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Free flashcards to ace your USMLE - Microbiology
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Microbiology
10 flashcards
Bacteria are single-celled microscopic organisms that lack a membrane-bound nucleus and organelles. They are prokaryotic and have a simple cell structure.
The major shapes of bacteria are spherical (cocci), rod-shaped (bacilli), spiral (spirilla), and comma-shaped (vibrios).
A bacterial capsule is a sticky, gel-like outer covering found in some bacteria that helps protect them from desiccation and phagocytosis.
Bacterial conjugation is the transfer of genetic material between bacteria through direct cell-to-cell contact, mediated by a pilus.
Viruses are infectious agents composed of genetic material (DNA or RNA) enclosed in a protein coat called a capsid, and sometimes an outer envelope. They require a host cell to replicate.
The lytic cycle is the viral replication cycle in which a virus enters a host cell, hijacks the cellular machinery to make copies of itself, and then lyses (breaks open) the host cell to release new virions.
A prion is an infectious misfolded protein that can induce other properly folded proteins to misfold and aggregate, causing neurodegenerative diseases like Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Parasites are organisms that live on or inside another host organism and obtain nutrients and shelter from the host, often causing harm.
An ectoparasite lives on the exterior of the host, while an endoparasite lives inside the host organism.
The malaria parasite has a complex life cycle involving an insect vector (mosquito) and a human host. It alternates between an asexual cycle in humans and a sexual cycle in mosquitoes.