Beneficial Bacteria

ESCHERICHIA COLI

It is gramm negative and a rod shaped bacterium. it is usually found in lower intestines of warm blooded organisms and helps in digestion and absorption of food. However, variations of this bacteria can cause food poisoning. It produces vitamin K2 and can live in a wide variety of substrates.


STAPHLOCOCCUS EPIDERMIS

It is gram positive and a cocci shaped bacterium. It is found of our skin. This bacteria aids the skin by releasing certain toxins to defend us from micro organisms. They do this by taking up the space pathogenic bacteria would occupy. They are nonmotile and are also faculative anaerobes, they grow either by aerobic respiration or fermentation.


LACTOBACILLUS ACIDPHILUS

This bacteria occurs naturally in humans, animal intestines, vagina, and mouth. it is used in dairy products. It has an optimal temperture of 37 degress celsius. Certain strains of this bacteria decreases the chance of having diarhhea. It is resistent to bile, a low ph and intestinal enzymes. It is mainly used for improvement of symptoms of discomfort from lactose inteolerant.




REFERENCES:
Google images
http://web.uconn.edu/mcbstaff/graf/Student%20presentations/S%20epidermidis/sepidermidis.html
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/lactobacillus/NS_patient-acidophilus
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC426879/pdf/pnas00134-0120.pdf

Phyla of Protozoa

PHYLA SPOROZOA

There are 6000 species. It is carried in blood and can cause disease like toxoplasmosis and malaria. They are nonmotile, unicellular protists. They are commonly parasitic on vertebrate animals.

Plasmodium vivax

This single celled organism that causes malaria. These microorganims invade red blood cells where they multiply and eventually escape from ruptured cells. This disease is characterized by fevers and chills.

PHYLUM CILIOPHORA

this phylum has 8000 species. They move by using cilia. They have a pellicle, oral groove, gullet, macronucleus and a micronucleus. They reproduce by conjugation as well as fission.

Paramecium bursaria

 They form symbiotic relationship with green algae. Algae lives in its cytoplasm. The algal photosynthesis provides a food source for them.

PHYLUM SARCODINA

There are 40000 species. They are amoebas. They eat other protists andh ave cytoplasmic streaming and pseudopodia. They make limestone and chalk deposits. They cause diseases such as  amebic dysentary. They also feed on other protozoans and unicellular algae by engulfing them in its pseudopodia.

Entamoeba histolytica

They invade the digestive tracts of humans. This disease is spread by fecal contamination of drinking water, raw vegetables and careless food handlers.

PHYLUM MASTIGOPHORA

There are 2500 species. They move using flagella and most are free living. They cause diseases like zooflagellates, African trypanosomiasis which is a sleepign disease, chagas disease with is the kissing bug, leichmaniasis which is the sand fly and giardiasis.

Trypanosoma gambiense

There are two species of flagellates that transmit disease by biting flies. It then causes African sleeping sickness. If it is untreated in early stages, African sleepign sickness is potentially fatal.

REFERENCES

google images

http://chsweb.lr.k12.nj.us/mstanley/outlines/protista/protists.htm

http://inside.msj.edu/academics/faculty/davisr/potpouri/protista.htm

Comparing Bacteria, Virus, Protists, Prions

Bacteria


prokaryotic
single cellular
many move through liquids by taillike appendages called flagella or cilia
others cannot move on own
carried on animals, insects, or dust
2 micrometers long
0.5 micormeters in diameter
live in eveyr environment
causes tuberculosis, small pox, cholera
binary fission



Virus


multicellular
no self locomotion
float and bump into objects
10-300 nanometers
live in cold, dry conditions and in all types of organisms
HIV, AIDS, Influenze, Measles, herpes
cannot reproduce, replicate with the help of cells



PROTISTS


eukaryotic
mostly unicellular
move by cytoplasmic streaming or wiht the help of flagella/ cilia
200 micrometers
livein environement with liquid water
Malaria, Giardiasis
sexual reproduction through meiosis 
asexual reproduction through spores and binary fission



