Endospore-Forming Prokaryotes and Bacillus Anthracis Quiz

Microbes help to recycle dead organic material and can live closely with plants and animals. The human body may even be home to more bacterial cells than human cells.

The Europeans unknowingly brought infectious diseases like smallpox, cholera, and influenza that the native populations had no immunity to, resulting in devastating consequences for indigenous civilizations.

This statement emphasizes the prevalence and importance of microbes in our world, despite their small size and often unnoticed presence.

A nonliving particle made of proteins, nucleic acids, and sometimes lipids that can reproduce only by infecting living cells.

Living organisms do not crystallize, so Stanley inferred that viruses were not truly alive.

Viruses contain genetic information in the form of RNA or DNA, surrounded by a protein coat known as a capsid. Some viruses, such as the influenza virus, also have a membrane surrounding the capsid.

Lytic infection and lysogenic infection.

bacilli, cocci, and spirilla

binary fission

a thick internal wall that encloses the DNA and a portion of the cytoplasm; it can remain dormant for months or even years

The cell walls of Archaea lack pep­tidoglycan and their membranes contain different lipids.

The microbiome is a collection of prokaryotic genomes that reside within the human body, including on the skin, hair, mouth, nose, and digestive system. Prokaryotes play important roles in maintaining the balance of the microbiome.

Prokaryotes play important roles in the environment, such as providing oxygen to the atmosphere and food for ocean food chains, as well as aiding in digestion and synthesizing certain vitamins.

Bacteria can cause disease by destroying living cells or tissues, causing the immune system to overreact and attack the body's own tissues, or by releasing toxins that interfere with normal bodily functions.

Prokaryotes, especially bacteria, are used in the production of a wide variety of foods and other commercial products, such as yogurt and drugs. Some bacteria can also digest petroleum and remove human-made waste products and poisons from water.

In a lytic infection, a virus enters a bacterial cell, makes copies of itself, and causes the cell to burst or lyse. In a lysogenic infection, the viral nucleic acid is inserted into the host cell's DNA, where it is replicated along with the host DNA without damaging the host.

Bacteriophage DNA that becomes embedded in the bacterial host's DNA is called a prophage. The viral nucleic acid is inserted into the host cell's DNA, where it is replicated along with the host DNA without damaging the host.

Retroviruses are RNA viruses that copy their genetic information from RNA to DNA, which may become inserted into the DNA of the host cell. Retroviral infections are similar to lysogenic infections of bacteria.

The cold virus settles on a cell, often in the lining of the nose, and is brought inside the cell. The host cell's ribosomes translate the viral RNA into capsids and other viral proteins. These proteins assemble around copies of viral RNA, and within eight hours, the host cell releases hundreds of new virus particles to infect other cells.

HIV makes a DNA copy of itself that inserts into the host's DNA and may remain inactive for many cell cycles. This is different from a cold virus which does not integrate into the host's DNA.

Viruses cause disease by directly destroying living cells or affecting cellular processes in ways that upset homeostasis. Examples of viral diseases include poliovirus which destroys cells in the nervous system causing paralysis and viruses that cause infected cells to change their patterns of growth and development, sometimes leading to cancer.

Viral diseases can be prevented through vaccines made from weakened or inactivated virus particles and personal hygiene measures. Antiviral drugs that attack specific viral enzymes are used to treat some viral diseases like the flu and HIV.

Viruses are parasites that infect living cells to grow and reproduce. They have many characteristics of living things such as the ability to reproduce, regulate gene expression, and evolve. However, they differ from living cells in that they are much smaller and simpler and do not have the ability to carry out all the functions of living cells.

A virus is a microscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism, while bacteria are single-celled microorganisms that can live independently and reproduce on their own.

Understanding the microbes responsible for diseases can help us develop vaccines, treatments, and preventative measures to stop the spread of disease.

Lytic infection is a process in which a virus invades a host cell, replicates itself, and then causes the cell to burst open, releasing new virus particles into the host organism.

Many poor and underdeveloped regions of the world lack the resources necessary to prevent the spread of disease and respond effectively to epidemics, making them particularly vulnerable to outbreaks.

Viruses may have evolved from the genetic material of living cells and have continued to evolve along with the cells they infect for billions of years.

Prokaryotes are unicellular organisms that lack a nucleus and their DNA is located directly in the cytoplasm, while eukaryotes have a nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles.

The two groups of prokaryotes are Bacteria and Archaea, which are as different from each other as both are from eukaryotes.

Bacteria are unicellular organisms that live almost everywhere, in fresh water, salt water, on land, and on and within the bodies of humans and other eukaryotes. They are usually surrounded by a cell wall containing peptidoglycan, and are classified into a range of organisms with different lifestyles within the larger domain Bacteria.

Conjugation is a process in which genetic material, usually in the form of a plasmid, is transferred from one bacterial cell to another through a hollow bridge. This transfer of genes increases genetic diversity in populations of prokaryotes.

Prokaryotes are essential in maintaining every aspect of the ecological balance of the living world. They are decomposers, producers, and nitrogen fixers. They also have specific uses in human industry such as sewage treatment and fertilizer production.

Endospores are structures that some prokaryotes can form to survive very harsh conditions. They are highly resistant to heat, radiation, and chemicals, and can remain dormant for long periods of time until conditions improve.

Mutations are one of the main ways prokaryotes evolve. They are heritable changes in DNA that are inherited by daughter cells produced by binary fission in asexual reproduction.