PHD - Nature of Bacteria (May) Flashcards
Explain why transduction is necessary for the virulence of Corynebacterium diphtheriae?
It’s toxin is in a bacteriophage that has to infect the organism for it to become virulent
True or False: Flagellin is non-immunogenic.
False
Which protion of lipopolysaccharide is endotoxic?
Lipid A
The lipopolysaccharide is unique to gram negative bacteria. It is made up of a core polysaccharide, an O-antigen, and a lipid A (endotoxin).
Once the F factor is integrated into the genome of the host cell, it is called, what?
High frequency recombination (HFR)
The F factor is a set of genes within the chromosome of the bacterial cell that has the capacity to integrate into the chromosome
What is the component of spores that makes them highly resistant to heat?
Dipicolinic acid
What is the factor that determines whether or not a cell can form a sex pillus?
What TYPE of secretion is this?
F factor (F+)
Type IV secretion
The F-factor allows the bacterium to produce a sex pillus so that it can pass its genes to another bacteria.
True or false: almost all of the resistance genes are on transposons.
True
In Gram positive bacteria, what are the two structures analogous to lipopolysaccharide in gram negative bacteria?
Lipoteichoic acid
Differentiate between peritrichous, monotrichous, and polar flagella.
- Peritrichous - multiple flagella on a single bacterium
- Monotrichous - only one flagellum
- Polar - small bundle of flagella located at one or both ends of the cell
Which antibiotic prevents the attachment of the 50s ribosomal subunit?
Clindamycin and chloramphenicol
Replicative transposons, in addition to a transposase gene, must have what gene?
Resolve Gene
Resolve gene encodes for resolvase, an enzyme that brings both ends of the transposon together so it can be cleaved.
What are aerotolerant bacteria?
Bacteria that can tikerate oxygen, but only for short periods of time.
Basic transposition relies on what enzyme for movement throughout the genome?
Transposase
What is the purpose of the bacterial capsule?
Slimy coating made up of sugar molecules that:
- Prevents engulfment of bacteria by phagocytes
- Prevents immune cells from recognizing bacterial cell surface antigen
What do transposases bind to on the DNA sequence?
Inverted repeats on each side of the transposon
What does Bacitracin block? How?
Bactoprenol
Bacitracin inhibits dephosphorylation of bactoprenol, a molecule responsible for moving peptidoglycan subunits out of the cytoplasm and into the periplasmic space of gram positive bacteria.
How many moles of ATP are produced in bacteria during the Embden-Meyerhof pathway? What about the Entner-Doudoroff pathway?
Embden-Meyerhoff (glycolysis) makes 2 ATP
Entner-Doudoroff makes 1 ATP
What antibiotic is used in block proteoglycan to prevent the elongation of D-alanines?
Cycloserine
What is the alternative to the Embden-Meyerhof pathway in bacteria? What are the end products?
Entner-Doudoroff Pathway
End products: glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate, 1 ATP, pyruvate
In what part of the cell is ATP generated for bacteria?
Cytoplasm
Proton gradient between cytosol and periplasmic space stimulates ATPase
Bacterial RNA polymerase is targeted by what antibiotic?
Rifampin
What are microaerophilic bacteria?
Bacteria that need oxygen to grow, but only need about 5% O2
Grow with increasing CO2 levels
Explain the mechanism of action of penicillin.
Prevents cross-peptidation during peptidoglycan synthesis
True or False: sporulation is the bacterium’s method to avoid the death phase.
True
Spores are heat resistant, UV resistant, and anti-bacterial resistant
Which class, gram positive or negative, have two cell membranes?
Gram Negative
What are lysozymes and which class of bacteria are they ineffective against?
Lysozymes are enzymes that cleave beta-1,4-glycosidic linkages, which are common in bacterial cell walls.
These are ineffective against archaea
During the lysogenic pathway of viral transduction, what prevents the prophage from expressing its virulence within the cell?
Protein repressor expressed by the virulent genome shuts off all virulence functions of the bacteriophage
Viral DNA is integrated in the host genome and is repressed until viral DNA has been replicated and phage assembly has taken place
What is a prophage?
A DNA sequence from a bacteriophage that has integrated itself into the bacterial genome.
What is the protein that makes up the flagellum?
Flagellin
What are the two ways in which viral transduction of bacteria can occur?
- Lytic Pathway
- Viral DNA hijacks cell machinery to assemble viral progeny that then burst out of the cell to infect other cells
- Lysogenic Pathway
- Viral DNA is integrated into bacterial genome and replicated silently
Lysogenic pathway can become the lytic pathway when the repressor protein is degraded