Today in class we continued to discuss bacteria and the types and characteristics. I pasted my notes here for anyone that needs them! Enjoy :)
Wendy
1. Periplasmic Space – space between the cell wall and the outer membrane
2. More points on LPS and LTS:
a. Inflammatory response reacts very very violently against non-eukaryotic chemical
b. Too much LPS or LTS in the blood causes septic shock – violent inflammation and very often death
c. Inside part of lipopolysaccharide – Lipid A, causes the most violent response in the inflammatory responses.
ii. Acid-Fast
1. Plasma membrane
2. Cell wall containing peptidoglycan and LTA
3. Outer membrane (like an additional wall) containing mycolic acid
a. Outer membrane-ish of mycolic acid
i. Very dense, waxy
ii. Doesn’t mix with water
iii. Very resistant to drying out which means it can survive for a long time in dry environments
1. Lot of soil bacteria is acid-fast
iv. Waxy mycolic acid prevents gram stains from penetrating the bacterial cell envelope
4. Causing agent of Tuberculosis and Leprosy are both acid-fast bacteria
iii. Consequences of cell wall (peptidoglycan):
1. Clearly defined shapes:
a. Round/spherical – cocci
b. Tubular/cylindrical – bacilli
c. Spiral/corkscrew - spirochetes
iv. Mycoplasmas
1. Plasma membrane
2. NO cell wall
3. Maybe another membrane (not necessarily the same as gram-negative’s outer membrane though)
4. No clearly defined shapes (ex. Chlamydia)
This is from the question she asked in class the other day:
"Would rifampin work to cure an Archaea bacteria?"
In Class Activity:
- Antibiotics: Attack target in bacterial cells necessary for cell survival that our cells don’t have.
- Rifampin: Used to treat bacterial infections.
Would it work on Archaea?
- No, because rifampin is specific to bacteria RNA polymerase. Archaea polymerase is more similar to humans than to bacteria. Thus the drug would not work. If we made one that would work on archaea there is a very good chance that it could kill our cells as well.
