Bacillus subtilis is a soil-dwelling, spore-forming Gram-positive bacterium capable of cell differentiation. For decades, B. subtilis has been used as a model organism to study development of specialized cell types. In this minireview, we discuss cell differentiation in B. subtilis, covering both past research and recent progresses, and the role of cell differentiation in biofilm formation and prevalence of this bacterium in the environment. We review B. subtilis as a classic model for studies of endospore formation, and highlight more recent investigations on cell fate determination and generation of multiple cell types during biofilm formation. We present mechanistic details of how cell fate determination and mutually exclusive cell differentiation are regulated during biofilm formation.
Keywords: Bacillus subtilis; biofilm formation; cell differentiation.