Page 80 - MNUmicrobiology practical 2025

General Microbiology & Immunology (PM 401) second level Semester 4 2024/2025

Learning outcomes

• Describe what an endospore/spore is and why they are important for the
bacterial species that form them.
• Identify/give examples of environmental conditions that can stimulate spore
formation.

• Compare and contrast "vegetative cell" and "spore."
• Successfully conduct an endospore stain.

• Compare and contrast spore forming &non spore forming bacteria
• Identify when endospores are terminal, subterminal, and central in

microscopic images, diagrams, and descriptions.
• Tell how the endospore stain works including the stains involved and how the
stains penetrate cells and do or do not wash out of cells.

• Compare between Modified Ziehl Neelsen stain and Schaeffer-Fulton stain

Modified Ziehl Neelsen Stain

Objective

To classify the bacteria based on the spore formation as spore former and non-spore
former.

Endospores

• An endospore is a form of a bacterial cell. Only some genera of bacteria can produce

endospores like Clostridium and Bacillus. Endospores are made so the cell can

survive poor growth or poor survival conditions.

General Microbiology & Immunology (PM 401) Practical note Page 69