The educational community and its knowledge and perceptions of native and invasive alien species.

Environmental education seeks to foster an appreciation for nature and the impact of humans on it while introducing citizens to scientific thinking. Biological invasions affect different aspects of life on earth and mandate urgent management actions. Education and public awareness are strongly recommended for successful prevention and management of invasive alien species (IAS).

Dissecting interactions between nucleosides and germination receptors in Bacillus cereus 569 spores.

Bacillus cereus 569 spores germinate either with inosine as a sole germinant or with a combination of nucleosides and L-alanine. Whereas the inosine-only germination pathway requires the presence of two different germination receptors (GerI and GerQ) to be activated, the nucleoside/alanine germination pathway only needs one of the two receptors. To differentiate how nucleoside recognition varies between the inosine-only germination pathway and the nucleoside/alanine germination pathway, we tested 61 purine analogues as agonists and antagonists of the two pathways in wild-type, DeltagerI and DeltagerQ spores.