12.1 Animal and plant pathogens Flashcards
what is a communicable disease?
a disease which can be passed on from one organism to another
what is a vector?
something which carries pathogens from one organism to another
i.e water and insects
what are the types of pathogen?
bacteria
virus
protoctist
fungal
what type of organism is bacteria?
prokaryote
what are the two ways bacteria can be differentiated?
their shape
their cell wall
shape
bacteria can be:
rod
spherical
comma
spiralled
corkscrew
cell wall
two different types of cell wall which react differently with staining
colour of gram positive
purple-blue
colour of gram negative
red
what is larger virus or bacteria?
bacteria
outline virus action
invades living cells and takes over the genetic material and biochemistry of the host cell to reproduce and release more viruses
what is a bacteriophage?
a virus which attacks a bacteria
what is a parasite?
an organism which takes over another organism and lives off the host at the host’s expense
what are the two modes of pathogen action?
damaging the host tissue directly
producing toxins which damage host tissue
damaging the host tissue directly
VIRUS
virus inserts its own genetic material into the host and then uses the host to replicate the virus rapidly
the new viruses the burst the cell and then infect other viruses
