Module 6 - Notes Flashcards
How would you engineer a bacteria to use glucose under low cellular density and switch to succinate or pyruvate at high density?
Any of the following:
Have a quorum sensing molecule that prevents transport or utilization of glucose at high density
Have a quorum sensing molecule that induces transport or utilization of succinate/pyruvate at high density
How do bacteria acquire genetic diversity?
Evolution & adaptation
New mutations (Vertical)
Gene Exchange (Horizontal)
Gene Acquisition (Horizontal)
Selfish genetic elements (horizontal)
What are mutations?
Change in the nucleotide sequence.
They are heritable (Passed down)
They can be wild-type - isolated from nature (parent = starting strain)
The mutant (Child)
carries change and has a different genotype
What are the results of mutations?
Neutral - No observable change
Beneficial - Gain function
Detrimental - Lost function
Does the change in genotype result in a change of phenotype?
Not always
the phenotype might stay the same or it may result in a change of behaviour/protein activity
What are spontaneous mutations?
happen for unknown reasons
For every million to 10 million base pair replications, there will be 1 error at 1 base pair resulting in a silent mutation.
What is an induced mutation?
Caused by stresses
- nutrition, oxygen, etc.
Caused by mutagens
- Naturally or in the laboratory
- Example, UV light
How do we isolate gain of function mutants?
Selection
Change is beneficial
Select by phenotype
ie. antibiotic resistance
If the mutation is selectable you can find the mutation fairly quickly
How do we isolate non-selectable mutations? Those that are neutral or detrimental?
Screening
- a slower and tedious process
Following mutagenesis, you need to isolate antibiotic-resistant bacteria. What type of procedure(s) will you use?
A. Selection
B. Screening
C. Selection & Screening
D. Screening then Selection
A. Selection
How do we determine mutagenic potential?
Ames test
The ability of chemical to induce revertant in an auxotroph
The higher the number of colonies, the higher the potential
After an Ames test, you have the following revertants on the plate:
2 for the control
100 on treatment #1
1000 on treatment #2
2 on treatment #3
Which treatment has the lowest mutagenic potential?
Treatment #3
What are the types of effects of single-point mutations?
Silent
Missense
Nonsense
What is the molecular basis of point mutation?
substitution of a single base pair
Affects protein function
What is a silent mutation?
Substitution of a 3rd base codon (wobble position)
No change in the amino acid
What is a Missense Mutation?
Substitution of 1st and 2nd base of codon
Amino acid change in protein
What is a Nonsense Mutation?
Amino Acid change to a stop codon
Incomplete/truncated protein
What is the molecular basis of a frameshift mutation?
deletion or insertion of nucleotide(s)
If it’s 1 or 2 nucleotides you get a shift
If it’s 3 nucleotides you get an additional or a deleted amino acid
Changes the mRNA
To engineer your favorite protein, you are creating point mutations and targeting one base pair. What type of mutation would you do to change the codon and keep the same amino acid?
A. Silent mutation
B. Missense mutation
C. Nonsense mutation
D. Deletion
E. Insertion
A. Silent Mutation
What is a mutation reversion?
a second mutation that can reverse that effect of a mutation.
It fixes the previous mutation.
When a mutation occurs, the result is a mutant. What is the result of a reversion?
a revertant
What is a true revertant?
when the reversion happens at the same site as the original mutation. Results in a wild type genotype
When a reversion occurs at a second site (not the original site) what are the possible results?
Suppressor mutation
- it compensates for the original mutation
Suppressor tRNA
- if you have a stop codon, the mutation happens in the tRNA gene = fixes the nonsense mutation
A second round of mutation was done to restore the phenotype to wild type. The sequencing data revealed that a new mutation restores the original phenotype of your gene. What type of mutant do you have?
A. true revertant
B. revertant
C. suppressor
D. suppressor tRNA
A. true revertant
By which methods do bacteria get new genes?
Transformation
Transduction
Conjugation
What is transformation?
Genetic transfer of free DNA
- from cell lysis or small DNA fragments
Competent cells
- able to take up DNA
Natural Transformation
- happens in nature
DNA uptake
- from some species pili
What is Conjugation?
Genetic transfer requiring cell-cell contact
- plasmid encoded or conjugating pili
Donor (plasmid +) and Recipient (plasmid -)
Fertility (F-) and Plasmid (F+)
-tra region - conjugative pili + type IV secretion system
How does conjugation happen?
You do not need to remember these steps.
What is transduction?
Phages can pick up host DNA and transfer it to a new host
(viral infections)
What is generalized transduction vs specialized transduction?
Generalized Transduction
-lytic phage
-packaging of host DNA
-defective phage
Specialized Transduction
-temperate phages (lysogen/lysogeny)
-host DNA near site of insertion is excised
You need to introduce new genetic material into your favorite bacterium. However, your bacterium is resistant to phage infection and is F+ what methods can you use?
A. conjugation
B. Transduction
C. Transformation
D. All of the above
C. Transformation
What is phage conversion?
Alteration of phenotype by prophages
Gene in the phage genome might confer other functions in the host
Harmless bacteria can become pathogens
ex. Vibrio cholera
-(Prophage + = pathogenic |Prophage - = harmless)
How do prokaryotes defend against phages?
Mutation in receptors
Restriction enzymes
Phage exclusion
Programmed cell death
CRISPR
How do prokaryotes defend themselves from phages by mutations in the receptors?
The phage needs to bind to a receptor. If there is a mutation on the receptor it’s not able to infect that bacterial cell
How do prokaryotes defend themselves from phages by restriction enzymes?
Endonucleases
- specfic sequence
Host protected by methylation
Molecular biology
How do prokaryotes defend themselves from phages by phage exclusion?
Modified DNA, prevent replication
How do prokaryotes defend themselves from phages by programmed cell death?
suicide initiated by toxin-antitoxin system
What is CRISPR?
Cluster Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats
Seek and destroy foreign nucleic acid
Adaptive immunity - resistance based on previous infection
- Repeat host sequence
- Spacer - memory of previous invation
- Cas Protein - endonuclease that degrades foreign DNA & integrate new spacers
Your favorite bacterium is sensitive to phages, what protective mechanism could you introduce in your favorite bacterium?
- Infect your bacterium with a defective phage to create a prophage
- Introduce mutations in the phage receptor
- Add a restriction enzyme and a DNA methyltransferase
- Engineer a programmed cell death controlled by a toxin-antitoxin system
- Introduce a CRISPR-cas system
When and why would you induce reversion/suppressor mutations to study bacterial physiology?
redundancies in pathways
metabolic shunt (bypass, alternative routes)
Antibiotic resistance mechanism