1.4. prokaryotic cell: bacterial growth, physiology & metabolism Flashcards
autotrophs
synthesize organic compounds using CO2 (source of carbon) and N2 (no medical importance)
heterotrophs
unable to synthesize own metabolites
- depend on preformed organic compounds as source of carbon (all pathogens)
Eh
redox potential
describe the concept of bacterial physiology
- nutrition
- environmental factors affecting survival of bacteria
- growth & multiplication
- metabolism
based on nutrition, what can microbes be classified as?
- Autotroph
2. heterotroph
Autotrophs:
Synthesize organic compounds using CO2 (source of carbon)and N2
(no medical importance)
Heterotrophs:
Unable to synthesize own metabolites and depend on preformed organic compounds as source of carbon
(All pathogens)
what are the Minimum requirements for growth and multiplication of a normal bacterial cell?
- Water (80%), carbon, nitrogen and inorganic salts
what are the requirements for growth of a pathogenic (disease-causing) species?
- Organic compounds and growth factors (bacterial vitamins)
- Essential: growth does not occur in their absence
- Accessory: enhances growth without being really necessary for some bacteria - Growth factors: produced by body fluids and tissues ‘in vivo’ and from yeast extract, blood and blood products ‘in vitro’ include: B complex vitamins
- Thiamine(B1)
- Riboflavin(B2)
- Nicotinic acid(B3)
- Folic acid (B9, Folate)
- B 12
discuss and describe bacterial growth
- Increase in the number of microbes, rather than an increase in size of a microbe
•Involves increase in cell mass and number of ribosomes, duplication of bacterial chromosome, synthesis of new cell and plasma membrane, partitioning of the two chromosomes, septum formation and cell division
•When growth reaches critical mass, cell divides
•Bacteria grow and divide by binary fission (asexual reproduction) and nuclear division precedes cell division
•“In vivo” growth of bacteria depends on our nutritional status, immunity, humoral factors, pH, redox potential..
what is generation time?
- Interval of time between two cell divisions OR
- Time required for a bacterium to give rise to two daughter cells under optimum conditions
- Knowledge of microbial growth is useful for understanding population dynamics and control in infectious diseases and food preservation
•Treating life-threatening infectious diseases
•Disinfection of living (animate) or non-living (inanimate) surfaces
•Informing processes related to cell division in higher organisms
what are factors affecting bacterial growth?
- Temperature
- Atmospheric O2 and CO2
- H –ion concentration
- Moisture and drying
- Osmotic Pressure
- Mechanical and sonic stress
- Radiation
Classification by temperature
- Mesophilic: 250C-400C (pathogens)
- Psychrotrophilic: can grow at 0-70C , optimum 20-300C (cold loving) –Listeria monocytogenes
- Thermophilic: 55-880C (Bacillus sterothermophilus)
By oxygen requirement
- Strict obligate aerobe: love O2 (P. aeruginosa, Staphylococcusspp)
- Strict obligate anaerobe: don’t love O2, may die (Bacteroides fragilis, Clostridium spp)
- Microaerophilic: best in low O2 (Helicobacter, Campylobacter spp)
By CO2 requirement
- Facultative aerobe: can grow in O2 also (most aerobes)
- Aerotolerant anaerobe: may tolerate O2exposure (Streptococcus pyogenes, Clostridium perfringens)
- Capnophilic: needs CO2 (5-10%) (Neisseria spp, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Brucella abortus)