“…In general, all sporulation-associated machinery, including those involved in cell division, DNA transport and compaction, cortex formation, the AA-AH complex, DPA synthesis, spore coat formation and germination, is conserved between all endospore formers ( Galperin et al, 2012 ; Abecasis et al, 2013 ; Ramos-Silva et al, 2019 ). However, minor differences are observed with occurrence of supplementary pathways (such as DPA synthesis by EtfA, and Csp-mediated triggering of germination in the Clostridia-like spore formers; Orsburn et al, 2010 ; Rohlfing et al, 2019 ), replacement of individual components by their functional homologues (assembly of the spore coat base via SpoVM in Bacillus and SipL in Clostridium ; Ribis et al, 2017 ), losses of intermediate components (modification of Spo0A via a phosphorelay system in Bacilli and a two-component system in Clostridia), and slight discrepancies in co-regulation and co-dependence of cellular processes (e.g., influence of deficiencies in spore coat assembly on cortex formation; Ebmeier et al, 2012 ; Benito de la Puebla et al, 2020 ).…”