A3 - Microbiota at the different mucosal surfaces

What are the four main impacts a virus can have on their host?

• Lytic

• Chronic/Persistent

• Latent/Proviral

  • Virus will enter the host but will initially not do anything

  • Trigger occurs (heat, chemical, etc) which triggers activation of viral genes

• Transforming

  • Cell can transform, potentially becoming cancerous

What is the human virirome?

The entire collection of viral genomes isolated from human tissues

What are phages?

Viruses which infect bacteria

What is one of the most widely used phylogenetic markers?

Small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSUrRNA)

16S rRNA is used as a phylogenetic marker for what?

Prokaryotes

18S rRNA is used as a phylogenetic marker for what?

Eukaryotes

12S rRNA is used as a phylogenetic marker for what?

Mitochondria and plastids

The human microbiota is…?

The collection of cells present.

The human microbiome is….?

All the genes and genomes present.

What three major techniques are used to study the human microbiota?

• 16S rRNA profiling

• Reference genome

• Metagenomics

What are Cross-sectional studies?

Observation of all members of a population at one specific point in time

What are Longitudinal studies?

Repeated observations of the same variable over long periods of time

What are Case-control studies?

Study in which two existing groups differing in some features are identified and compared based on a supposed causal attribute

• E.g. smokers vs non-smokers and lung cancer

Are there a large amount of bacteria in the stomach?

No, there is a relatively low amount of bacteria in the stomach

There are very few bacteria at birth and you are then very quickly colonised. True or False?  

True.

What are CAZymes?

Carbohydrate active enzymes

• These cut carbohydrates into smaller simple sugars

What are the four major categories of CAZyme?

Glycoside hydrolases

Polysaccharide lyase

Carbohydrate esterases

Glycosyltransferases