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B. subtilis has a long history, being first described in the nineteenth century. The origins of the standard lab strain, 168, are poorly documented, but its place in the annals of genetics was cemented by experiments in the late 1950s showing that it was naturally transformable with linear DNA (see [8]). B. subtilis emerged as the Gram-positive model organism of choice largely because endospore formation became popular as a marvellously tractable system for studying fundamental aspects of cellular development and differentiation. Processes such as the decision to initiate sporulation, asymmetric cell division, cell fate determination and cell morphogenesis were all worked out in molecular detail at a time when it was very difficult to dissect these processes in higher organisms.
A pivotal problem in understanding spore development lay in discriminating between events occurring simultaneously in the developing prespore and mother-cell compartments, which have identical chromosomes but very different gene expression profiles. This problem powered the adaptation of digital fluorescence imaging for use in bacteria, which was then a major factor ushering in the modern field of bacterial cell biology. Later, these methods were applied to many other important problems, especially central bacterial cell processes of cell division, chromosome segregation, and cell growth and morphogenesis. Progress in understanding these processes now runs almost in parallel between B. subtilis and its Gram-negative comparator, Escherichia coli. Bacillus genetics and cell-biology methods have also made the organism popular for more general studies of cell physiology and biochemistry, as well as alternative morphogenic processes, such as biofilm formation.
Another major driver of interest in B. subtilis is based on its importance as an industrial organism, mainly through its prodigious ability to secrete various important hydrolytic enzymes directly into the culture medium but also as a producer of fine chemicals, such as riboflavin. Its attractiveness as a safe host for production of natural and engineered products has been helped by its long standing use in 'natto', a Japanese dish made from fermented soy bean curd and also as a probiotic. As mentioned above, B. subtilis appears to be adapted to life in association with plants, either as an epiphyte or in the rhizosphere, and historically it has typically been isolated from decaying vegetative matter such as hay. Adaptation to this ecological niche may help explain a third important industrial use of B. subtilis , as a plant growth promoter, through production of specialized metabolites, niche exclusion of pathogens and other probably various other factors.
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