Term
| Define Environmental Microbiology |
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Definition
The study of microbial fate and activity in air, water and soil, and the resulting impact on human health and welfare.
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Term
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Definition
| Science that explores interrelationships between organisms and their living and abiotic environments |
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Term
| What is the "driving force" behind Environmental Microbiology? |
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Definition
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Term
| Microbes appeared about how long ago? |
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Definition
4 BYA... about 2by BEFORE oxygen.. sooo the first microbes were probably ANAEROBIC!
Then facultative then aerobic.
Evolution of Oxygen content of the atmosphere caused the evolution of O2 requirements for microbes |
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Term
| Archaea are Prokaryots but not |
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Definition
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Term
Rhodopsins
Bacteriorhodopsin:
Halorhodopsin:
Sensoryrhodopsins: |
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Definition
Bacteriorhodopsin: visual purple;generates ATP from light energy; purple color from aggrigationof bacteriorhodopsin
Halorhodopsin: maintain intracellular [KCl]
Sensoryrhodopsin: photoreceptors; control flagellar movement in accordance with light; phototaxis |
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Term
| Why can archaea live in extreme evrs? |
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Definition
They have an S layer instead of a cell wall which is really tough.. resembles the heat tiles on space shuttles. They also have glycerol ether linkages in their cell membranes which are much stronger than ester linkages. These make them resistant to extreme evr too.
Highly saturated monolayer membranes in hot environments which are more stable than bilayers |
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Term
How do thermophilic archaea resist heat damage?
(in terms of a protein acting on their DNA) |
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Definition
Have reverse gyrase which positively supercoils DNA
Also have heat stable DNA binding proteins |
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Term
| Bacteria range in size from ... |
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Definition
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Term
Nitrosomonas europaea
Gram, trophism, specialist or generalist?
Habitat?
Problematic because... |
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Definition
Gram -, chemoautotroph, specialist- ammonia oxidation (NH3 -> NO2 -> NO3)
Soil, freshwater, sewage, walls of buildings, polluted areas with high levels of nitrogen compounds
Presents a problem because reduce available nitrogen for plants to use.. hence less CO2 fixation... also contributes to green house gas emmissions
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Term
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Gram, trophism, specialist or generalist?
Found where? |
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Definition
Gram -, chemoheterotroph, generalist
Found in soil, marshes, coastal marine habitats, animals, and plants
Problematic for CF people, burn victims, cancer patients, and immunocompromised. |
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Term
Types of Plasmids
Low Copy
High Copy
Relaxed
Stringent
Conjugative |
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Definition
Low Copy: 1-2 copies per cell; 10Kb
High Copy: 10-100 copies; <10Kb
Relaxed: Not dependent on initiation of cell replication
Stringent: synchronized with replication of chromosome
Conjugative: self transmissable between same/different species, tra genes |
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Term
Plasmid Functions
Cryptic Plasmids
Resistance Plasmids
Degredative Plasmids
Plant Interactive Plasmids
Miscellaneous Plasmids |
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Definition
Cryptic Plasmids: Unknown
Resistance Plasmids: Protect against antibiotics, metals and phage
Degredative Plasmids: Biodegration of unusual metabolites
Plant Interactive: Mediate interaction between bacteria and plants (Ti and Sym plasmids)
Misc. Plasmids: RNA metabolism, conjugation, bacterial cell envelope alteration, variety functions |
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