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Updated: Sep 6, 2025

Single-cell Analysis of Bacillus subtilis Biofilms Using Fluorescence Microscopy and Flow Cytometry
Published on: February 15, 2012
Bacillus subtilis Cell Differentiation, Biofilm Formation and Environmental Prevalence
Yuxuan Qin1, Leticia Lima Angelini2, Yunrong Chai2
1Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops of the Ministry of Agriculture, Sino-Dutch Joint Laboratory of Horticultural Genomics, Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
Abstract:
Bacillus subtilis is a soil-dwelling, spore-forming Gram-positive bacterium capable of cell differentiation. For decades, B. subtilis has been used as a model organism to study development of specialized cell types. In this minireview, we discuss cell differentiation in B. subtilis, covering both past research and recent progresses, and the role of cell differentiation in biofilm formation and prevalence of this bacterium in the environment. We review B. subtilis as a classic model for studies of endospore formation, and highlight more recent investigations on cell fate determination and generation of multiple cell types during biofilm formation. We present mechanistic details of how cell fate determination and mutually exclusive cell differentiation are regulated during biofilm formation.
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