Overview of Sporulation

Spore formation takes place in co-ordination with Meiosis. During the second meiotic division a novel intracellular membrane, the prospore membrane (shown in green) forms on the cytoplasmic face of each of the four spindle poles. These membranes extend around and engulf lobes of the nucleus (shown in blue) that contain the segregating chromosomes. As the nuclear lobes pinch off to form discrete haploid nuclei they are completely enclosed by the engulfing prospore membranes. After closure of the prospore membranes, these prospores finish differentiation into spores by the construction of a multilaminar spore wall (shown in red). Understanding the mechanism of spore formation touches on many different aspects of Cell Biology including vesicular transport and fusion, membrane-cytoskeleton interactions, cytokinesis, and construction of extracellular matrices.

For more detailed views of spore formation and work in our lab click here.