Kachur - Topic 2 - Bacterial Structure Flashcards
What is peptidoglycan?
- repeating disaccharide of NAG and NAM
What is NAG
- N-acetyl glucosamine
- a monosaccharide derivative of glucose
- amide between glucosamine and acetic acid
What is NAM
- N-acetyl muramic acid
- monosaccharide derivative of NAM
How are NAG and NAM cross-linked
with oligopeptides at the lactic acid residue of NAM
How do crosslinking peptides between gram positive and gram negative differ
Gram pos
- 9-15 aa
- often pentaglycine cross link
Gram neg
- 2 aa crosslink
- tetrapeptide links directly to another tetrapeptide
What is special about the D isomer of amino acids
- uncommon in nature
- used in bacteria to avoid protease digestion
- key to regulating disease
- connects through lysine component
What is N. gonorrhea?
- gram negative
- highly cross-linked -> harder to break down
- resistant to some antibiotics
What is the lipopolysaccharide layer?
- major component of the outer membrane of Gram negative bacteria
- elicit strong immune responses (O antigen can induce strong immune responses)
- LPS contribute greatly to the structural integrity of the bacteria and protecting the membrane from chemical attacks
How does LPS affect the charge of the cell membrane
- LPS also increases the negative charge of the cell membrane and helps stabilize the overall membrane structure
- LPS requires association with divalent cations (Mg++) to neutralize charge repulsion
What are the 3 molecular domains of LPS?
- lipid A
- the core
- the O-antigen
What are the non-essential components of the LPS
- the core and the O antigen
What is Lipid A?
- phosphorylated glucosamine disaccharide with associated fatty acids
- 4-6 fatty acids tails
- allows bilayer formation
- antigenic
- bacteria can function with only Lipid A
What is the core?
- attached directly to Lipid A
- mostly sugar but can contain amino acids
- diverse
What is Kdo?
the most common sugar in LPS
What is the O-antigen
attached to core olysaccharide
- highly diverse
- often determines strain type