Microbiology Flashcards
What colour does Gram-positive bacteria stain with the Gram stain?
Purple/blue
What colour does Gram-negative bacteria stain with the Gram stain?
Pink/red
What causes the differences in staining in bacteria between Gram positive and negative?
Gram-positive bacteria have cell membrane and surrounding cell wall
Gram negative have cytoplasmic membrane, surrounding peptidoglycan and then an outer membrane
Stains bind to the peptidoglycan, which cannot happen in gram negative, producing different colours
Give examples of pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria and the associated disease
Escherichia coli
Salmonella (tyhimurium- food poisoning, typhi- thypoid)
Shigella (dysentry)
Vibrio cholerae (cholera)
Neisseria (meningitidis- meningitis, gonorrhoeae- gonorrhea)
Give examples of pathogenic Gram-positive bacteria and the associated disease
Staphylococcus aureus (skin disease, endocarditis, bacteraemia, joint diseases, pneumonia) Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumonia, meningitis, otitis media) Streptococcus pyogenes (tonsilitis, necrotising fasciitis, bactereamia, scarlet fever)
Give examples of pathogenic mycobacterium and the associated disease
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) Mycobacterium leprae (leprosy)
Give examples of extracellular pathogens
Staphylococcus
Streptococcus
Yersinia
Neisseria
Give examples of intracellular pathogens
Listeria Shigella Salmonella Mycobacterium Coxiella Chlamydia (obligate)
Do Gram-positive or Gram-negative bacteria have type III secretions?
Gram-negative
What two things are required for motility and invasion?
Flagella
Type III secretion system
What are type III secretions?
Similar to flagella machine but delivers virulence proteins (effectors) into host cell
How does Salmonella invade host cells?
Via type III secretions system
Bacertial virulene proteins (effectors) induce actin polymerisation, membrane ruffling and bacterial internalisation
How does Listeria invade cells, become mobile and spread between cells?
Free bacterium is phagocytosed by host cells by zipper mechanism
Bacteria escaped the endosome and initiates actin nucleation. This assembles an actin tail making the bacteria motile.
Protrusion formation allows cell-to-cell spread, and as it has come from a neighbouring cell it is not detected as foreign
What are the three mechanisms of horizontal gene transfer?
Transformation
Transduction
Conjugation
How do bacteria replicate?
Binary fission
What is the process of binary fission?
1) Duplication of chromosome
2) Continued growth of the cell
3) Division into two cells
What is the process of transformation in horizontal gene transfer?
Free DNA (a single-stranded segment) is taken into the bacterium using DNA uptake proteins
What is the process of transduction in horizontal gene transfer?
A phage (virus) infects the bacterium, replicating it's DNA inside the bacterium and cutting bacterial DNA into small pieces. Some bacterial DNA may then be packaged into phage heads. Bacterium lyses and new phage particles are released. Phage particle injects bacterial DNa into new bacterial cell Injected DNa may be incorporated into bacterial chromosome
What is the process of conjugation in horizontal gene transfer?
Donor bacterium has a transmissible plasmid
Two bacteria form a mating bridge
Plasmid enters mating bridge and is replicated
When bacteria separate they each have a plasmid copy
What is the pathogenicity island?
The driving force of evolution in bacteria. They are a distinct class of genomic island acquired through horizontal gene transfer
Give examples of routes of infection by bacteria
Intrinsic and extrinsic Upper respiratory tract Urogenital tract Broken skin Gastrointestinal tract (faecal-oral)
How are upper respiratory tract infections usually acquired?
Usually extrinsically-acquired from respiratory tract droplets or airbourne
Hand transmission can act as intermediate
What are the consequences of a bacterial infection acquired via the upper respiratory tract?
Upper respiratory tract infection (Pharyngitis, tonsilitis, sinusitis)
Lower respiratory tract infection (Bronchitis, pneumonia, pneumonitis)
Spread to adjacent tissue (Brain abscess, meningitis, empyema (pleural space), pericarditis)
Spread to bloodstream (Bacteraemia e.g.pneumococcal bacteraemia, meningococcal bacteraemia)
Where do intrinsic infections of the urogenital tract occur? Give examples
Large intestine
e.g. E. coli, Bacteroides ap. Proteis spp, Enterobacter spp, Klebsiella, Enterococci, Streptococcus group B, Candida/yeast