# Endospore --- An **endospore** is a unique type of dormant cell that some [[prokaryote|prokaryotes]] can make during rough times. Only certain [[Gram positive bacteria|Gram positive bacalli]] that live in the soil have been found to be able to produce endospores. It is made up of layers of protective protein and metabolically inactive DNA. They are incredably resistant to all sorts of damage. ![[endospore.png]] ## Formation The formation of an endospore is called "sporulation". When the bacteria senses danger or that its environment is inhospitible and thinks it's going to die, it can render it's [[DNA]] metabolically inactive to wait for better conditions. The endospore itself is made out of layers and layers of protective proteins that stabalize the DNA, and when the mother cell dies the endospore is released into the environment—effectively in stasis. When the environment becomes more hospitable to the bacteria, it somehow senses that and the endospore "germinates" and becomes metabolically active again. Some endospores have been sucessfully revived after thousands or even millions of years. ___