Microorganisms Flashcards
What elements do eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells have in common?
- Cytoplasmic membrane
- Cytoplasm
- Ribosomes
- Genome (Chromosome + Plasmid)
What kind of nucleus, organelles, internal organization, and division method do eukaryotes have?
Membrane bound nucleus, membrane bound organelles, complex internal organization, and division through mitosis/meiosis
What are two major groups of eukaryotic microbes and their subgroups?
Protists: protozoa, algae, slime molds/water molds
Fungi: yeasts, molds, mushrooms
What is a protist? Give three examples.
A Protist is a uni/multicellular eukaryotic microorganism that does not differentiate into tissues. E.g. Protozoa, Algae, Slime Molds/Water Molds
What differentiates protozoa, algae, and slime/water molds?
Protozoa: animal-like
Algae: photosynthetic and plant-like
Slime/water mold: filamentous
What is a fungi? Name three examples.
Saprophytic (decomposer) organisms with true differentiated multicellularity that can be unicellular, filamentous, or multi-cellular. E.g. yeast, molds, mushrooms.
What differentiates yeasts, molds and mushrooms?
Yeasts: unicellular fungi
Molds: filamentous fungi
Mushrooms: multicellular fungi
What kind of nucleus, organelles, internal organization, and division method do prokaryotes have?
Non-membrane bound nucleus, non-membrane bound organelles, simple internal organization, and division through binary fission.
What are two major groups of prokaryotic microbes?
Bacteria (eubacteria) and Archaea (archaebacteria)
Compare and contrast Bacteria and Archaea based on genetics, metabolism, and pathogenicity.
Bacteria: genetically diverse, diverse metabolic style, can be pathogen/non-pathogen
Archaea: genetically and biochemically distinct from bacteria, diverse metabolic style, non-pathogen.
What is a virus? What is its size? What is unique about their metabolism?
Viruses are acellular obligate intracellular parasites. They are extremely small and they lack independent metabolism because they lack ribosomes and rRNA.
When did anaerobic life first appear?
Anaerobic life first appeared 3.8-3.9 million years ago
When did photosynthetic bacteria oxygenate the earth, and what did it cause?
2 billion years ago, photosynthetic bacteria oxygenated the earth and allowed the evolution of modern eukaryotic microorganisms.
When did the first plants and animals appear?
The first plants and animals appeared 0.5 billion years ago.
What is the difference in prokaryotic vs eukaryotic ribosomes?
Prokaryotes have 70S ribosomes and 16S small subunit rRNA.
Eukaryotes have 80S ribosomes and 18S small subunit rRNA.
What is a phylogenetic tree?
A graphic representation of evolutionary distance between organisms.
What are the three distinct domains of life in microorganisms? Compare their genetics with those of animals and fungi.
Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya. Microorganisms of these domains are more genetically diverse than plants and animals.
How do you define phylogenetic species?
A group of strains that share certain diagnostic traits, are genetically cohesive, and have a unique recent common ancestor.
What are three elements that define if strains are of the same phylogenetic species?
- most (but not all) characteristics in common
- greater than 97% sequence similarity in the 26S rRNA gene
- high degree of genome similarity discovered through DNA-DNA hybridization
What is an example of a microbe that is viewed through dark-field microscopy?
Treponema palladium: the causative agent of syphilis.
Give 6 Types of Cell Morphology and examples.
- Coccus (round) - Streptococcus pyogenes
- Bacillus (rod) - E. coli
- Spirillum (spiral) - Spirillum volutans
- Spirochete (spiral and flexible) - Treponema pallidum
- Budding/Appendaged bacteria (appendaged) - Caulobacter crescentus
- Filamentous bacteria (stringed) - Streptomyces griseus
Which morphologies are results of selective forces?
Small cells with high SA-V ratio: result of optimization for nutrient uptake
Helical/Spiral: development of swimming motility as a result of environments near surfaces
Filamentous: development of gliding motility
What is the average size for E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus?
E. coli: 1.0 x 3.0 micrometers
Staphylococcus aureus: 1.0 micrometer diameter
What are examples of very big and very small prokaryotes?
Mycoplasma genitalium: 0.3 micrometers
Epulopiscium fishelsonii; 80 x 600 micrometers
What is the advantage of high SA:V ratio?
They support greater nutrient exchange per unit cell volume and tend to grow faster than larger cells.
What are the lower limits of cell size?
<0.15 micrometer diameter is unlikely
Why are pathogenic bacteria small?
They are missing many genes whose functions are supplied to them by the host.
What is the purpose of a cytoplasmic/plasma membrane?
It is a vital semipermeable barrier that separates cytoplasm from the environment and allows specific substances to enter and leave the cell.
What is the phospholipid bilayer?
Double layer of phospholipids that have the hydrophobic fatty acid tails pointing inwards and the hydrophilic fatty acid heads facing outwards.
What components is the cytoplasmic membrane composed of?
- Phospholipid bilayer
- Embedded proteins (integral and peripheral)
- Mg2+ and Ca2+ (stabilizes membrane by forming ionic bonds with the negative phospholipid heads)
What is the periplasmic space? How big is it?
Gel-like space in between the two phospholipid bilayers of a gram-negative bacteria that holds many proteins. It is around 15 nanometers wide.
What is a periplasmic protein?
Proteins embedded in the periplasmic space of gram-negative bacteria that allow transport into and out of the cell.
What is the difference between an integral protein and a peripheral protein?
Integral membrane: embedded in the membrane in a way where it penetrates the membrane partially or fully (transmembrane protein)
Peripheral membrane: embedded on the surface of the membrane without penetrating it.
What is the difference between Ester link and Ether link
Ether linkages (C-O-C) in Archaea join the isoprenes to the glycerol heads.
Ester linkages (C-O-CO) in Eukarya/Bacteria join the fatty acids to glycerol heads.
Whats the difference between a lipid bilayer and a lipid monolayer?
Lipid bilayer: Archaeal membrane with 2 layers of 20C glycerol diether.
Lipid monolayer: Archaeal membrane with one layer of 40C diglycerol tetraether.
What is the evolutionary advantage of a lipid monolayer over a bilayer?
Lipid monolayer membranes are extremely heat resistant and commonly found in hyperthermophillic Archaea.
What are the three major classes of transport systems in prokaryotes? How do they differ?
- Simple transport: driven by energy in proton motive force
- Group translocation: chemical modification of the transported substance, driven by phosphoenolpyruvate
- ABC transporter: periplasmic binding proteins are involved and energy comes from ATP.