GATE Sample Material - Microbiology

MICROBIOLOGY
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Sample Material on Microbiology

Includes

Material

+

Previous GATE Questions on Microbiology
(2001 -2012)
[Helps in what dept we have to read on Microbiology]

+

MCQ for Practice

MICROBIOLOGY


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PROKARYOTIC and EUKARYOTIC CELL STRUCTURE

Prokaryotes and eukaryotes are chemically similar, they both contain nucleic acids, proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates.

They use the same kinds of chemical reactions to metabolize food, build proteins, and store energy.

It is primarily the structure of cell walls and membranes, and the absence of organelles (specialized cellular structures that have
specific functions), that distinguish prokaryotes from eukaryotes.

The main distinguishing characteristics of prokaryotes are as follows:

1. The DNA is not enclosed within a membrane and is usually a singular circularly arranged chromosome.

2. Their DNA is not associated with histones (special chromosomal proteins found in eukaryotes); other proteins
are associated with the DNA.

3. They lack membrane-enclosed organelles.

4. Their cell walls almost always contain the complex polysaccharide peptidoglycan.

5. They usually divide by binary fission.

Eukaryotes have the following distinguishing characteristics:

1. Their DNA is found in the cell 's nucleus, which is separated from the cytoplasm by a nuclear membrane, and the DNA is found in
multiple chromosomes.

2. Their DNA is consistently associated with chromosomal proteins called histones and with nonhistones.

3. They have a number of membrane-enclosed organelles, including mitochondria, endoplasmic retic ulum, Golgi complex, lysosomes,
and sometimes chloroplasts.

4. Their cell walls are chemically simple.

5. Cell division usually by mitosis, in which chromosomes replicate and an identical set is distributed into each of two nuclei. This
process is guided by the mitotic spindle, a football -shaped assembly of microtubules. Division of the cytoplasm and other organelles
follows so that the two cells produced are identical to each other.

Prokaryotic Cell

The members of the prokaryotic world make up a vast heterogeneous group of very small unicellular organisms, which include bacteria
and archaea.

The thousands of species of bacteria are differentiated by many factors, including morphology, chemical composition, nutritional
requirements, biochemical activities, and sources of energy (sunlight or chemicals).

It is estimated that 99% of the bacteria in nature exist in biofilms.

Size, Shape, and Arrangement of Bacterial Cells

Bacteria come in a great many sizes and several shapes.

Most bacteria range from 0.2 to 2.0 m in diameter and from 2 to 8 m in length. They have a few basic shapes: spherical cocci, rod-
shaped bacillus, and spiral.

When cocci divide to reproduce, the cells can remain attached to one another. Cocci that remain in pairs after dividing are called
diplococci; those that divide and remain attached in chain like patterns are called streptococci. Those that divide in two planes and
remain in groups of four are known as tetrads. Those that divide in three planes and remain attached in cube like groups of eight are
called sarcinae.

Those that divide in multiple planes and form grapelike dusters or broad sheets are called staphylococci.

Bacilli divide only across their short axis, so there are fewer groupings of bacilli than of cocci. Most bacilli appear as single rods.
Diplobacilli appear in pairs after division and streptobacilli occur in chains.

Bacteria that look like curved rods are called vibrios. Others, called spirilla, have a helical shape, like a corkscrew, and fairly rigid
bodies. Yet another group of spirals are helical and flexible; they are called spirochetes.

MICROBIOLOGY


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In addition to the three basic shapes, there are star-shaped cells (genus Stella); rectangular, flat cells (halophilic
archaea) of the genus Haloarcula; and triangular cells.

Genetically, most bacteria are monomorphic; that is, they maintain a single shape. However, a number of environmental conditions
can alter that shape. If the shape is altered, identification becomes difficult. Moreover, some bacteria, such as Rhi zobium and
Corynebacterium, are genetically pleomorphic, which means they can have many shapes.

The structure of a typical prokaryotic cell is shown in Figure, its components according to the following organization:

(1) structures external to the cell wall,
(2) the cell wall itself, and
(3) structures internal to the cell wall.

Structures External to the Cell Wall

Among the possible structures external to the prokaryotic cell wall are the glycocalyx, flagella, axial filaments, fimbriae, and pili.

Glycocalyx

Many prokaryotes secrete on their surface a substance called glycocalyx. Glycocalyx (sugar coat) is the general term used for substances
that surround cells.

The bacterial glycocalyx is a viscous, gelatinous polymer that is external to the cell wall and composed of polysaccharide, polypeptide, or
both.

