MicroBiology Flashcards
How are trees of life generated?
Comparing nucleic acid sequences, specifically rRNA as present in all life
Also has a range of rates of secondary structure and double stranded and single stranded region, useful for making primers
What’s a monophyletic group or clade?
It’s a group of organisms that consists of all the descendants of a common ancestor
What’s a taxon?
Any group of species that we can designate a name
Multiple is taxons
What’s a node?
Split in branch from one lineage into another
Root node?
Common ancestor of all taxa in the tree
Point of earliest split in the tree
Root?
Branch leading up to the root node (i.e. the common ancestor of all taxa in tree)
What are the 3 domains?
Bacteria
Archaea
Eukaryota
What is mutational saturation?
Where a site changes so fast difficult to tell what is a reversion (in Analysis)
Challenges on finding out more about Archaea?
Difficult to culture in lab
What is metagenomics?
Sequence everything approach (mixtures of species/genes), then reconstruct genomes, or segments of genomes.
What’s a virus?
Infetive agent that typically consists of a nucleic acid molecule in a protein coat
3 theories on how viruses evolved?
Viruses are escaped portions of cellular organisms
Viruses are extremely derived and reduced cellular organisms
Viruses are relics from a pre-cellular world: Self-replicating units in the ancient virosphere may have gained the ability to form membranes and cell walls, leading to evolution of the three domains of life.
Or a mixture of all 3
Different morphologies of bacteria?
Coccus (sphere shaped)
Rod
Spirillum (like kidney bean)
Spirochete (coiled)
Budding and appendages bacteria (have stalk and hypha)
Filamentous bacteria (very long and thin)
Features of bacterial cell size?
Have a large surface area to volume ratio
Leads to faster uptake of nutrients
And more cells per given resource, more cells mean more evolution which drives evolution
Features of bacteria phospholipid bilayer?
= glycerol + 2 fatty acids + phosphate group
Strengthened by molecules called hapanoids, which is essential for mycoplasmas
In Bacteria and eukaryote ester bond in bilayer, whereas as ether bond in archaea
Archaea bilayer is continuous so much stronger (no small gap in middle)
There are proteins in membrane for transport
Feature of bacterial cell wall?
Made up of Peptidoglycan (2 sugars and some amino acids)
Occurs in90% gram + ves, bacteria and 10% in gram -ves bacteria
How is outer membrane not symmetrical to inner in gram negative bacteria?
The outer isn’t just phospholipids
Large polysaccharide component
How to count bacteria?
By culture, dilute to an extent so colonies can be counted then multiply up
Only tells you have many are living, not necessary all of them
So can count by them a light microscope as well, normally with an oil immersion lens
Equation for resolution of a lens?
R = (0.5 x wavelength) / numerical aperture
Difference of gram positive and negative bacteria and Features of the gram stain?
Gram positive bacteria have large petiodglycan cell wall above plasma membrane
Where as gram negative have 2 bilayer around peptidoglycan cell wall
Need to add notes on how to do the gram stain
Gram positive remain purple
Gram negative go pink
Cell surface structures of bacteria?
Capsules
Fimbriae and pili
Flagellar
Features of capsules?
Can be polysaccharide or protein or both
Play a role in pathogenesis and biofilm formation
What is biofilms formation?
Predominant bacterial phenotype in nature (their stain)
Form on solid substances with moisture
On soft tissues in living organisms
At liquid air interfaces
What are endospores?
Bacteria become them when they go into dormant stage of lifecycle
Very resistant to lots of things
How to antibiotics generally work?
Targeting processes of bacteria which don’t have an effect on the eukaryote cell
Naturally occurring antimicrobials are?
Naturally occurring antibiotics
Modification of natural antibiotics results in?
Semi-synthetic antibiotics
What are ahminoglycosides and what aren’t they used today?
Antibiotics that contain amino sugars bonded by glycosidic linkage
Not used today as high neurotoxicity and nephrotoxicity
Only used when other antibiotics fail
What are macroslides?
