Differential staining of bacteria: endospore stain.

Endospore production is a very important characteristic of some bacteria, allowing them to resist adverse environmental conditions such as desiccation, chemical exposure, extreme heat, radiation, etc. The identification of endospores is also very important for the clinical microbiologist who is analyzing a patient's body fluid or tissue-there are not that many spore-forming genera. In fact, there are two major pathogenic spore-forming genera, Bacillus and Clostridium, together causing a number of lethal diseases-botulism, gangrene, tetanus, and anthrax, to name a few. (c) 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.