Fig. 2: DNA organization in the B. subtilis forespore.

a, b Full views (i, scale bars = 100 nm) and zooms (ii, scale bars = 50 nm) of an engulfed forespore harboring organized crescent- (a) or toroid-shaped (b) DNA structures. DNA segmentation (iii) suggests that it forms short filamentous structures that organize around a DNA-free region. c Full view (i, scale bars = 100 nm) and zooms (ii and violet insets, scale bars = 50 nm) of an engulfed forespore harboring two discrete DNA-rich regions. The images are representative of 2 independent experiments, with 18 (a), 5 (b) and 10 (c) cells displaying similar features.