BIOL 2900 Week 3

Structure/Function of Bacteria
All cellular life has the following characteristics in common:
- Cell membrane
- separate outside of cell from the contents within cell.
- regulates the flow of nutrients and wastes that enter and leave
the cell
- DNA as its genetic material
- RNA molecules
- Proteins
- via mRNA, tRNA; made by organisms itself
- enzymes (or catalysts)
- Basic chemicals
- sugars, proteins, minerals, fats, vitamins, nucleotides
- Reproduction
- potential to reproduce via cell division (every cell that exists
today comes from cells that was from 3.8 billion years ago).
- Requires energy
- ATP; MT makes ATP in our cells (except for viruses).
[picture eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells]
Prokaryotes
Eukaryotes
Nucleus
No
Yes
RNA
No
Yes (able to make huge
processing
amount of proteins).
Organelles
No
Yes
Cell Wall
Yes (can be affected by
Not in animals
ABX)
[picture prokaryotic cell organization and structure]
Flagella on unicellular organism
- you can have a single flagella or 2+ depending on the species or
type of bacteria.
- long structures that extend beyond surface of cell
- the flagella may be arranged differently depending on species. In
orde to move from one place to another, the structure of flagella
and arrangement, will allow it to move with coordination and
directional.
- Responsible for movement
- rotation propels bacterium through environment
- Used in chemotaxis; it can sense where there is a [gradient] to
move towards or away from substances. Its going to move
towards the area that has the [highest] if its a sugar (or something
beneficial) or away if its toxic.

BIOL 2900 Week 3

Axial filaments
- similar fx to flagella
- run lengthwise along cell
[picture spirochetes]: resembles a snake and has a snakelike
movement. Lime disease, lyme disease.
Fimbria
- Sticky projections (opposite fx of flagella) that are used by bacteria
to adhere to one another, to hosts, and to substances in
environment.
- We can find a lot of them (hundreds/cell) and are much shorter
than flagella
- Fimbrae may be evenly distributed over entire surface used for
attachment.
Fimbrae genes and bacteria
- E. coli
- 0157; involved in water and food poisoning. Sepsis and death can
occur. Its an identity of bacteria itself in another set of fimbria
gene, which allows the bacteria to enter our blood stream.
- UTI causing bacteria
- [picture fimbriae and flagellum]: we can see that fimbriae is
found just around the outside of the bacteria
Pili
- Long hollow tubules
- Longer than fimbriae but shorter than flagella
- Bacteria typically only have 1~2/cell
- Joins 2 bacteria cells, and mediate the transfer of DNA from one
cell to another. We call this ability conjugation (usually plasmid;
just a way for bacteria to send information).
- [picture prokaryotic cell organization and structure]: capsules or
slime layers are made of sugars in most cases.
capsule: a thick layer of gel that is firmly attached to the cell
surface
- stick substances surrounding the outside of the cell
- almost always observed on the surface of cells growing in nature
(as opposed to the laboratory).
- composed of polysaccharides, polypeptides, or glycoproteins
(modified sugars)
slime layer: thinner than capsules, loosely attached to cell surface
capsule and slimmer layer fx
- mediate adherence of cells to each others and to surfaces

BIOL 2900 Week 3

(fimbriae and capsules are doing this as well).

- protect bacterial cells from engulfment.
- protect cells from drying
- reserves of carbohydrates; they can use their own slime layers or
capsules in unfavorable conditions in order to thrive
- [picture negative capsule stain of Klebsiella pneumoniae]: notice
that the acidic dye stains the background and does not penetrate
the capsule.
- Fimbriae and capsule/slime layer helps bind to each other (like
natto) and are found in biofilm.
Bioflim
- Complex aggregation of microorganisms growing on a solid
substrate
- Mediated by fimbria and capsules.
- More resistant than planktonic cells to antimicrobial agents and
host immune responses.
- In medicine, biofilms spreading along implanted tubes or wires can
lead to severe infection in pts. Some people have a CF, can
develop biofilm in theirs lungs (making it very heavy).
- As it thickens, it releases substances and causes other bacterial
cells to pile up on each other (quarrel sensing).
Cell Wall (44:41)
- Allows bacteria to resist osmotic stress (hypotonic solution).
Prokaryotic cell walls (46:15)
- Allows bacteria to resist osmotic stress
- Provides structure and shape
- Assist some cells in attaching to other cells
- Cell wall is found in prokaryotes but not in eukaryotic animals cell
- this is why we can target cells of bacteria with ABX).
- Its made out of peptidoglycan (48:00)
- single macromolecule
- highly cross-linked (resembles a net)
- surrounds cell
- provides rigidity
- bacterial shape
- made out of NAG and NAM (52:16)
- they are joined, parallel, by D-alanine and D-lysine
- 2x D-alanine, D-lysline/Diaminopimelic acid, D-glutamic acid, Lalanine

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- so its a polysaccharide composed of 2 sugars

- N-acetyl glucosamine (NAG)
- N-acetyl muramic acid (NAM)
- chains of NAG and NAM attached to other chains by tetrapeptide
crossbridges
- short AA chains that link the polysaccharides together
- D and L-amino acids
- diaminopimelic acid
- muramic acid, D-amino acids, diaminopimelic acid are NOT
synthesized by mammals (in terms of selectivity of drugs, our cells
wont be affected by ABX).

[picture gram-negative and positive cell wall]:

Gram stain (+ or -) correlates with structure
Gram POSITIVE
Peptidoglycan

Plasma membrane
Teichoic acid
- connects layers of peptidoglycan
together
Lipoteichoic acid
- connect wall to plasma membrane

Gram NEGATIVE
Peptidoglycan (thin layer); covered by
phospholipid, integral proteins, and
lipopolysaccharide (LPS)
Plasma membrane
Outer membrane

- keeps the cell wall together

Ex: staphylococcus (clear, spherical, Presence of periplasmic space
arranged in complex groups). grape between outer membrane and plasma
image
membrane. Nutrients are stored in the
periplasmic space. Contains
Ex: streptococcus (chain looking)
peptidoglycan, water, enzymes
nutrients and other substances
Ex: Bacillus, Clostrium, Listeria (
Ex: Neisseria, Acinotobacter

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Gram staining lets us figure out which type of bacteria is infecting our
pts, and which ABX to use (useful for medical diagnosis)

Toxins
- Chemicals produced by pathogens
- Harm tissues or trigger host immune responses that cause
damage:
exotoxins
endotoxins
Exotoxins
Proteins
- secreted by live pathogen
Abnormal signals to cells
Destroy cellular and extracellular
structures

Endotoxins

[picture abscess, cellulitis; invasive infection]

[picture] endospores
- Formed by a groups of gram pos. bacteria as intracellular
structures, but ultimately they are released as free spores
- - formed by vegetative cells in response to environmental signals
that indicate a limiting factor for vegetative growth
ex: exhaustion of an essential nutrient
- Endospores exhibit no signals of life. Although, they retain viability
indefinitely (have few ribosomes, DNA).
- Highly
resistant
to
environmental
stresses:
- high temp., irradiation, strong acids, disinfectants, etc.
- Endospores germinate and become vegetative cells when the
environmental stress is relieved
- Endospore-formation is a mechanism of survival rather than a
mechanism of reproduction