Explain why one cell of a pathogenic bacterium by itself typically does not secrete a toxin, despite the species as a whole being characterized as toxin producing

To help in your explanation, predict what would happen to an individual pathogen that secreted a toxin inside a human.
What will be an ideal response?


Answer: One pathogenic bacterium is unlikely to be able to produce a sufficient number of toxin molecules to cause a disease. If one cell did this by itself in a human, it would likely be killed off quickly by the immune system. Once the bacterium grows to a sufficient quantity that it can cause disease through the production of toxins, coordination of toxin production by the population is performed in the example of quorum sensing. The production of a toxin by a single cell would likely alert the immune system a foreign bacterium is present and would be killed by a healthy immune system.

Biology & Microbiology

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Which are important aspects of a complementation test done by coinfection of bacterial cells with phage T4? (Select all that apply.)

A) using sufficient amounts of two phage strains, each with different mutations B) infecting bacteria with two phage strains that have recessive mutations C) counting the number of plaques that are produced after infection of E. coli K(?) cells D) recovering phage from the plaques after growth and lysis

Biology & Microbiology

During meiosis, a defect occurs in a cell that results in the failure of microtubules, spindle fibers, to bind at the kinetochores, a protein structure on chromatids where the spindle fibers attach during cell division to pull sister chromatids apart

. Which of the following is the most likely result of such a defect? A) New microtubules with more effective binding capabilities to kinetochores will be synthesized to compensate for the defect. B) Excessive cell divisions will occur resulting in cancerous tumors and an increase in the chromosome numbers known as polyploidy. C) The defect will be bypassed in order to and ensure normal chromosome distribution in the new cells. D) The resulting cells will not receive the correct number of chromosomes in the gametes, a condition known as aneuploidy.

Biology & Microbiology

__________ pressure refers to any cause that reduces the reproductive success of some individuals of a population.

Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).

Biology & Microbiology

Some protists have locomotor extensions called ________ and ________

Fill in the blank(s) with correct word

Biology & Microbiology