Midterm 2 Flashcards
(162 cards)
how has the study of bacterial genetics evolved over time?
it went from just looking at pathogens that make us sick (microbes of practical importance) to trying to understand the genetic potential of all microbes
bacterial growth is _______
increase in number of cells NOT size
why are bacteria ideal candidates for genetic research?
only have one chromosome so easy to detect mutations
if you only have one copy of a gene then the effect of a mutation cannot be muted
how do we know bacteria swap their genes?
experiment with prototrophs and auxotrophs (lederberg’s experiment) where they breed and you see the phenotype in the child
auxotroph
mutant strain that has nutitrional needs additional to those of the normal organism
prototroph
can grow on a normal medium
lederberg expt
- met
- pro
- his
plates that dont have those things do the bacteria still grow?
when there is just a single mutation for one of these mutants it is possible that the gene reverts
however some strains that lacked all three nutrients still grew how? it meant that they were exchanging genetic material with other microorganisms in the environment
organization of bacterial genomes
single chromosome and plasmid (if any)
majority is transcribed unlike eukaryotic dna
plasmid copy number is closely regulated in the cell
replicon
bacterial plasmid or chromosome can originate from a single origin of replication
t or f: plasmid copy number in a cell is closely regulated
t
pSym plasmid
nitrogen-fixing nodule formation on legume plant roots
found in rhizobium
pTi plasmid
tumor formation on plants
found in agrobacterium
pTol plasmid
toluene degradation found in
found in pseudomonas putida
pR773 plasmid
arsenic resistance
found in e coli
pWR100 plasmid
entry into host cells
found in shigella flexneri
plasmid incompatibility
plasmids are considered incompatable if they cannot exist stably in a population of bacterial cells
when two plasmids use similar origins of replication, replication control will treat two plasmids as a single plasmid. in doing so, one plasmid loses out and is not replicated
essentially one daughter cell would not get a copy of the second plasmid
mutant
cell or strain possesses a mutation or change to dna seq in comparison to wild type strain
bacteria have _____ of a gene
ONE COPY
how to write name of gene versus protein
gene is italic followed by letter
protein is capitalized first letter and no italics
how can you tell there are changes in genes in bacteria usually?
changes in genes are often visible by changes in phenotype or growth pattern
CFU stands for
colony forming units
how do we detect mutants? Phenotypic selection:
use of a growth medium that will inhibit microbes lacking the desired genes
ex. antibiotic selection
basically use a culture sensitive to antibiotic, grow it in a medium containing antibiotic, and then only mutants would grow on that medium and you can harvest it
which is the most common method of phenotypic selection on mutants?
antibiotic selection
duplicate plates in phenotypic screening
the first plate has full nutritional support
the second plate lacks a particular nutrient
where a colony grows on a fully supported plate but doesnt grow on a partial support plate a mutation has occurred or vice versa depending on if youre looking for auxotrophy or antibiotic resistance