Contain lactone rings bonded to sugars
Broad spectrum antibiotic that targets the 50S subunits of ribosome
What are tetracyclines?
Contain 4 rings
Widespread medical use in humans and animals
Broad-spectrum inhibition of protein synthesis
Inhibits functioning of 30S ribosomal unit
Example of a synthetic anti microbial drug?
Quinolones - causes the inhibition of DNA gyrase
Binds to the A subunits of DNA gyrase
Resistance mediated by decreased binding
What are the most produced antibiotics and features?
B-Lactam
Primarily effective against gram positive, but can be modified synthetically to target gram negative
Includes penicillin
Target cell wall synthesis§
Why are B-lactams effective against gram positive bacteria?
Because it’s mainly cell wall, whereas gram negative cell wall is protected by both phospholipids bi layers
What are bacteriocidals?
The bacterial cells still remain but they are no longer viable, so can still them under microscope but they are no longer causing disease
What are bacteriolytics?
Kill all bacterial cells via lysis but disturbing cell wall so no longer visible under a microscope
Features of vancomyosin?
Inhibits cell wall biosynthesis
But has poor bioavailability
Used for treatment of C. difficile
Features of methicillin?
Inhibits cell wall biosynthesis like penicillin
However not used anymore as caused a lot of antibiotic resistance
Ways in which a bacteria can be antibiotic resistant?
Lacks the structure the antibiotic inhibits
Organism is impermeable to antibiotic
Organism can inactivate the antibiotic
Organism may modify the target of the antibiotic
Organisms may be able to. pump out the antibiotic (efflux)
What does antibiotic resistance spread through?
R plasmids
Consist of a resistance transfer factor that enables conjugation
Contains gene conferring resistance
Step 1 of a gram stain?
Differentiates between a gram positive and a gram negative bacteria
Performed on a smear sample, which is made by spreading the bacterial cells on a microscope creating an even layer. They are then killed and fixed to the slide
Crystal Violet is applied first, it dissociates into CV+ and Cl- ions, these are taken up by both cell types, the CV+ ions bind and stain the negatively charged components of the bacterial cell wall
After one minute crystal violet washed off with water
Both types of cell are now purple
Step 2 of a gram stain?
Gram’s iodine is now used to fix the dye within the cells it is taken up by both gram negative and gram positive
It forms a complex with the CV+ ions, which are in soluble in water so they become trapped in the cell
After one minute excess gram iodine Is washed off
Step 3 of gram stain?
Add alcohol/acetone and rinse with water, to decolourise the sample
The crystal violet dye is removed from gram negative bacteria, but not from gram positive bacteria
This occurs as in gram negative bacteria the lipids that make up the outer membrane are dissolved, in both positive and negative the peptidoglycan layer is dehydrated, the gram negative only left with thin peptidoglycan outer layer so the dye leaks out, but in gram positive the peptidoglycan layer is thick enough to retain it
So after this step gram positive purple, and gram negative is colourless
Step 4 of gram stain
Stained with safranin which is taken up by both cell types and binds to the lipid cell membrane
Washed off with water after 45 seconds
Gram negative is now pink, and gram positive is now purple, so can now look at both of them under a microscope
What does taxonomy do?
Identifies the relationships between groups of organisms
Can be used to identify novel or previously unknown organisms
Provides universal language of classification between scientists
What are taxa?
Catergories of organism
What is gram positive bacteria divided into?
Low G + C = Firmicutes
High G + C = Actinobacteria
Why is so much known about gram positive and gram negative bacteria?
Easy to culture
What is an ecosystem?
Sum of all organisms and abiotic factors in a particular environment
What is symbios?
Mutualism and Commensalism
What is mutualism?
Both species benefit
Commensalism?
