Intro to Med Micro (Pathophys) - Block 1 Flashcards
What is pathogenicity?
Potential to cause disease
What is virulence?
Degree of pathogen’s ability to cause harm to the host and overcome host’s defence
List some of the characteristics of prokaryotes?
- No membrane enclosed organelles
- dsDNA -> nucleoid
- No histones
- Haploid
- Smaller 70s ribosomes
- Peptidoglycan cell wall
List some of the characteristics of eukaryotes?
- Membrane bound organelles
- DNA -> chromosomes
- Histones
- Diploid
- Large 80s ribosomes
- Cell membrane contains sterols
What are the basic shapes of bacteria?
Cocci, bacilli, spirochetes
What is the difference between spirillium and spirochetes?
Spirillium: rigid
Spirochete: flexible
What is the structural differenc ebetween strep and staph?
Strep: chains
Staph: clusters
What is the purpose for simple staining? Types?
Analyzing size, shape, and aggregation of bacteria:
1. Methylene blue
2. Safranin
3. Crystal violet
What is the purpose of ddifferential staining? Types?
2 or more dyes used to distinguish between types of cell wall structures of the same organism:
1. Gram stain
2. Ziehl Neelsen acid fast
3. Negative
4. Flagella (silver)
5. Endospore
Describe the composition of the cell wall?
- Composed of peptidoglycan
- Polymer of repeating disaccharide units cross-linked by short polypeptides
- Overall negative surface charge
Describe the composition of peptidoglycan?
Murein:
1. NAG and NAM sugar derivatives
2. Small group of aa (glycine, L-alanine, D-alanine, D-glutamic acid, L-lysine, DAP)
3. Transpeptidase makes the peptide crosslinks between glycan sheets
What enzyme do penicillins bind to?
Transpeptidase
Describe how peptidoglycan is assembled?
Cytoplasmic phase: NAG and NAM are encoded by murA-F genes in cytoplasm
Membraine-associated phase: Enzymes link NAG and NAM to lipids on plasma membrane
Extracytoplasmic phase: Cell wall units move from the inner cell membrane to the outer lipid layer of the membrane
What are the basic dyes used for Gram staining?
Crystal violet, safranin
What the differentiation of Gram staining?
G(-): pinkish red
G(+): purple
How is gram stain useful?
- ID bacteria by morphology and color
- Determines choice of ABX
Describe the components of G(+) cell walls?
- Thick peptidoglycan outside of the cytoplasmic membrane
- Teichoic acid that gives surfec a negative charge
- Lipoteichoic acid (PAMP) is an amphiphitic glycophosphates witha lipophilic glycolipid portion
- Inner cell membrane only
Describe the components of G(-) cell walls?
- Thin peptidoglycan layer sandwiched between innner and outer phospholipid membranes
- Periplasm that contains hydrolytic enzymes (b-lactamases)
- Porins that allow the passage of small molecules and ions
- Lipopolysaccharides
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What is an endotoxin?
Contributes to dx sx (e.g. fever, shock)
* lipid portion of lipopolysaccharides on the outer surface of G(-) bacteria
What is the endotoxin component of LPS?
Lipid A
What is used to identify species in a clinical lab?
O antigen
What are the ABX targets that are within the cell wall?
- Plasma membrane
- Cytoplasm
- Ribosomes
- Endospores
What bacteria types commonly have endospores?
Bacillus (B. anthracis) and Clostridium (C. botulinum causes botulism)
What are endospores?
Thick keratin like coat contianing DNA and cellular components -> highly resistant to heat, dehydration, UV, chemicals, and ABX -> germinates in the presence of nutrients and water
What is the outcome of sporulation?
Release of spores when nutrients deplete due to environmental stress
What is the differential staining used to identify endospores?
Malachite green
What is gycocalyx?
Viscous and sticky polysaccharide and polypeptide that encases bacterium
What are the types of glycocalyx?
Capsule: neat, firmly attached to cell wall
Slime layer: covers surface like a film and loosely attached to cell wal
What is the function for glycocalyx?
