Lecture 4 Flashcards
What percentage of bacteria have a cell wall?
90%
What does the bacterial cell wall protect it from
Osmotic lysis AND mechanical forces
What is the bacterial cell wall made of
Peptidoglycan
What is another name for peptidoglycan
Murein
What makes up peptidoglycan
NAG, NAM and D-amino acids
What are NAG and NAM
Amino sugars
What kind of linkage is between NAG and NAM in peptidoglycan
B-1,4-glycosidic linkage
Which of the amino sugars is the short D-amino acid chain attached to
NAM
Which of these components of the cell wall gives it its shape: peptidoglycans or MreB
MreB!
Describe the steps of cell wall formation for bacteria
- NAM synthesized in cytoplasm & linked to UDP
- NAM is linked to bactroprenol
- NAG is added to NAM
- Bactroprenol flips NAM and NAG to periplasm
- Crosslinking occurs
- Bactroprenol flips back
Is bactoprenol hydrophilic, amphiphilic or hydrophobic
Bactoprenol is amphiphilic
Which two enzymes can degrade bacterial cell walls?
Lysozyme and lysostaphin
How does lysozyme break up peptidoglycan?
It breaks the B-1-4-linkage
What is present in tears, saliva, human milk and mucous?
Lysozymes
How does lysostaphin break peptidoglycans?
It breaks the crossbridges within the peptide chains of certain Staphylococcus bacteria ONLY
What organisms produce antibiotics?
Bacteria
What can artificially break down a cell wall
Beta-lactam antibiotics
How do beta-lactam antibiotics work?
They prevent peptidoglycan crosslinking, weakening cell wall structure.
What is left when the cell wall of a bacterium is gone
a protoplast
what happens if a protoplast is left in isotonic conditions
It will remain intact, but be amorphous
What happens if a protoplast is left in hypotonic solution
Water will rush into the protoplast, and it will rupture
What does the enzyme that some bacteria produce do that makes them antibiotic resistant?
An enzyme that can destroy the Beta-lactam ring structure of the antibiotic
What is the name of the drug that scientists can add to the antibiotic that stops the enzyme that breaks the beta-lactam ring
Augmentin