Bacterial genetic transfer mechanisms, plasmids, growth curve phases, and biofilm formation, one concept per card.
34 cards · basic cards · AI-written, checked twice. Edit anything.
- What is bacterial transformation?
Show answer
Uptake of naked (free) DNA from the environment by a bacterial cell.- What is bacterial competence?
Show answer
The physiological state of being able to take up extracellular DNA.- Which classic experiment first demonstrated bacterial transformation?
Show answer
Griffith's experiment with Streptococcus pneumoniae strains.- What did the Avery-MacLeod-McCarty experiment identify?
Show answer
DNA as the molecule responsible for bacterial transformation.- What is generalized transduction?
Show answer
A lytic phage mistakenly packages a random fragment of host bacterial DNA into a phage capsid and transfers it to another bacterium.- What is specialized transduction?
Show answer
A lysogenic phage excises imprecisely from the host chromosome, carrying adjacent bacterial genes to the next bacterium it infects.- What is lysogenic conversion?
Show answer
A change in a bacterium's phenotype caused by genes carried by a prophage integrated into its genome.- Which toxin's gene is delivered to Corynebacterium diphtheriae by a lysogenic phage?
Show answer
Diphtheria toxin.- Which toxin's gene is delivered to Vibrio cholerae by a lysogenic phage?
Show answer
Cholera toxin.- Which toxin's gene is delivered to E. coli O157:H7 by a lysogenic phage?
Show answer
Shiga toxin.- What is bacterial conjugation?
Show answer
Direct transfer of DNA from a donor to a recipient bacterium through cell-to-cell contact via a pilus.- What is transferred during F+ x F- conjugation?
Show answer
Only the F plasmid; the recipient becomes F+.- What is transferred during Hfr x F- conjugation?
Show answer
The F plasmid plus adjacent chromosomal genes; the recipient rarely becomes F+.- What structure allows an F+ or Hfr bacterium to attach to a recipient for conjugation?
Show answer
The sex pilus.- What is a transposon?
Show answer
A mobile genetic element that can move between different locations in DNA, including between a plasmid and a chromosome.
FlashKeepers