- Protects cell from drying out
- Provides adherence of bacteria to human tissue
- Prevents phagocytosis (virulence)
Capsular polysaccharides can be recognized by ___?
Adaptive humoral response
What provides flagella energy source?
ATP
How is flagella visualized?
Silver stain
What is the function of the flagella?
Whiplike structures and provide movement to the bacterium
Bacteria species that contains flagella?
E. coli, H. pylori
What is a fimbriae?
Hairlike filaments extending from the cell surface that contributes to virleuce
What is the role of the fimbraie?
- Mediates the attachemnt of bacteria to host
- Has specificity for certain hosts
What is the role of the pilus?
- Provides contact between bacteria
- Allows for the transfer of DNA (toxin genes, abx reistance genes)
Reduced antibody effectiveness is caused by ___ through pilus horizontal gene transfer?
Antigenic variation
What is a mesophiles?
Infectious agents in humans
How does bacteria reproduce?
Binary fission (vertical genetransfer)
What is growth?
Increase in cell number
What is binary fission?
Cell division following enlargemtn of a cell to twice its minimum size
What is generation time?
Time required for microbial cells to double in number
Describe the growth rate of bcteria?
Exponential (logarithmic) growth: growth of a microbial population in which cell numbers double within a specific time interval
Describe the 4 phases of bacterial growth?
Lag phase: interval between inoculation and with growth begins where bacteria undergoes vigorous metabolic activity without division
Log phase: exponential growth where cells undergo rapid cell division
Stationary phase: No net increase or decrease in cell number, growth rate stops, spores form
Death: decline in the number of viable cells due to a buildup of waste
What phase of growth do B-lactam drugs act on?
Log phase
O2 is an ____ in cellular respiration
Electron acceptor
What ROS are generated by O2?
H2O2, O-2
What enzymes are used to protect against ROS?
Superoxide dioxide, catalase
Respnse to O2 is an important criteria for classifying bacteria
Requres O2 to grow?
Obligate areobes
Can utilize O2 for respiration if present or can use ferementation processess?
Facultative anaerobe
Grows the same with or without O2?
Aerotolerant anaerobes
Can’t survive in the presence of O2?
Obligate anaerobe
Aerobes that grow in reduced O2 environments (<2-10% o2)
Microaerophiles
What enzyme tests are used to ID bacteria?
Catalase and oxdase
What is the catalase test? What typical tests positive and negative?
Catalase is an enzyme that degrades H2O2 into water and O2 -> producing bubbles when exposed to hydorgen peroxide
USed to distinguish G(+) organisms:
C(+): Staph
C(-): Strep and Entero
What species do not make catalase?
Obligawte and aerotolerant anaerobes
How does an oxidase test work? What typical tests positive and negative?
Cytochrome c oxidase is a part of nitrate metabolism -> an indicator aerobic respiration
- Produced by non-enteric G(-)
What dye is used for oxidase test?
methyl blue
What is fermentation?
BReak down of sugar -> pyruvate -> lactic acid + ATP in the absence of O2
What is the test to id fermentation?
MacConkey agar contains pH sensitive dyes that change color in the presence of acid
What species are used for fermentation tests using MacConkey agar?
G(-): supported to grow
G(-): inhibited to grow (fecal coliforms - faculitative agar) due to bile salts
What is the result of MacConkey agar?
Lactose fermenters turn to red or pink as pH becomes more cidic
What is the difference between selective media?
Selective: contains ingredients that inhibits gorwth of specifc organisms
Differential: Provides visualization and diffent bacterial colonies
Describe the genetic distinctions of prokaryotes?
- SIngle circular DNA
- Haploid
- No introns for mRNA
- 1 gene specifies more than 1 protein
- If a gene is mutated then it is not expressed or the protein is nonfunctional
What is the key metabolite for proliferating bacteria?
Folate
How is folate synthesized by bacteria?
Dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS), Dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR)
Enzymes are targeted by antifolate ABX