Final exam material - W9/10 Flashcards
what are Persister cells? what does dormancy grant them?
cells that show recurrence of chronic bacterial infection through the displayed dormant pheno that’s metabolically reduced
dormancy grants them tolerance to antimicrobial agents
3 main ways of persister cell eradication?
SIMPLE version
- Direct killing
- Re-sensitising persister cells to conventional antimicrobials
- Prevention of persister formation through lab findings that have been translated to clinical practice
what methods can be used to complete each of the 3 eradication processes
- targeting of bacterial cell wall w/ periodic exposure to antimicrobials
- encourage resuscitation within dormant pop to actively produce targets + Stimulate metabolism of persisters, causing a phenotypic switch from dormant type to antibiotic sensitive
- targeting cell’s response to an alarmone - (p)ppGpp, preventing its accumulation
is it resistance or tolerance that allows persisters to survive antibiotics?
tolerance
what is the level of genotypic variation in cell pops that then generates a subset of them to become persister cells?
no genotypic variation in the pop but rather a phenotypic adaptation triggered by environmental cues (stress)
characteristics of the persister dormant state?
what is reduced? what does it grant the cell?
dormant state = drastically reduced metabolic activity allowing survival upon exposure to antimicrobial drugs
what kinds of genes experience an increase/decrease in level of expression in persister cells?
downregulation in biosynthesis genes
upregulation in toxin/antitoxin (TA) genes
What is the TA system?
intrinsically linked genes (2 (bicistronic) or more) responsible for encoding toxic protein + its corresponding antitoxin
Function of toxins? antitoxins? which is stable? which is easily degradable by proteases?
toxin protein = stable
antitoxin = easily degradable
Toxins function: down-regulate protein synthesis + involved in bacterial dormancy and tolerance
Antitoxin Function: controls autoregulation of TA bicistronic operons
functions of (p)ppGpp?
acts as an alarmone + triggers release of toxins from TA systems
downregulation of protein synthesis via interaction with RNA poly
3 main ways that antibiotics/antimicrobials work?
- Direct killing of metabolically dormant persister cells
- Sensitizing persisters to conventional antibiotics by promoting resuscitation
- Comprising of molecules linked to the induction of persister cells
how do the levels of ATP in either the stationary phase or exponential phase affect the generation of persister cells?
stationary phase = reduced ATP levels = persister formation
exponential phase = increased ATP levels = exponential growth of non persister, normal cells
what is persister resuscitation? can a relapse in infection occur? what is the most significant trigger for resuscitation?
Persisters eventually return to a functional state from their dormant state, and a relapse in infection can occur
Significant trigger - Ala (an aa)
how do chemotaxis change in persister cells? when does greatest awakening of dormant cells occur?
hint: what needs to be produced
chemotaxis down-regulated in dormant persister cells
greatest awakening (of dormant cells) occurred in cells producing the chemotaxis response regulators CheY + CheA
what are bacterial endospores? how long can they survive AND w/o what? formation happens close to what?
most resilient types of cells known
can survive very long periods of time w/o any nutrients
Spore formation happened close to a single cell pole
endospores - what conditions cause spore formation? characteristics?
lack of nutrients and boiling periods
what is sporulation? germination?
S: process in which normal growing cells (Vegetative cells) turn into spores
G: process in which spores turn into vegetative cells
step 0+1 of sporulation?
Stage 0: Vegetative Growth where chromo + mem + peptidoglycan are visible
Stage I: Chromosome Condensation where DNA replicates into 2 chromes that form an axial filament spanning the long axis of the cell; division sites shift to polar positions
What is stage 2 of sporulation? what does the polar septum do?
Stage II: Asymmetric Septation - Only 1 division site forms a septum, generating a larger mother cell + a smaller forespore
polar septum traps the forespore chromo to transport it by the SpoIIIE DNA translocase
what is the engulfment step in sporulation? what starts assembling?
the mem of the mother cell migrates around the forespore in a phagocytosis-like process
A proteinaceous coat around the forespore
What is stage 3 of sporulation?
forespore is enclosed within the mother-cell cytoplasm, defined by 2 membranes
What are the 2 mems within the mother cell cyto found in stage iii?
An inner mem that is the og forespore membrane
An outer mem derived from the mother cell engulfing mem
What is stage 4 of sporulation?
Cortex Formation made of peptidoglycan - synthesized between the inner + outer forespore membranes
Small acid soluble proteins (SASPs) start building chromo
What is stage 5 of sporulation?
Coat Formation + complete assembly
forespore chromo is compacted + saturated w/ SASPs to protect DNA
What is stage 6 of sporulation?
Maturation where a molecule - DPA - is synthesized in the mother cell and is then loaded into the forespore
forespore core partially dehydrated
spore becomes heat-resistant
What is stage 7 of sporulation?
Lysis where mother cell lyses and the spore is released into environment where it remains dormant until conditions are appropriate for germination
Different structural features