Bacteria Structure and Function Flashcards
What is microbiology
The study of organisms too small to be seen by the naked eye
what are the 2 types of microorganisms?
Eukaryote and Prokaryotes
What are the 3 domaines of life?
Archaea, bacteria, Eukarya
What are characteristics of Archaea?
- prokaryotic
- contain no peptidoglycan
- often extremophiles
- not human pathogens
What are characteristics of bacteria?
- prokaryotic
- cell walls contain peptidoglycan
- sensitive to traditional bacteria
- they include the majority of pathogenic microorganisms
What are characteristics of Eukarya?
- Eukaryotic
- if they have cell walls they do have peptidoglycan
- not sensitive to traditional antibiotics
- include fungi/plants/animals/protists
differences between Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes
- prokaryote is not compartmentalised - don’t have certain structures
- prokaryote only have a single circular chromosome - nucleoid - no membrane bound nucleus
- Eukaryotes are larger
- bacterial membranes generally do not have sterols like cholesterol
Bacteria cell structure
- cytoplasmic membrane and a peptidoglycan cell wall
- fluid syptoyplasm contains a nuclear region and ribosomes
- external structures like capsule/flagella/pilli
Fungal cell structure
- cell wall
- cytoplasmic membrane
- mitocondria
- nucleus
- endoplasmic reticulum
- Golgi apparatus
- lysosomes
- vacuoles
Why are cell wall important
- confers structure rigidity and shape
- protects bacteria from osmotic lysis
Why can we use cell walls to tell the difference between prokaryotes and animal cells?
cause the structure and synthesis is unique to prokaryotes so some antibiotics target cells wall as mammal cells are immune to them - this is called selective toxicity
What does Penicillin do?
Inhibit cell wall synthesis
What is the structure of Peptidoglycan?
A thick layer between gram + and gram - cells - made of overlapping lattice od 2 sugars that are cross linked by amino acid bridges
How is the degree of rigidly of peptidoglycan determined?
by the amount of peptide cross-links
What are the 2 types of sugar in peptidoglycan?
- N-acetyl glucosamine (NAG)
- N-acetyl muramic acid (NAM)
Which sugar are the cross-link of 4 amino acid attached to?
NAM
What is a gram stain useful for?
showing the difference between gram positive and gram negative structures - this helps to classify different types of bacteria
What do gram negative structures have that gram positive structures don’t
a Periplasmic space and outer membrane
What some bacteria have?
peptide interbridge
What does a gram stain measure?
the ability of iodine-dye completes to leak out of the cell following decolorisation
what colours do bacteria turn after the gram stain?
gram positive turn purple / gram negative turn pink
Difference shapes of bacteria?
Bacilli - oval
Cocci - lots of little balls
Spiral - wavy line
Obligate aerobes
require oxygen
obligate anaerobes
require no oxygen