3 basic shapes of prokaryotic cells - answer✔Bacillus
Coccus
Spiral
3 different spiral shapes - answer✔Spirillium
Vibrio
Spirochete
Describe flagella - answer✔Made of chains of flagellin
Attached to a protein hook
Anchored to the cell wall and membrane by the basal body
Describe fimbriae - answer✔hair-like appendages, shorter and thinner than flagella
allow attachment
Describe Pili - answer✔Longer than fimbriae and only one or two per cell
Facilitate transfer of DNA from one cell to another
gliding motility
twitching motility
What does the cell wall of Prokaryotes prevent? - answer✔osmotic lysis: occurs when a cell
bursts due to an osmotic imbalance that has caused excess water to move into the cell
Functions of Prokaryotic cell wall - answer✔- Maintain shape
- Anchor for Flagella
- Can play a role in the ability to cause disease
What is Peptidoglycan? - answer✔A polymer of the disaccharides:
- N-acetylglucosamine (NAG)
- N-acetylmuramic acid (NAM)
Describe a gram-negative cell wall - answer✔Thin peptidoglycan
Outermembrane
Periplasmic space
Gram-negative outer membrane consists of - answer✔Lipopolysaccharides
Porin proteins
What do lipopolysaccharides consist of? - answer✔Lipid A - embedded in the top layer of the
outer membrane
Core polysaccharide - Attached to lipid A
O polysaccharide - Extends outwards from the core polysaccharide
Function of Lipid A - answer✔Lipid A is released when Gram-negative bacteria die, it
functions as an endotoxin.
Define endotoxin - answer✔a toxin present inside a bacterial cell that is released when it
disintegrates.
What is the role of the Core polysaccharide? - answer✔Structural - to provide stability
What is the role of the O-polysaccharide? - answer✔functions as an antigen and is useful for
distinguishing species of gram-negative bacteria
Define an antigen - answer✔a toxin or other foreign substance which induces an immune
response in the body, especially the production of antibodies.
Describe the basal bodies present in gram positive and gram negative cell walls -
answer✔Gram-positive cell wall = 2-ring basal body
Gram-negative = 4-ring basal body
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