Daily Newsletter January 17, 2012
Today's Topic: Bacterial Cell Wall - gram negative walls
With the gram negative cell structure, you have advantages and disadvantages. The peptidoglycan cell wall is thinner. It still serves to protect the cell against osmotic shock, but not as well as a thicker cell wall. You also have an outer membrane. The structure of this membrane is unique in that the outer leaflet of the membrane is composed of Lipopolysaccharides (LPS). The LPS can play a role in infectious diseases, as they are pyrogenic (fever inducing).
Today's Challenge:
The blog today is to focus on the structure and function of the gram negative outer membrane. What is this membrane like? What does it look like? What is it composed of? What is the function of the outer membrane, and how does it fulfill that function? Most notably, when we have an outer membrane, we have yet another barrier to things moving into the cell. Is this an advantage, disadvantage, or both? How do we get materials into the cell?
With the gram negative cell structure, you have advantages and disadvantages. The peptidoglycan cell wall is thinner. It still serves to protect the cell against osmotic shock, but not as well as a thicker cell wall. You also have an outer membrane. The structure of this membrane is unique in that the outer leaflet of the membrane is composed of Lipopolysaccharides (LPS). The LPS can play a role in infectious diseases, as they are pyrogenic (fever inducing).
Today's Challenge:
The blog today is to focus on the structure and function of the gram negative outer membrane. What is this membrane like? What does it look like? What is it composed of? What is the function of the outer membrane, and how does it fulfill that function? Most notably, when we have an outer membrane, we have yet another barrier to things moving into the cell. Is this an advantage, disadvantage, or both? How do we get materials into the cell?
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