Its chemical composition varies widely with the species. For the most part, it is made inside the cell and secreted to the cell surface.

If the substance is organized and is firmly attached to the cell wall , the glycocalyx is described as a capsule. The presence of a capsule
can be determined by using negative staining. In certain species, capsules are important in contributing to bacterial virulence (the
degree to which a pathogen causes disease). In certain species, capsules are important in contributing to bacterial virulence (the
degree to which a pathogen causes disease).

If the substance is unorganized and only loosely attached to the cell wall, the glycocalyx is described as a slime layer.

Capsules often protect pathogenic bacteria from phagocytosis by the cells of the host. Bacillus anthracis produces a capsule of D-
glutamic acid.

Another example involves Streptococcus pneumonia, which causes pneumonia only when the cells are protected by a polysaccharide
capsule. The polysaccharide capsule of Klebsiella also prevents phagocytosis and allows the bacterium to adhere to and colonize the
respiratory tract.

The glycocalyx is a very important component of biofilms. A glycocalyx that helps cells in a biofilm attach to their target environment
and to each other is called an extracellular polymeric substance (EPS). The EPS protects the cells within it, facilitates communication
among them, and enables the cells to survive by attaching to various surfaces in their natural environment.

Through attachment, bacteria can grow on diverse surfaces such as rocks in fast-moving streams, plant roots, human teeth, medical
implants, water pipes, and even other bacteria.

Streptococcus mutans, an important cause of dental caries, attaches itself to the surface of teeth by a glycocalyx. S. mutans may use its
capsule as a source of nutrition by breaking it down and utilizing the sugars when energy stores are low.

Vibrio cholera, the cause of cholera, produces a glycocalyx that helps it attach to the cells of the small intestine.

A glycocalyx also can protect a cell against dehydration, and its viscosity may inhibit the movement of nutrients out of the cell.

MICROBIOLOGY


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Flagella

Some prokaryotic cells have flagella, which are long filamentous appendages that propel bacteria.

Bacteria that lack flagella are referred to as atrichous (without projections). Flagella may be peritrichous or polar (at one or both
poles or ends of the cell).

If polar, flagella may be monotrichous (a single flagellum at one pole), lophotrichous (a tuft of flagella coming from one pole) or
amphitrichous (flagella at both poles of the cell).

A flagellum has three basic parts. The long outermost region, the filament, is constant in diameter and
contains the globular (roughly spherical) protein flagellin arranged in several chains that intertwine
and form a helix around a hollow core.

In most bacteria, filaments are not covered by a membrane or sheath, as in eukaryotic cells. The filament
is attached to a slightly wider hook, consisting of a different protein.

The third portion of a flagellum is the basal body, which anchors the flagellum to the cell wall and
plasma membrane.

The basal body is composed of a small central rod inserted into a series of rings. Gram-negative bacteria
contain two pairs of rings; the outer pair of rings is anchored to various portions of the cell wall, and the
inner pair of rings is anchored to the plasma membrane.

In gram-positive bacteria, only the inner pair is present.

Each prokaryotic flagellum is a semirigid, helical structure that moves the cell by rotating from the basal body. The rotation of a
flagellum is either clockwise or counterclockwise around its long axis. (Eukaryotic flagella, by contrast, undulate in a wavelike
motion.)

The movement of a prokaryotic flagellum results from rotation of its basal body and is similar to the movement of the, shaft of an
electric motor. As the flagella rotate, they form a bundle that pushes against the surrounding liquid and propels the bacterium. Flagellar
rotation depends on the cell's continuous generation of energy.

When a bacterium moves in one direction for a length of time, the movement is called a run or swim. Runs are interrupted by
periodic, abrupt, random changes in direction called tumbles. Then, a run resumes. Tumbles are caused by a reversal of flagellar
rotation.

The movement of a bacterium toward or away from a particular stimulus is called taxis. Such stimuli include chemicals (chemotaxis)
and light (phototaxis).

Motile bacteria contain receptors in various locations, such as in or just under the cell wall. These receptors pick up chemical stimuli,
such as oxygen, ribose, and galactose. In response to the stimuli, information is passed to the flagella.

If the chemotactic signal is positive, called an attractable, the bacteria move toward the stimulus with many runs and few tumbles. If
the chemotactic signal is negative, called a repellent, the frequency of tumbles increases as the bacteria move away from the stimulus.

The flagellar protein called H antigen is useful for distinguishing among serovars, or variations within a species, of gram-negative
bacteria.

