Lecture 8 - Colonization Flashcards
Describe commensalism.
The host is unaffected while the microbe benefits.
Describe parasitism.
The host is harmed while the bacteria benefits.
What does symbiosis mean?
Living together.
Where can normal microbiota be found on the body?
Skin Conjunctiva Respiratory tract Urogenital tract GI tract
What type of symbiosis occurs with natural microbiota?
Mutalists + Commensals
What are the characteristics of normal microbiota?
Stable, polymicrobial communities
What are the benefits of normal microbiota?
Can prevent the colonization of exogenous pathogens by forming a barrier.
Name the example given in lecture of an opportunistic pathogen.
Fusobacterium necrophorum
What is an opportunistic pathogen?
Normally does not cause disease in host, but if conditions change that favor growth of bacteria it can cause problems. (ie. ulcerations in stomach, alopecia in dogs, etc.)
What is pathogenicity?
It is the ability for the bacteria to cause damage in the host. Can the pathogen cause harm or not.
What is virulence?
The relative capacity of the pathogen to cause disease. How bad is the disease that is caused by the pathogen.
What is transmissibility?
How well the pathogen can spread from one host to a new host. Not whether or not the pathogen once in the host can cause an infection.
What size has the best transmission to the new host?
infectious droplet nuclei. this is why biological weapons are aerosolized.
How far can infectious droplet nuclei “fly”?
5 to 160+ feet
What is infectivity?
How well the pathogen, once in the new host, can settle down and cause disease. How well cell to cell spread of the bacterium occurs.
Describe what virulence factors are.
Traits that the microbe has that are able to cause pathogenicity. Basically what makes the bacteria/microbe dangerous to the host.
What are the common characteristics of genes that cause good virulence factors?
They are expressed as needed (faculatative)
They are distributed unevenly among strains of species
Can be spread via horizontal transfer
Cluster in pathogenicity islands
What do the virulence factors specifically aim to help the pathogen do?
Colonize host Evade host defenses Grow Invade cells/tissues Cause damage
What are the three major categories of virulence factors?
Adhesins + Capsules + Toxins
What are adhesins?
Macromolecules that bind bacteria to host cells/tissues
Where are the adhesins located on the microbe?
Surface structures such as fimbriae, pili, glycocalyx
Describe in detail how the adhesins work.
Bind to receptors on target cells with high specificity causing a receptor-ligand interaction. This allows for the microbe to cause changes within the host cell.
What is important to know about the specificity of the adhesins? (What do they allow for)
Tissue tropism + Host specificity
What are E. Coli K88 infections limited to?
PIGS
What is tissue tropism?
The microbe can only bind to a certain tissue. Things that are specific for the respiratory tract can’t infect the GI tract (most of the time)
What is K88?
Adhesin on a strain of E. Coli that can only bind to certain receptors on the brush border of the pig enterocytes
What is one result, given in lecture, of the receptor-ligand interactionof adhesin to the host cell?
Causes the pathogen to be taken up by the host cell = increased chance of infection
What is the function of the capsule?
Impairs phagocytosis
Mediates biofilm formation
Prevents dessication
What is an example of a bacteria found on dental plaque?
Streptococcus mutans