Dysbiosis & disease Flashcards
What is dysbiosis and what are the causes?
imbalance of human microbiota
cause: microbiota availability in youth, human genetics, diets, antibiotics, pathogenic infections
What type of bacterium is c diff and how is its growth generally inhibited?
Gram+ inhibited by normal microbiota
what does c diff cause? and how is it treated?
diarrhoea and pseudomembranous colitis
metronidazole and vancomycin
What are the two alternative therapies for c diff?
oral probiotics
faecal matter transplant FMT - fresh stool from healthy donor, introduced by infusion
What are the 5 problems of FMT?
patient reluctance contamination with pathogens lack of guidelines insufficient data on long term effects no pure cultivated bacteria available may not work as well
Does change in gut microbiota or caloric intake affect metabolic syndrome?
change in gut microbiota correlates to weight loss
What is one proposed mechanism of how gut microbiota causes metabolic syndrome?
induction of a change in metabolism
micro biome increases caloric intake by increasing digestion, compounds synthesised by microbiome change metabolism in the rest of body causing fat storage
What is the second proposed mechanism of how gut microbiota causes metabolic syndrome?
induction of neuronal or endocrine signals leading to a higher intake of foods that benefit the pathobiont - bacteria secrete NTs & potentially directly affect the nervous system
What is the bacterial genome carried on?
single, double stranded & circular DNA called chromosome
What are plasmids?
smaller circular DNA molecules which carry additional genes
What are the 3 modes of horizontal gene transfer (HGT)
transformation
conjugation
transduction
Which 3 modes of HGT does dysbiosis induce?
conjugation & transduction
