The argument claims that the use of a flagellum to swim requires many parts. Therefore, if something did not have those parts, it would gain no survival advantage from a flagellum. There’s a serious gap here! Evidence: ~MP → ~UFS Conclusion: ~MP → ~SA Gap: ~UFS → ~SA (key: MP = many parts, UFS = use a flagellum to swim, SA = survival advantage) Back into English…
D-Amino Acid Mediated Recruitment of Endogenous Antibodies to Bacterial Surfaces ACS Chemical Biology Fura, Sabulski, and Pires 2014 9 (7), pp 1480–1489 Abstract: The number of antibiotic resistant bacterial strains has been continuously increasing over the last few decades. Nontraditional routes to combat bacteria may offer an attractive alternative to the ongoing…
All of the animals (including the human) shown above have a symbiotic relationships with bacteria. The digestive-tract of the medicinal leech, Hirudo verbana, is simple in comparison to other animals and dominated by Aeromonas veronii biovar sobria and a Rikenella-like bacterium. This simplicity provides the opportunity to investigate the interaction of the partners…
All living organisms on earth consists of cells which are the basic units of life. Based on their function, cells are categorized into different types of cells, the somatic cells and the reproductive cells. Each cell has a nucleus and a jellylike watery substance that is 80% water that occupies the remaining part of the cell. This is called Cytoplasm. The cytoplasm…
Many bacterial cells secrete some extracellular material in the form of a capsule or a slime layer. A slime layer is loosely associated with the bacterium and can be easily washed off, whereas a capsule is attached tightly to the bacterium and has definite boundaries. Capsules can be seen under a light microscope by placing the cells in a suspension of . The capsules…
Although they are both eukaryotic cells, there are unique structural differences between animal and plant cells. Learning Objective Differentiate between the structures found in animal and plant cells Key Points Centrosomes and lysosomes are found in animal cells, but do not exist within plant cells. Plant cells have a cell wall, chloroplasts and other specialized…
MIT chemists have determined the structure of a bacterial enzyme that can produce biodegradable plastics, an advance that could help chemical engineers tweak the enzyme to make it even more industrially useful. Credit: MIT News MIT chemists have determined the structure of a bacterial enzyme that can produce biodegradable plastics, an advance that could help chemical…
Microtubules radiate towards the periphery of the cell from microtubule organizing centers (MTOCs) located close to the nucleus, and provide structure and shape to the cell. This image shows the nucleus in blue, the actin filaments on the cell periphery are labeled red and the extensive microtubule network is marked green. The cytoplasm undergoes rapid reorganization…
I remember being in Mr. Farnsworth’s 7th grade science class when we first really began learning about cells. His room looked like the typical high school lab—high, hard tables with Bunsen burners and gas jets that no one was allowed to touch, and a cabinet full of dead things suspended in fluid in jars. My favorite thing about the room was the giant poster of the…
Bloodborne Pathogens: Awareness and Prevention Bloodborne pathogens are infectious microorganisms that are transmitted through the blood when someone’s skin gets cut or pricked by a sharp object that contains traces of contaminated blood. Bloodborne pathogens are dangerous because there is no way to get them out of the bloodstream once they enter a person’s body…
Albers SV and Meyer BH (2011) The archaeal cell envelope. Nature Reviews Microbiology 9(6): 414–426. Beveridge TJ and Graham LL (1991) Surface‐layers of bacteria. Microbiological Reviews 55(4): 684–705. Beveridge TJ, Patel GB, Harris BJ and Sprott GD (1986) The ultrastructure of Methanothrix concilii, a mesophilic aceticlastic Methanogen. Canadian Journal of Microbiology…
Using computer models, researchers from labs in the UK and Switzerland (ref. 1) examined just how far bacteria of various sizes could travel. A global atmospheric circulation model was used to virtually release microbes with diameters of 9, 20, 40 and 60 μm from various places around the globe and see how far they got. Although the paper focuses more on the larger…
This simple cartoon shows general similarities and differences between eukaryote and prokaryote cells. Image courtesy of Windows to the Universe Related links: Below is a list of organelles that are commonly found in eukaryotic cells. Organelle Function Nucleus The brains of the cell, the nucleus directs cell activities and contains genetic material called chromosomes…
Students should examine cultures in containers, which have been taped and closed. Colony morphology is a method that scientists use to describe the characteristics of an individual colony of bacteria growing on agar in a Petri dish. It can be used to help to identify them. A swab from a bin spread directly onto nutrient agar. Colonies differ in their shape, size…