PRIONS


eukaryotic
unicellular
move along axions in brain
1/1000 of a bacterium
live in nervous system tissue, brain cell membrane
mad cow disease, fatal familial insomnia, chronis wasting disease
needs template of prion form to turn into another prion protein


references:
google images
book

The Lives of a Cell

This article mentions how cells are the unifying force of life on Earth. What is more astonishing that its diversity of cells such as prokaryotes, eukaryotes, or bacteria, fungi, protists, is the high probability that every one of these organisms derive, originally, from that single cell. Although the differences still set us apart in our look and size , color, etc. we all share genes that resemble one another. The reader goes one to mention how he attempts to consider the earth as an organism, but it is too complex. I do agree that on earth there are an enormous variations to show the complexities and how it is impossible to consider earth a simple organism to classify. His connection and revelation of how earth is just like a cell. I completely agree with him as he mentions this because the cell as simple as it may seem as the building blocks of our very existence has a world in itself. The cell is just as complex as the earth is with all the organelles inside the cell and with so much undiscovered knowledge the lives of a cell is a daunting task to understand.

Virtual Diffusion Simulation

The villi percentage of Cell Surface Area is fifty. The radius is times one. The cell shape has a ratio of ten to one. The number of dimples is forty. the dimple percentage of cell surface area is also one. The highest rate of diffusion is at 4.64. This is the most effective shape and size of a cell to maximize diffusion in cells because it has a high surface area while maintaining a small volume. As moleculer size increases, diffusion rates decrease. This is why villi increase the surface area of the intestine to increase absorption of nutrients.


References:
http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/biolink/j_explorations/ch02expl.htm

A Fear of Phermones

In the article "A Fear of Phermones", it is mentioned how irrelevant pheromones are to humans when we have our "richness of speech, and all our new devices for communication" (16). I do believe and agree with the author that I believe that pheromones are unnecessary but they are a integrated into our every day lives. It is inconvenient however how these pheromones exist in such "strategically located apocrine glands with unaccountable areas of moisture"(16). Yet, it is still amazing how these eight of ten carbon atoms help us humans determine "how to behave to the opposite sex, how to ascertain what is the opposite sex, how to organize members of a society in the proper ranking orders of dominance, how to make out exact boundaries of real estate, and how to establish that one is, beyond argument, one's self"(17). These are the exact reason why, of all the unecessary functions in the world, pheromones are still present in animals andi n humans. This control of our behavior is of the utmost center of why pheromones are important. Although the effect is not as strong due to our more developed knowledge of communication, it is nonetheless vital to our society. One who is affected by these pheromones repulsively through extra sweat should educate themselves and use these pheromones exactly to their advantage. It is our own specific pheromones that make us all different and special and that clearly is why I ultimately disagree with the writer because our difference, our genetic variety, our special features is what makes us human.

The Cell

Microscopes provide windows to the world of the cell. Cell biologists can isolate organelle to study their functions. Prokaryotis and eukaryotic cells differ in size and complexity. Internal membranes compartmentalize the functions of a eukaryotic cell. The nucleus contains a eukaryotic cell's genetic library. Ribosomes build a cell's proteins. The nucleus contains a eukaryotic cell's genetic library. Ribosomes build a cell's proteins. The endoplasmic reticulum manufactures membranes and performs many other biosynthetic functions. The golgi apparatus finishes, sorts, and ships cell products. Lysosomes are digestive compartments. Vacuoles have diverse functions in cell maintenance. Mitochondria and chloroplasts are the main energy transformers of cells. Peroxisomes generate and degrade H2O2 in performing various metabolic functions. Providing structural support to the cell, the cytoskeleton also functions in cell motility and regulation. Plant cells are encased by cell walls. The extracellular matrix (ECM) of animal cells functions in support, adhesion, movement, and regulation. Intercellular junctions help integrate cells into higher levels of structure and function. The cell is a living unit greater than the sum of its parts. Membrane models have evolved to fit new data. THey are fluid and are mosaics of structure and function and membrane carbohydrates are important for cell-cell recognition. A membrane's molecular organization results in selective permeability. Cell signaling evolved early in the history of life. Communicating cells maybe close together or far apart. Most signal receptors are plasma membrane proteins. In response to a signal, a cell may regulate the activities in the cytoplasm or transcription in the nucleus. Elaborate pathways amplify and specify the cell's response to signals.