Microbiology Flashcards
Draw a prokaryotic cell
Lecture 1
What are the 3 shapes of bacteria?
Cocci
Rods
Spirals
What is an important feature in eukaryotic cells not found in prokaryotic cells?
Nuclear envelope
What shape is a bacteria chromosome?
Singular, circular
Where is the chromosome of a bacteria found?
Nucleoid
What are plasmids?
Small, self-replicating DNA molecules found in the cytosol
What is a bacteria cell wall made out of?
Peptidoglycan
What is the purpose of a cell wall
Stops the cell from bursting.
Confers cell shape
Provides strength to the cell
What is the structure of peptidoglycan?
Alternating units of NAG and NAM
For structure, they are linked together with amino acids.
What is transpeptidase?
Enzyme that cross-links the peptidoglycan chains to form rigid cell walls
What cells are dyed purple by the crystal violet and why?
Gram positive because they have a thick cell wall
Which cells are dyed using the counter stain? And why?
Gram-negative because they have a thinner layer of peptidoglycan so doe not hold crystal violet very well
How are bacteria capable to moving?
Using flagella
Ho big are flagella?
5-20nm
What is chemotaxis?
Bacteria moving along a concentration gradient towards a chemical gradeint
What is a fimbriae?
Structures with adhesive structures on the surfaces of cells
Are fimbriae more or less numerous than flagella?
More
What is a pili?
Adherent factor on bacteria that allows them to attach to other bacteria and transfer genetic material to each other
What are the 2 types of bacterial adhesive factors?
Pili and Fimbriae
What is a genetic transfer called?
Conjunction
What is glycocalyx?
Gelatinous polysaccharide/ peptide outer covering which forms a meshwork of fibres
What are the two types of glycocalyx?
Capsule and slime layer
Is a capsule or a slime layer disorganised?
Slime layer
What is the function of a capsule?
Virulence factors (protects from phagocytosis)
Prevents cell from drying up
What is a bacterial endopore?
Bacterial spore inside of bacteria
WHy do bacterial endospore form?
When there are unfavourable growth conditions so that they can germinate in favourable conditions.
What are the stressors that tirgger endospore formation?
Nutrient starvation
High cell density
Are bacterial endospores present in gram - or + bacteria?
Positive
What is binary fission?
Asexual reproduction for prokaryotes
What is the result of binary fission?
2 genetically identical cells
How are microorganisms studied?
Thy are cultured
What is a closed batch culture system?
A form of cell culturing where microorganisms are put in a closed system with limited amounts of nutrients
What are the 4 stages of microbial growth?
Lag, exponential, stationary, and death
What happens in the stationary phase of microbial growth?
Cells stop growing and cryptic growth is observed.
What happens in the lag phase of microbial growth?
Time required to get biosynthetic reactions running
What happens during the exponential phase of microbial growth?
Cells divide and population is growing exponentially
What is a determining factor of the length of the lag phase?
History of the inoculum
What is cryptic growth?
Dynamic population where organisms survive by consuming other dead cells within the culture
What is the death phase of microbial growth?
Equilibrium between growing and dying cells is skewed towards death
What are the 3 things required by prokaryotes to multiply?
Carbon source
Energy source
Reducing power
what is reducing power for prokayotes?
Carriers of energy/electrons
How do prokaryotes harvest energy?
Breaking chemical bonds releases energy which can be captured as ATP.
Describe the breakdown and buildup of energy transformation in prokaryotes
Lecture 2
What is an auxotroph?
An organism that is unable to synthesise one or more essential growth factors
What is a wildtype strain in terms of culture?
Can grow by itseld and has all essential genes
What is cross-feeding/Syntrophy?
When one species gain metabolic produces of another species
What allows for the survival of auxotrophs?
Cross-feeding.
What is a microbiome?
A complete collection of micro-organims and their genes in a specific environment
What is microbiotia?
Individual microbial species in a biome
What is a culture dependent method?
Reliance of culturing microbes in labs
What is a culture independent method?
Relies on nucleic acid based methods.
Sequencing of metabolic profiles to study all microbes in a sample.
What are the pros of culture-dependent methods?
Allows access to the phenotype
Can study more than 1 organism
Can manipulate the conditions
What are the cons of culture-dependent methods?
Not all organisms can be cultured
Culturing requires precise conditions
Does not match real world contions
What are the pros of culture-independent methods?
Allows access to a genotype
Can study many organisms
Shows communities as in nature
What are the cons of culture-independent methods?
not easy to manipulate
Expensive and complex
Is the cultured or uncultured microbial world greater?
Uncultured
What is a population in terms of microbes?
Individual microbial cells of a species
What are interactions between populations called?
Communities