topic 9 Flashcards
(36 cards)
history
- started research in 1940s
- studied e coli mainly
- studied to determine practical importance of microbes
- today study genetics to understand genetic potential of microbes
- were able to research by comparing to mutants
organization of bacterial genomes
- single chromosome
- plasmids
- bacteriophage dna also present
- anything being replicated is a “replicon”
plasmids
- not necessary for survival of bacteria, no “housekeeping” genes
- typically smaller than genomes
- however important because contain antibiotic resistance
- regulates its own replication in cell, may be more than one copy
mutations
bacteria are ideal genetic research candidate because
- one chromosome, so easy detection
- nutritional mutants were used, and studied ability to produce particular nutrient or not
eg. Chemotaxis
- capillary tube filled with nutrients
- microbes with normal chemotaxis will move into tube due to protein
- mutants without chemotactic protein remain outside
wild type
- strain like one found in nature
- original isolate
mutant
strain carrying mutation relative to wild type
mutation
change in gene that disrupts function
allele
variant of gene
- may gain function
- may lose function
- may change function
auxotroph
mutant is unable to make particular compound
- often cant make specific amino acid is requires
prototroph
strain capable of making all required organic compounds
nomenclature of genes
- three letter abbreviation in lowercase italics with capital letter for separ ate genes
nomenclature of proteins
- three letter abbreviation with first letter capitalized and capital letter to separate gene
genotype
- description of allele in an organism
- reflects differences of mutant from wild type
- eg. gene involved in histidine synthesis
phenotype
observable properties of a strain
- eg. strain unable to grow in absence of histidine
figure 9.1
- three cultures parental, mutant 1, mutant 2
- parental is a prototroph
- mutant 1 cant make methionine so no growth
- mutant 2 cant make proline so no growth
type of mutant
- change in genes
- visible by changes in phenotype or growth pattern
- -> physical, visual, observable change
selection mutation
- isolating cells of a particular genotype on growth basis
- have growth advantage if will kill wild type cells
screening mutation
- identification of cells with a phenotype
- colour, morphology, no growth
- no advantage or disadvantage
phenotypic selection
- use of growth medium that will inhibit microbes lacking desired genes
- antibiotic selection is commonly used
- eg kill wild type leaving for mutant
phenotypic screening
- duplicate plates with one lacking particular nutrient
- mutation is spotted when colony grows on full support plate, but not on partial support plate
- kill mutant, not wild type
replica plating
- create duplicate plates
- stamps growth mediums on velvet sheet and compare growth
patching
- transfer colonies to gridded plate
- more accurate and reproducible than standard velvet replica plating
- pick colony with sterile toothpick, sequentially inoculate gridded test plates with picked colony and incubate, and compare growth on test plates
types of mutation (3)
silent: no change in amino acid sequence
missense: change in codon that results in coding for different amino acid
nonsense: change forms a stop codon where one shouldnt be
frameshift: results in insertions or deletions of nucleotides that can alter amino acids sequences