Microbiolgy

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.