MICROBIAL BIOCHEMISTRY
Stereoisomer that rotates polarized light to the left
What is levorotary?
Reaction that converts pyruvate to acetyl -CoA within the cytoplasm
What is the transition reaction?
Most common mechanism of bacteria replication
What is binary fission?
Provides energy needed for DNA synthesis
What is deoxynucleotide triphosphate?
Conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia
What is nitrogen fixation?
Macromolecules made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms (usually in a 1:2:1 ratio)
What are carbohydrates?
Metabolic pathway that starts with glucose molecule and ends with two 3-Carbon pyruvate molecules
What is glycolysis?
Dynamic setup designed to keep bacteria growing indefinitely
What is an open growth system?
Occurs spontaneously when a heated denatured nucleic acid solution is cooled
What is reannealing?
Enzyme that regulates DNA supercoiling
What are topoisomerase?
Monomer + Monomer --> Polymer +Water
What is dehydration synthesis reaction?
Metabolic pathway that is both catabolic and anabolic
What is the Kreb’s cycle?
Statistical procedure used for dilute samples to evaluate growth by observing color or turbidity shifts from metabolic activity
What is the most probable number method?
Nucleotidases remove the phosphate from nucleotides
What is the 1st step in the DNA salvage pathway?
Turn solid biological molecules into a vapor of charged particles without destroying them – yielding mass to charge data
What is MALDI-TOF?
Artificial sphere made of a lipid bilayer enclosing a hollow core of water
What is a liposome?
Enzyme remains inactive because cofactor is missing
What is an apoenzyme?
Chemical communication where genetic switch is flipped for bacteria to function as community
What is quorum sensing?
Enzyme that uses DNA template to synthesize mRNA copy of gene
What is RNA polymerase?
Membrane-stabilizing lipids in many bacteria that help maintain membrane integrity and fluidity, especially under environmental stress.
What is a hopanoid?
Hydrophilic and acidic portion of fatty acid
What is the carboxyl group?
Group of light-harvesting pigments and proteins that capture sunlight and transfer the energy to the reaction center for photosynthesis
What is the antennae complex?
An organism that uses inorganic compounds as an electron source for energy metabolism.
What is a lithotroph?
Cluster of genes transcribed from a single promoter into one polycistronic mRNA
What is an operon?
Metabolic approach that can support faster growth and help microbes outcompete neighboring organisms.
What is fermentation?