For example, there are at least 50 different H antigens for E. coli. Those serovars identified as E. coli 0157:H7 are associated with
foodborne epidemics.
Axial Filaments

Spirochetes are a group of bacteria that have unique structure and motility. One of the best-known spirochetes is Treponema
pallidum, the causative agent of syphilis (STD).

Another spirochete is Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease.

Spirochetes move by means of axial filaments, or endoflagella, bundles of fibrils that arise at the ends of the cell beneath an outer
sheath and spiral around the cell.

Axial filaments, which are anchored at one end of the spirochete, have a structure similar to that of flagella. The rotation of the filaments
produces a movement of the outer sheath that propels the spirochetes in a spiral motion. This type of movement is similar to the way a
corkscrew moves through a cork. This corkscrew motion probably enables a bacterium such as T. pallidium to move effectively through
body fluids.

Fimbriae and Pili

MICROBIOLOGY


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Extra Topics

-Lactam Antibiotics

-Lactam antibiotics are a broad class of antibiotics, consisting of all antibiotic agents that contains a -lactam nucleus in their
molecular structures. This includes penicillin derivatives and cephalosporins.

-Lactam antibiotics are indicated for the prophylaxis and treatment of bacterial infections caused by susceptible organisms. At first, -
lactam antibiotics were mainly active only against Gram-positive bacteria, yet the recent development of broad-spectrum -lactam
antibiotics active against various Gram-negative organisms has increased their usefulness.

Mode of Action

-Lactam antibiotics are bacteriocidal, and act by inhibiting the synthesis of the peptidoglycan layer of bacterial cell walls. The
peptidoglycan layer is important for cell wall structural integrity, especially in Gram-positive organisms, being the outermost and
primary component of the wall. The final transpeptidation step in the synthesis of the peptidoglycan is facilitated by transpeptidases
known as penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs). PBPs vary in their affinity for binding penicillin or other -lactam antibiotics.

-Lactam antibiotics are analogues of D-alanyl-D-alaninethe terminal amino acid residues on the precursor NAM/NAG-peptide
subunits of the nascent peptidoglycan layer. The structural similarity between -lactam antibiotics and D-alanyl-D-alanine facilitates
their binding to the active site of PBPs. The -lactam nucleus of the molecule irreversibly binds to (acylates) the Ser403 residue of the
PBP active site. This irreversible inhibition of the PBPs prevents the final crosslinking (transpeptidation) of the nascent peptidoglycan
layer, disrupting cell wall synthesis.

Modes of resistance

By definition, all -lactam antibiotics have a -lactam ring in their structure. The effectiveness of these antibiotics relies on their ability
to reach the PBP intact and their ability to bind to the PBP. Hence, there are two main modes of bacterial resistance to -lactams:

Enzymatic hydrolysis of the -lactam ring If the bacterium produces the enzyme -lactamase or the enzyme penicillinase, the
enzyme will hydrolyse the -lactam ring of the antibiotic, rendering the antibiotic ineffective. The genes encoding these enzymes may be
inherently present on the bacterial chromosome or may be acquired via plasmid transfer (plasmid mediated resistance), and -
lactamase gene expression may be induced by exposure to -lactams.
BACTERIAL STRESS RESPONSE

A changing environment creates conditions that can be stressful for microorganisms and microbes must have physiological acclimation
mechanisms to survive and remain active in the face of stress or they will die. However, those adaptation and acclimation strategies
create physiological costs at the organism level and can alter the composition of the active microbial community, creating shifts in
ecosystem, energy, and nutrient flows.

At the ecosystem scale, stress is usually considered to be a chronic challenge (e.g., drought, toxins, and so forth) that imposes
physiological costs.

Microbes must acclimate to immediate stress by altering their allocation of resources from growth to survival pathways; a stress too
extreme will force them into dormancy or kill them.

Death and dormancy both remove microbial function from the soil, but, whereas dormant organisms regain activity when conditions
improve; dead ones do not.

Drought

Drought is perhaps the most common environmental stress that soil microorganisms experience. As soils dry, substrate diffusion
becomes limited and microbes may experience resource limitation that can slow biogeochemical process rates. Microbes are small, in
intimate contact with soil water, and have semipermeable membranes. Thus, cellular water potential rapidly equilibrates with that of the
surrounding water. As soils dry and water potentials decline, cells must accumulate solutes to reduce their internal water potential
to avoid dehydrating and dying.

