the endo sport. And that absorbed water is going to activate enzymes in the core and those activated enzymes is going to lead to the full process of germination, which allows the endospore to revert back to the vegetative cell that it once was. And then the vegetative cell will be able to perform its normal functions and we'll be able to reproduce in the favorable environment. But if this vegetative cell were to once again encounter unfavorable environment, then it could revert back to the end of sport. Form through speculation. And so this year concludes our brief lesson on germination and we'll be able to get some practice applying these concepts as we move forward. So I'll see you all in our next video.