Module 07: Microbial Physiology and Genetics Flashcards
This is the study of vital life processes of organisms.
Physiology
This concerns the vital life processes of microorganisms.
Microbial physiology
How can scientists learn about human cells?
By
(1) Studying the nutritional needs of bacteria
(2) Their metabolic pathways,
(3) And why they live grow multiply or die under certain
conditions
Why are bacteria fungi and viruses used extensively in genetic studies?
Because they produce generation after generation so rapidly. (Their morphology, nutritional needs and metabolic reactions are easily observable)
What are the six (6) major chemical elements in all living protoplasm?
(1) Carbon
(2) Hydrogen
(3) Oxygen
(4) Nitrogen
(5) Phosphorus
(6) Sulfur
Other elements include: Sodium, potassium, chlorine, magnesium, calcium, iron, iodine and other trace elements.
Combinations of the six (6) major chemicals and other elements make up what?
Vital macromolecules:
(1) Carbohydrates
(2) Lipids
(3) Proteins
(4) Nucleic Acids
These are materials that organisms are unable to synthesize but are required for building macromolecules and sustaining life.
Essential nutrients (certain essential amino acids and essential fatty acids) - must be supplied to organism continually for it to survive
These microorganisms according to their energy and carbon sources use light as an energy source.
Phototrophs
These microorganisms according to their energy and carbon sources use either inorganic or organic chemicals as an energy source.
Chemotrophs.
These microorganisms according to their energy and carbon sources use inorganic chemicals as an energy source.
Chemolithotrophs
These microorganisms according to their energy and carbon sources use organic chemicals as an energy source.
Chemoorganotrophs
These microorganisms according to their energy and carbon sources use carbon dioxide (CO2) as their sole source of carbon.
Autotrophs
These microorganisms according to their energy and carbon sources use organic compounds other than CO2 as carbon sources.
Heterotrophs
These microorganisms according to their energy and carbon sources use light as an energy source and CO2 as a carbon source.
Photoautotrophs (algae, plants and cyanobacteria - photosynthetic bacteria along with green and purple sulfur bacteria)
These microorganisms according to their energy and carbon sources use light as an energy source and organic compounds other than CO2 as a carbon source.
Photoheterotrophs (purple and green non sulfur bacteria)
These microorganisms according to their energy and carbon sources use chemicals as an energy source and CO2 as their carbon source.
Chemoautotrophs (Hydrogen, Iron and Sulfur along with nitrifying bacteria)
These microorganisms according to their energy and carbon sources use chemicals as an energy source and organic compounds other than CO2 as a carbon source.
Chemoheterotrophs (fungi, protozoa, and humans)
This is the study of the interactions between living organisms and the world around them.
Ecology
This refers to the interactions between living organisms and their nonliving environment.
Ecosystem
What is entailed to attain the prime functioning of ecosystems?
Interrelationships among the different nutritional types
(Phototrophs, such as algae and plants, are the producers of food and oxygen for chemoheterotrophs, such as animals. Dead plants and animals would cluster if saprophytic organisms did not break them down.)
This refers to all chemical reactions that occur in a cell.
Metabolism
The chemical reactions that occur in the cell under metabolism are known as what ___________.
Metabolic Reactions
Metabolic reactions are enhanced and regulated by
enzymes known as _________________.
Metabolic Enzymes (can perform if it possesses the appropriate metabolic enzyme and if the genome of the cell contains the gene that codes the production of that enzyme)
Enzymes are known as what?
Biologic Catalysts since they either cause a particular chemical reaction to occur or accelerate it.
What is the action of a specific enzyme (E1) breaking down a substrate (S1) molecule
Normal Substrate (S1) + Specific Enzyme (E1) = Substrate-Enzyme Complex —> Products A and B (S1A & S1B) + E1 (Enzyme)
At any particular time, all the required enzymes may not be present. It can be determined by the genes on the chromosomes and the needs of the cell from the internal and external environments)
What are the different types of metabolic enzymes?
(1) Endoenzymes
(2) Exoenzymes
These are enzymes produced within a cell that remain within the cell to catalyze reactions.
Endoenzymes
What are some examples of endoenzymes? These are used to digest the materials that the phagocytes have ingested)
Digestive enzymes within phagocytes
These are produced within a cell and then released outside of the cell to catalyze extracellular reactions.
Exoenzymes
What are some examples of exoenzymes?
Cellulase and pectinase, which are secreted by saprophytic fungi to break down cellulose and pectin respectively because they are too large to be absorbed by fungal cells)
Cellulase and pectinase are secreted by what?
Saprophytic Fungi
What are some examples of metabolic enzymes?
Hydrolases and Polymerases
What are the factors that affect the efficiency of enzymes?
(1) Optimum pH range
(2) Optimum temperature range
(3) Optimum concentration of enzyme or substrate
(4) Presence of inhibitors
(which all function at peak efficiency)
Under factors affecting the efficiency of enzymes, efficiency in this can be adversely affected if too acidic or too alkaline.
Optimum pH range
Under factors affecting the efficiency of enzymes, efficiency in this can be affected if too hot or too cool.
Optimum Temperature Range (high heat can denature proteins by breaking the bonds responsible for their 3 dimensional shape thus inhibiting enzymatic activity)
Under factors affecting the efficiency of enzymes, efficiency in this can be affected if concentration might be too high or too low.
Optimum Concentration of enzyme or substrate
What are some inhibitors that can affect the efficiency of enzymes?