As their primary osmolytes, microorganisms use simple organics with a good balance of high solubility and limited direct physiological
effects. Bacteria typically use amino compounds such as proline, glutamine, and glycine betaine. Fungi, on the other hand, use
polyols such as glycerol, erythritol, and mannitol.

Accumulating solutes is energetically expensive. Bacteria can accumulate amino acids to concentrations of roughly 0.5 mol/L and
these may account for between 7% and 20% of total bacterial C (Carbon content) and between 11% and 30% of bacterial N (Nitrogen
content).

In fungi, identifiable polyols can account for over 10% of cell mass, because polyols do not contain N, N costs are low.

MICROBIOLOGY


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Previous GATE Exam Questions

1. The typical coenzyme in the present in the methanogens is [GATE Biotech 2002]

(A) Coenzyme A
(B) Coenzyme Q
(C) Coenzyme M
(D) None of the above

2 Plastome is [GATE Biotech 2002]

(A) A type of plasid
(B) An organellar genome
(C) Plasmalemma protein
(D) None of A / B / C

3. Autoclaves-are routinely used in laboratories for sterilization. It acts-by [GATE Biotech 2003]

(A) disrupting cell membranes
(B) denaturing proteins.
(C) changing physically membrane lipids
(D) all of the above

4. Which one of the following DOES NOT belong to the domain of Bacteria? [GATE Biotech 2010]

(a) Cyanobacteria
(b) Proteobacteria
(c) Bacteroids
(d) Methanobacterium

5. Identify the enzyme that catalyzes the following reaction [GATE Biotech 2010]

-Ketoglutarate + NADH + NH4
+
+ H
+
__?__ + Glutamate + NAD
+
+ H2O

(a) Glutamate synthetase
(b) Glutamateoxoglutarateaminotransfcrase
(c) Glutamate dehydrogenase
(d) -ketoglutarate deaminase

6. The formation of peptide cross-links between adjacent glycan chains in cell synthesis is called [GATE Biotech 2010]

(a) Transglycosylation
(b) Autoglycosylation
(c) Autopeptidation
(d) Transpeptidation

7. Ames test is used to determine [GATE Biotech 2010]

(a) the mutagenicity of a chemical
(b) carcinogenicity of a chemical
(c) both mutagenicity and carcinogenicity of a chemical
(d) toxicity of a chemical

8. Under stress conditions bacteria accumulate [GATE Biotech 2010]

(a) ppGpp (Guanosine tetraphosphate)
(b) pppGpp (Guanosine pentaphosphate)
(c) both ppGpp pppGpp
(d) either ppGpp or pppGpp

9. Match Group I with Group II [GATE Biotech 2010]

Group I Group II

P. Staphylococcus aureus 1. Biofilms
Q. Candida albicans 2. Bacteriocins
R. Mycobacterium tuberculosis 3. Methicillin
resistance
S. Lactobacillus lactis 4. Isoniazid

MICROBIOLOGY


87
MCQS FOR PRACTICE
1. The difference which distinguish prokaryotic cell from eukaryotic is

(a) ER
(b) Mesosome
(c) Nuclear Membrane
(d) Plasma membrane

2. Extra nuclear genetic material is found

(a) Ribosome
(b) ER
(c) Chloroplast
(d) Centriole

3. Plant cell wall is generally made up of

(a) Cellulose and pectin
(b) Cellulose
(c) Chitin
(d) Murin

4. Which one of the following is correct for structure of cell wall of Fungi and Bacteria?

(a) Both have glycopeptide
(b) Both are made up of N-acetylglucasamine
(c) Both are made up of murin
(d) Both are made up of chitin

5. The characteristic property of metabolically active cell is

(a) Low nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio
(b) High nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio
(c) High volume to surface area ratio
(d) Small nucleus

6. Plasma membrane functional as well as structural role is played by

(a) Proteins
(b) Lipids
(c) Cholesterol
(d) Oligosaccharides

7. Lipid nature of plasma membrane can be destroyed by

(a) Hexane
(b) Benzene
(c) Chloroform
(d) NaOH

8. Endoplasmic reticulum originates from

(a) Nuclues
(b) Nucleulous
(c) Golgi Complex
(d) Plasma membrane

9. How you can separate Gram + ve bacteria from Gram ve bacteria

(a) Presence of Techoic Acid
(b) Absence of periplasmic Space
(c) Exotoxin Produced
(d) All of the above

10. Lysosomes are polymorphous organelles enclosed by a single membrane. They contain vast array of hydrolytic enzymes which can
digest any foreign material except

(a) Cellulose

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MICROBIOLOGY

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