Translations:Sporulation in Bacillus subtilis/4/en

Nature of regulation

Sporulation requires a great deal of time and also a lot of energy and is essentially irreversible, making it crucial for a cell to monitor its surroundings efficiently and ensure that sporulation is embarked upon at only the most appropriate times. The wrong decision can be catastrophic: a vegetative cell will die if the conditions are too harsh, while bacteria forming spores in an environment which is conducive to vegetative growth will be out competed. In short, initiation of sporulation is a very tightly regulated network with numerous checkpoints for efficient control.