Heavy metals
(1) Lead
(2) Zinc
(3) Mercury
(4) Arsenic
(can act as poisons by replacing cofactors at the combining site of the enzyme which inhibits normal metabolic processes)
This is any molecule that is a nutrient, an intermediary product, or an end product in a metabolic reaction.
Metabolite
A metabolite can be what?
(1) Nutrient
(2) Intermediary product
(3) End product in a metabolic reaction
Metabolic reactions fall into two (2) categories namely?
(1) Catabolism
(2) Anabolism
This refers to all catabolic reactions in a cell.
Catabolism
This refers to all anabolic reactions in a cell.
Anabolism
These type of reactions involve the breaking down of larger molecules into smaller ones.
Catabolic reactions
What happens when chemical bonds are broken?
Whenever chemical bonds are broken, energy is released. Catabolic reactions are a cell’s major source of energy. (For example diverse inorganic compounds like sulfur, ferrous ion, and hydrogen are broken down to produce carbohydrates, lipids and amino acids)
These types of metabolic reactions involve the assembly of smaller molecules into larger molecules, requiring the formation of bonds. Once. formed, the bonds represent the stored energy.
Anabolic reactions
Explain the relationship of catabolic and anabolic reactions.
Much of the energy released during catabolic reactions is used to drive anabolic reactions.
How are catabolic reactions different from anabolic reactions?
(1) Catabolic reactions release energy
(2) Catabolic reactions involve the breaking of bonds; whenever chemical bonds are broken, energy is released.
(3) Large molecules are broken down into small molecules (sometimes referred to as degradative reactions).
How are anabolic reactions different from catabolic reactions?
(1) Anabolic reactions require energy
(2) Anabolic reactions involve the creation of bonds; it takes energy to create chemical bonds.
(3) Smaller molecules are bonded together to create larger molecules (often referred to as biosynthetic reactions).
Energy can temporarily be stored where?
High-energy bonds in special molecules, usually adenosine triphosphate (ATP)
These are the major energy-storing or energy-carrying molecules in a cell.
ATP molecules
ATP molecules are found in all cells because?
They are used to transfer energy from energy-yielding molecules, such as glucose, to energy-requiring reactions (making it an intermediate and temporary molecule)
When ATP is used as an energy source, it is hydrolyzed
to ___________.
Adenosine diphosphate (ADP) - more stable molecule
What is the function of adenosine diphosphate (ADP)?
If necessary, ADP can be used as an energy source by hydrolysis and removal of a phosphate group to form adenosine monophosphate (AMP).
Why is energy important?
Energy is required not only for metabolic pathways but also for growth, reproduction, sporulation, and movement of the organism, as well as active transport of substances across membranes.
These organisms use energy for bioluminescence. They cause a glowing that can sometimes be seen at the surface of an ocean, in a ship’s wake, or as waves break on a beach.
Marine dinoflagellates
Explain the nature of cellular mechanisms in terms of energy.
Cellular mechanisms that release small amounts of energy as the cell needs it usually involve a sequence of catabolic and anabolic reactions
These reactions are known to release energy by breaking bonds and is known as the cell’s major source of energy.
Catabolic reactions (For example, glucose can be catabolized by one or two biochemical pathways: aerobic respiration and fermentation)
What happens to lost energy in catabolic reactions?
It turns into heat.
These are a series of linked biochemical reactions occurring in a stepwise manner, from a starting material to an end product.
Biochemical pathways (Think of nutrients as energy sources for organisms and think of chemical bonds as stored energy)
Explain the biochemical pathways in four steps.
Compound A is ultimately converted to compound E. Four enzymes are required in this biochemical pathway. Compound A is the substrate for Enzyme 1, Compound B for Enzyme 2, etc.
wherein, Compound A is referred to as the starting material; compounds B, C, and D as intermediate (or intermediary) products; and compound E as the end product
Catabolism of glucose by aerobic respiration occurs in three (3) phases namely:
(1) Glycolysis
(2) Krebs Cycle
(3) The electron transport chain
Explain the nature of the phases in glycolysis.
The first phase (glycolysis) is actually anaerobic, but the other two phases are aerobic.
This is a nine-step biochemical pathway. Each step requires a specific enzyme. It takes place in the cytoplasm.
Glycolysis (also called the glycolytic pathway, the Embden–Meyerhof pathway and the Embden–Meyerhof– Parnas pathway)
This is a biochemical pathway consisting of eight separate reactions, each controlled by a different enzymes.
The Krebs cycle (also known as the citric acid cycle, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, and the TCA cycle)
In this, acetyl CoA combines with oxaloacetate to produce citric acid (a tricarboxylic acid [TCA]); hence the other names for the Krebs cycle—the citric acid cycle.
What are the products of the Krebs Cycle?
Only two ATP molecules are produced, but a number of products (e.g., NADH, H+, FADH2 ) are formed, which enter the electron transport chain. In this, NADH is reduced to NAD and FADH is reduced to FAD when entering the electron transport chain)
In eukaryotes, the TCA cycle and the electron transport chain occur where?
Mitochondria
In prokaryotes, where does the TCA cycle occur?
Both occur at the inner surface of the cell membrane.
This is a series of oxidation–reduction reactions, whereby energy is released as electrons which are transferred from one compound to another
The electron transport chain (also referred to as the electron transport system or respiratory chain)
A large number of ATP molecules are produced by oxidative phosphorylation
Under the electron transport chain, this transfers electrons to oxygen (final acceptor).
Cytochrome oxidase
In prokaryotic cells, how many ATP molecules does glycolysis yield?
Two (2)