Jasmin Madrigale
2/23/15
ELVIS Case Study
Part 1
1. No you cant observe all the bacteria because the environment change from outer space to our environment would kill certain species of the bacteria. Also, some bacteria require specific staining procedures while others do not take to the stains.
2. The shapes are closely related to earth’s cocci, bacilli, and spiral shapes. They also cluster and grow in colonies like the bacteria on earth.
3. A. Fimriae- adhesion, proteins
B. Plasma Membrane- controls what comes in, phospholipids
C. Cytoplasm- Substance of the cell, 80% water
D. Nucleid- Single DNA double helix strand, proteins
E. Cell Wall- Shape of cell, peptidoglycan
F. Flagella- Movement, the protein flagellin
G. Capsule- Protection, glycocalyx
Part 2
1. I would use a streak plate, using the four quadrant method to spread and separate the “colonies” to isolate the unknown bacteria.
2. My results are more informative because my sample was pure, meaning all the test results are pertaining to only the unknown bacteria and not all the bacteria in the sample. My boss came up positive on every test, which means contamination occurred or he was unable to isolate the single unknown bacteria. My results indicate the organism is prokaryote because the structure of the DNA is circular, peptidoglycan was present in the cell wall, and there were pilus and flagellar proteins. This organism is gram positive, since the peptidoglycan came out positive. The organism is not a hybrid, for the results in the pure sample came out negative for all the features a eukaryotic cell possesses.
3. The first possible reason the cells went toward the edges of the slide with Lycra is because that material is not air tight, allowing access to oxygen. The bacteria may be facultative aerobic and prefers oxygen to perform metabolic processes. The movement to the edge of the slide where the most access to oxygen would allow the bacteria to maximize growth.
Another possible reason is the slide has no waste treatment, so if the bacteria have a fast metabolism, more waste would be created in the middle of the slide. Waste from bacteria is acidic, and most bacteria prefer more neutral pH standards to grow in. Thus, the bacteria would use their flagella to move to a less acidic environment.
Part 3
1. Medium #1 would be defined, but it would be rich because it has the basic composition that a variety of bacteria can live on. This is the reason E. coli was observed on this medium. Medium #2 is complex, for it has specific compounds for a specific metabolic process and would also be considered a selective medium. It is minimal because it has the minimal requirements for growth that would not be enough for a variety of bacteria.
2. The bacteria has to secret a large enzyme through its cell membrane, then must allow the enzyme back in the cell through a protein channel that is specific to that enzyme. Once the material gets inside the cell, aerobic metabolism takes place.
3. There is a loss of ATP during the transport of the citrate. The polyurethane has enough organic molecules to produce the two pyruvates and make a net of 2 positive ATP. TCA can generate another 2 ATP, which gives a total of 4 ATP after the Kerbs Cycle. This being said, growth is possible for the bacteria.
Another metabolic process is fermentation, which does requires no oxygen. This process would make a positive net of ATP, however, only two ATP are formed.
Oxygen allows the number of ATP in metabolism to increase, as seen when comparing aerobic metabolism and fermentation. This is because in regular aerobic metabolism, oxygen is the electron acceptor at the end of the electron transport chain.
Part 4
1. These technics should be enough to kill bacteria, however, if the
