Driks Adam
Dept of Microbiology and Immunology, Loyola University Medical Center, 2160 South First Ave, Maywood, IL 60153, USA.
Trends Microbiol. 2002 Jun;10(6):251-4. doi: 10.1016/s0966-842x(02)02373-9.
Spores produced by bacilli and clostridia are surrounded by a multilayered protein shell called the coat. As the armor-like appearance of the coat suggests, this structure, along with others within the spore, confers the remarkable resistance properties that make Bacillus anthracis spores such potent biological weapons. Here, I review recent studies of coat assembly in the model organism Bacillus subtilis, and explore the implications of these findings for coat assembly in B. anthracis and for defense against biological weapons.
芽孢杆菌属和梭菌属产生的孢子被一层称为孢衣的多层蛋白质外壳所包围。正如孢衣类似盔甲的外观所示，这种结构以及孢子内的其他结构赋予了显著的抗性特性，使得炭疽芽孢杆菌孢子成为如此强大的生物武器。在此，我回顾了对模式生物枯草芽孢杆菌中孢衣组装的最新研究，并探讨了这些发现对炭疽芽孢杆菌中孢衣组装以及生物武器防御的意义。