One species benefits, the other is neither harmed or benefited
Syntrophy
Two or more organisms catabolising a nutrient that can not be catabolised by one on its own
Species richness
the total number of species present in an ecosystem
Species abundance
the proportion of each species in an ecosytem
Why do bacteria grow so much slower in environment?
limiting resource of nutrients
Growing in mixed populations
Distribution of nutrients
steps in formation of a root nodule in a legume infected by Rhizobium?
The plant roots secrete a chemical called flavonoids that stimulate the growth of Rhizobia in soil, they end up growing to high densities around the root
The chemicals also induce the expression of bacterial genes, Rhizobium carry a large plasmid called the Sym, which carries nod genes which are involved in nodulation
Flavanoid binds to product of the nod gene, which binds upstream and promotes transcription of more nod genes which Creates a nod factor
These then bind to the root hairs, and create an infection thread and enter the root cells
Generate bacteroids in the cells which do nitrogen fixing
Are viruses living?
NO
What can viruses infect?
Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya
Virophages can also infect viruses
2 types of verions?
Naked virus
Enveloped virus (encapsulated)
What are bacteriophages?
Viruses that infect bacteria
How do bacteriophage work (lytic pathway)?
Virion attaches to host cell
Penertrate/inject into it
Hijack cells DNA, and synthesise nucleic acids and proteins
Assemble and package them
Release the new virions to infect more cells
What is the lyosogenic pathway?
Virus attaches to receptor on bacterial cell wall and injects it’s DNA into the cell.
The protein coat remains outside the cell while the phage DNA inside quickly forms into a circle
Whether the phage takes the lytic or lyosgenic pathway depends on which genes dominate
If a gene called c1 (also called the lambda repressor gene) dominates, the phage will progress into the lysogenic pathway
If a gene called cross dominates the phage will progress into the lytic pathway
In this battle, RNA polymerase comes in and recognises Pl and Pr promoters (left and right), this will cause protein N and protein Cro to form
However N is an anti terminal, meaning c11 and c111 and Q will be transcribed as RNA polymerase doesn’t stop
Q is another anti terminator allowing transcription of while chromosome and the production of proteins and vision for lysis this is the lytic pathway
However, for the lyosgenicpathway to occur the c11 protein can bind to a promoter region called Pe, causing the transcription of c1, c11 can only do this if protected by c111 from proteases
On the right operator region, there are 3 binding sites c1 can bind to, when it binds to sites 1 and 2 it blocks transcription from the Pr promoter so there is no more further transcription of cro, if it binds on site 3 will also turn of production of c1 otherwise too much will be made, if it’s already won the fight
However, Cro can bind to site 3 and 2 as well reducing production of c1 , and makes more cro tipping the fight in it’s favour
You would think Cro would always win fight as it’s made first so will reach the sites first, however c1 has a higher affinity for the sites
What wins depends on the level of proteases in cells, as rely on if C11 and C111 work or not
Can then potentially go through induction and then join the lytic pathway
What does MreB do?
Protein essential in cell morphology
It’s the bacterial cytoskeleton
Coccoid cells don’t have MreB suggesting the thesis the default shape for a bacterium
What does a logarithmic plot allow you to work out?
Doubling time of bacteria
4 growth phases of bacteria?
Lag - adjusting phase
Exponential
Stationary
Death
What are anaerobes?
Micro-organisms that preferably grow under low O2 conditions
How does temperature affect bacterial growth?
Too cold - transport processes so slow that growth cannot occur
Too hot - protein denaturation, collapse of the cytoplasmic membrane, thermal lysis
Optimum growth rate will occur at cardinal temperature
3 things bacteria need for metabolism?
Energy source
Electron source
Carbon source
What is a phototroph?
Get energy source from light
What is a chemotroph?
Gets energy source from oxidation of organic or inorganic compounds
What are lithotrophs?
Get electron source from reduced inorganic molecules
What are organotrophs?
Get electron source from organic molecules
What are autotrophs?
Get carbon source from CO2, sole or principal biosynthetic carbon source
Generate it yourself