sporulation

METPO:1000870 · CLASS · REVIEWED

A phenotype that is relating to an organism's ability to form dormant, stress-resistant endospores.

Sporulation Spo0A and sigma-factor morphogenesis

Evidence-backed causal sketch linking environmental stress and Spo0A activation to asymmetric septation, compartment-specific sigma factors, forespore maturation, and endospore formation.

Sporulation Spo0A and sigma-factor morphogenesis Interactive directed graph showing evidence-backed causal relationships for sporulation.

Edge evidence

  • nutrient limitation activates Spo0A phosphorelay RO:0002213

    Starvation and stress signals feed into Spo0A activation.

    • DOI:10.1016/S1369-5274(00)00141-7 steps that lead to activation of Spo0A Supports Spo0A activation as the initiation control point for sporulation.
  • Spo0A phosphorelay initiates asymmetric septation

    Spo0A-dependent transcription initiates the morphological program that includes asymmetric septation.

    • DOI:10.1146/annurev.genet.30.1.297 activation of these sigma factors to landmark events in morphogenesis Supports regulatory linkage between Spo0A/sigma activation and sporulation morphogenesis.
  • asymmetric septation establishes compartment-specific sigma factors

    Asymmetric septation establishes mother-cell and forespore compartments with distinct sigma-factor programs.

    • DOI:10.1128/MMBR.67.4.526-560.2003 Compartmentalization of Gene Expression Supports compartment-specific gene expression during spore formation.
  • compartment-specific sigma factors regulates forespore maturation RO:0002211

    Sequential sigma-factor activity drives forespore development.

    • DOI:10.1128/MMBR.67.4.526-560.2003 forespore- and mother cell-specific transcription factors Supports sigma-factor cascades as drivers of compartmental development.
  • forespore maturation produces endospore METPO:2000202

    Forespore maturation produces a dormant endospore.

    • DOI:10.1146/annurev.genet.30.1.297 within which a spore is produced Supports the developmental endpoint of sporulation.
  • endospore manifests as sporulation METPO:2007400

    Endospore production manifests the sporulation phenotype.

    • DOI:10.1038/nrmicro2921 production of a highly resistant dormant cell type known as the spore Supports endospore production as the trait outcome.
  • asymmetric septation produces mother cell and forespore METPO:2000202

    Asymmetric division produces distinct mother-cell and forespore compartments.

    • DOI:10.1038/s41467-024-51654-6 via an asymmetric division into a forespore and mother cell (central defining morphogenesis edge).
  • SpoIIIE mediates chromosome translocation

    SpoIIIE translocates the chromosome into the forespore after asymmetric septation.

    • DOI:10.1038/s41467-024-51654-6 recruitment of SpoIIIE for chromosome translocation.
  • forespore engulfment creates cell-within-a-cell state biolink:produces

    Engulfment of the forespore by the mother cell creates a cell-within-a-cell state.

    • DOI:10.1038/s41467-024-51654-6 forespore engulfment, creating a cell-within-a-cell state.
  • sigma F activates sigma E RO:0002213

    Forespore sigma F drives activation of mother-cell sigma E.

    • DOI:10.1016/j.jbc.2024.107905 SigF activated first in the forespore; SigE activation in the mother cell depends on SigF.
  • sigma G drives spore DNA protection

    Late forespore sigma G drives spore DNA protection during maturation.

    • DOI:10.1038/s41467-024-51654-6 sigma G drives spore maturation and spore DNA protection via Ssp proteins.
  • sigma K controls spore coat and cortex RO:0002211

    Mother-cell sigma K controls spore coat and cortex maturation.

    • DOI:10.1038/s41467-024-51654-6 mother-cell sigma K controls spore coat and cortex maturation.
  • spore coat and cortex confers heat and chemical resistance

    Deposition of cortex, coat and exosporium confers heat and chemical resistance.

    • DOI:10.1038/s42003-024-06521-x deposition of cortex, coat and exosporium (conferring heat and chemical resistance).

Provenance

Source
METPO (2025-11-25)
Definition source
DOI:10.1146/annurev.genet.30.1.297

Parent traits (1)

Synonyms (2)

  • General.keywords RELATED_SYNONYM · metpo.owl
  • Physiology and metabolism.spore formation.spore formation RELATED_SYNONYM · metpo.owl

kg-microbe context

Matched 1 kg-microbe node via direct_metpo.

  • METPO:1000870 [-1.554, -2.668, -2.202, -0.616, …]

512-dim DeepWalkSkipGramEnsmallen embedding from kg-microbe (2026-04-25).

Nearest neighbors in embedding space

Top-8 cosine-similar METPO traits from the 2026-04-25 deepwalk (512-D).

Curation history

  1. · SEEDED_FROM_METPO · seed_from_metpo

    imported from data/raw/metpo.owl (CLASS)

  2. · CURATED_WITH_LITERATURE · codex

    Added DOI-backed definition and causal graph for nutrient limitation, Spo0A phosphorelay, asymmetric septation, compartment sigma factors, forespore maturation, and endospore formation.

  3. · GROUND_CAUSAL_PREDICATES · claude

    Grounded 1 causal-edge predicate_id field(s) via mappings/predicate_grounding.tsv (METPO:2000202×1).

  4. · GROUND_CAUSAL_PREDICATES · claude

    Grounded 1 causal-edge predicate_id field(s) via mappings/predicate_grounding.tsv (METPO:2007400×1).

  5. · RENAME_PREDICATE_LABELS · claude

    Renamed 1 causal-edge predicate label(s) to align with existing groundings: drives → regulates ×1.

  6. · GROUND_CAUSAL_PREDICATES · claude

    Grounded 1 causal-edge predicate_id field(s) via mappings/predicate_grounding.tsv (RO:0002211×1).

  7. · GROUND_CAUSAL_PREDICATES · claude

    Grounded 1 causal-edge predicate_id field(s) via mappings/predicate_grounding.tsv (RO:0002213×1).

  8. · REMOVE_REDUNDANT_SYNONYM · claude

    Removed 1 synonym(s) whose text duplicated the label (seeder redundancy; no information lost).

  9. · ENRICH_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude

    Added 7 evidence-backed generic edges (12 new nodes) from the deep-research report.

  10. · GROUND_CAUSAL_PREDICATES · claude

    Grounded 4 causal-edge predicate_id field(s) via mappings/predicate_grounding.tsv (METPO:2000202×1, biolink:produces×1, RO:0002213×1, RO:0002211×1).

  11. · GROUND_CAUSAL_NODES · claude

    Grounded 4 causal-node grounding field(s) via mappings/node_grounding.tsv (UniProtKB:A0A100JQQ1×1, UniProtKB:E0J3M3×1, UniProtKB:A0A0C7NZS0×1, UniProtKB:A0A060N640×1).