Unit 2 Flashcards
What is generation time?
Time to double in cell number; varies depending on species
What type of cells typically have a longer generation time?
Cells with hard cell waxes
What is the log phase of a growth curve?
Where bacteria are mainly taken from
What is the stationary phase of a growth curve?
Where cell death = cell death and nutrients becomes limited
what is the death phase of a growth curve?
Where cell death is greater than replication, cells are still replicating and dead cells become nutrients for living ones
What are the four stages of the growth curve?
Lag phase, log phase, stationary phase, and death phase
what is quorum sensing?
when bacteria are able to detect population density and alter gene expression
How does quoroum sensing work in gram negative bacteria
AHLs are specific for each species and diffuse throughout the cell. AHLS bind to LuxR proteins in the cell causing them to from a dimer. LuxR binds to genome causing synthesization of molecules and decrease in synthesization of others.
How does quorum sensing work in gram positive bacteria
Peptides are sensing molecules that never come back into the cell but attach to a kinase that can phosphorylate response regulators to affect gene expression
How agr operon work in Staph aureus
toxic materials are made when high pop. agrB makes molecules that are secreted to the membrane to secrete AIP that bind to kinases to upregulate kinase activity. Phosphates are then transferred to agrA that upregulates operon and blocks protein synthesis
Explain the realtionship between squids and vibrio fischeri
bacteria produce light via Lux operon which protect the squid from predators. Use of the Lux operon produces a lot of waste products so when sunrise hits the squid expel 95% of bacteria to allow regrowth during the day
How does the Lux operon work
Luxl produces HSL at low levels so that when high pop density LuxR binds to HSLs then to Lux box. Genes to the right of the box are tuned on (LuxL to upregulate itself and Lux CDAE to produce light)
What are cardinal temperatures
the maximum, minimum, and optimal temperatures for bacteria
What are psychotrophs
optimal at room temp and can survive at refrigerated temperatures
what are mesophiles
mostly cause disease most common ones
What is the process of PCR
dsDNA temperature is raised to cause annealing, atrificial pieces of DNA are put into DNA, temperature is raised to Taq to make new DNA, now DNA is doubled
What are the differences between prokaryotes and eukaryotes for transcription and translation
prokaryotes have polycistronic mRNA that encodes multiple protein but eukaryotes can’t have this due to nucleus. Archaea have so many more RNAP compared to bacteria making them more related to eukaryotes than bacteria.
How is RNAP made in bacteria
alpha one and two bind to large beta protein, beta prime and omega subunit bind, alpha subunit and beta protein bind to make core enzyme, sigma binds to core enzyme to make holoenzyme
What part of the holoenzyme engages with DNA
Sigma protein which binds to the -10 and -35 elements of DNA
what are the landmarks of RNAP in bacteria
+1: where transcription starts, spacer region (17 random bps used to separate promoters so they are on the same face of helix) and UP element that interacts with alpha subunits to help transcription
What is the transcription process
core RNAP melts DNA to make open complex, RNAP kicks sigma off, core enzyme slides down DNA to make mRNA (5’ to 3’)
What starts mRNAs
leader mRNA that has a Shine Dalgarno sequence to ensure proper binding of ribosome
What is the 30s subunit of polymerase do and how does it work
Has a piece of rRNA in it to hold subunits of RNAP together, binds to mRNA via a RNA-RNA interaction, is used to identify where translation starts and helps ribosomes bind to rRNA
What is the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic translation initiation
5’ leader is eukaryotes is extensive while in prokaryotes it is short. Multiple proteins are used to translate a protein then will fall off and another will translate next protein
In eukaryotes there are multiple polymerases but bacteria don’t have as many why?
bacteria have multiple sigma factors that are dropped and added as conditions change allowing different genes to be expressed
How are sigmas used in the act of transcription?
bacteria hold sigma factors in reserve that are bound by proteins when not needed. When needed, protein is bound to casuing a conformational change so it releases sigma which binds to core enzyme to begin transcription for needed proteins and also makes more sigma and anti sigma factors