Microbiology Chapter 8

Synthetic biology may be used to:

-create an operon using genes from different microbes -create a cell whose entire chromosome was synthesized in vitro -create an antibody with defined specificity

synthetic biology

field of biology the combines parts of different organisms to create new molecules and cells never before found in nature

Methods of gene transfer in bacteria

-Conjugation -Transformation -Transduction

Mutant Strains show variation in one or more:

-Morphology -Nutritional Characteristics -Genetic control mechanisms -Resistance to chemicals -Temperature prefrence -Any type of enzymatic function

single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)

-Only a single nucleotide is altered -Passed on genetically

Transposons are linked to which of the following in bacteria:

-Replacement of damaged DNA -Inter-microbial transfer of drug resistance -Phenotypic changes in colonies

Specialized transduction

transfers pieces next to the prophage insertion site in the bacterial chromosomes

generalized transduction

transfers random pieces of host cell DNA

Which two types of horizontal gene transfer do NOT require direct contact between the donor and recipient cells?

-Transformation -Transduction

phage

A virus that infects bacteria

Horizontal Gene Transfer

Any transfer of DNA that results in organisms acquiring new genes that did not come from parent organisms

What does CRISPR stand for?

Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats

Transposons

DNA sequences that can switch sites in a genome and lead to changes in the genotype

Conjugation

Genetic transmission through direct contact between two cells

Transformation

chromosome released by lysed cell breaks into fragments small enough to be accepted by a recipient cell

vertical gene transfer

Transfer of DNA from parent organisms during reproduction

Wild Type

a microorganism that exhibits a natural, non-mutated characteristic

A bacterial cell described as competent can:

accept soluble DNA from the surrounding environment

Point mutation

addition, deletion, or substitution of bases

Silent Mutation

alters a base but does not change the amino acid and thus has no effect

Missense mutation

any change in the code that leads to placement of a different amino acid

somatic cell therapy

changes to the genome of an individual that are not passed on to offspring

transduction

involves the transfer of DNA via bacteriophages

Recombination

one bacterium donates DNA to another bacterium. the end result is a new strain different from both the donor and the original recipient strain.

plasmid

small, circular piece of DNA located in the cytoplasm of many bacteria that is capable of independent replication and usually contains nonessential genes

Gene therapy

the replacement of a faulty gene responsible for a disease with the wild type gene

A codon contains how many nucleotides?

three