3.10 Cholera

Question 1

What are 3 differences between a prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell?

Answer 1

Prokaryotic

1. No nucleus, only a diffuse area
2. No nucleolus
3. No membrane-bound organelles

Question 2

What are the two main symptoms of cholera?

Answer 2

1. Diarrhoea
2. Dehydration

Question 3

How are most Vibrio Cholerae bacterium killed?

Answer 3

Through the acidity in the stomach.

Question 4

What do surviving bacteria do once in the small intestine?

Answer 4

Use their flagella to propel themselves, in a cork-screw like fashion, through the mucus lining of the intestinal wall.

Question 5

What are the two features of the toxic protein it then produces?

Answer 5

1. One part binds to specific carbohydrate receptors on the cell-surface membrane.
2. The toxic part enters the epithelial cells, creating ion channels that release choride ions into the lumen of the intestine.

Question 6

What happens once the ion channels are opened?

Answer 6

The water potential of the epithelial cells increases and the water potential of the lumen decreases. Water therefore flows from the cells into the lumen.