BACTERIAL HEREDITY AND VARIATION

Heredity

The biological character between parental generation and their offspring is basically identical, and
the character can be inherited from generation to generation . The basic principle of heredity and
variation.

Variation

Difference in characteristics of organisms belonging to the same species in a natural population. It

contains genotypical variation and phenotypical variation

VARIATION

Morphological and Structural Variation

Lose capsule: bacteria that lose their capsule and can’t cause disease

Lose Spore: bacteria that lose their spore and can’t cause disease

L-form: cell wall deficient bacteria though they possess small amounts of peptidoglycan.

Variation in virulence

E.g. the BCG vaccine a live-attenuated bacterial vaccine derived from Mycobacterium bovis was
originally isolated in 1902 from a cow with tuberculosis (TB). The isolate was cultured continuously
for >230 generations for 13 years (1908–1921) to generate a mutant strain with weakened virulence
but with high immunogenicity.

The virulence of Bacillus diphtheriae increases when its infected by a Corynebacteriophage.

Variation in drug resistance

E.g. some strains of Staphylococcus aureus are resistant to penicillin.

Variation in enzyme activity

This can be phenotypic or genotypic. Enzymes catalyse reaction. Phenotype is an organism’s physical
attributes (appearance, development, behaviour). Genotype is set of genes an organism carries.
Therefore, phenotypic enzyme activity is observable whereas genetic activity is internal and can’t be
observed physically.

Colony variation

Smooth colony, rough colony etc.

BACTERIAL GENETIC ELEMENTS

Bacterial chromosome

The characteristic of bacterial genome:

➢ Covalently closed circular DNA, naked nucleic acid molecular and without histone.
➢ Operon structure
➢ No intron, doesn’t need splicing after transcription
➢ There is no overlap in structural gene. Bacterial chromosome

Plasmid

A circular, double-stranded unit of DNA that replicates within a cell independently of the
chromosomal DNA. Plasmids are most often found in bacteria and are used in recombinant DNA
research to transfer genes between cells.

Characteristics of plasmids

1. Self-duplication as it’s a replicon

2. The products encoded by plasmids assign the host bacteria some characteristics, such as
drug resistance, pathogenicity, etc.
3. It can be removed naturally by treatment with mega temperature, ultraviolet rays etc.
4. Transitivity: Conjugative plasmids; transfer by sexual pili. Nonconjugative plasmids;
transferred together with conjugative or phage.
5. Dispensable: it can be lost.

Plasmid classification

➢ According to transfer properties

Conjugative plasmids: contains transfer genes that perform complex process of
conjugation & sexual transfer of plasmids to another bacteria
Non conjugative plasmids: incapable of initiating conjugation thus for them to move
to another bacteria, they must be transferred together with conjugative plasmids
during conjugation.
➢ According to genetic information
Fertility plasmid (F factor): contains only transfer genes. Their only function is to
initiate conjugation.
Resistance plasmid (R factor): contains genes that can build resistance against
antibiotics or poisons.
➢ Virulence plasmids: turn bacteria into a pathogen
➢ Metabolism plasmids: enable digestion of unusual substances like salicylic acid.
Bacteriophage

Obligate intracellular parasites that multiply inside bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes or spirochete by
making use of some or all the host biosynthetic machinery. Also called bacterial virus.

Characteristics

1. Widespread existence
2. High host specificity
3. Simple structure of DNA/RNA/PROTEIN parasite in a living cell
4. Shape: tadpole, microsphere, slim rod

Classification

Based on the fate of host bacteria infected with the phage

➢ Virulent phage: phage that can only multiply within bacteria and kill the cell by lysis
Characteristics: *large scale proliferation in host cells
*Split or lyse host bacteria
*Progeny phage can infect other sensitive cells thus bacteriolysis
cycle is established

➢ Lysogenic or temperate phage: Phage that can either multiply via the lytic cycle or enter a
quiescent state in the bacterial cell.
Prophage: phage genome inserted as part of the linear structure of the DNA
chromosome of a bacterium. Prophages are important agents of horizontal gene
transfer.
Lysogen (Lysogenic bacteria): bacterium which contains in its genome the DNA of a
virus which is lying dormant, passively letting itself be replicated by the bacterium
 whenever the bacterium replicates its own genome (a lysogenic virus), but able to
reactivate and destroy the bacterium at a time of the virus's choosing (becomes a
lytic virus).

Characteristic of a lysogenic bacteria

1. The division of host cell is normal, and the genome of phage is inherited to daughter cell
2. The host cell bears the competence of immunity to infect with relative phage.
3. The integrated prophage brings some new characters to its host cell.
4. The phage genome will deprive and enter to the lytic cycle spontaneously or induced by
some factors, result in the lysis of the host cell.
Significance of lysogeny

Transposable elements

Heterogeneous class of genetic elements that can insert at new locations on chromosomes, plasmids
and phage without the limitation of homologous recombination, it is also called jumping genes or
movable genes

Nature: DNA sequences in bacteria cell that can change its position

Transfer way: transfer or shift of the transposable element by special recombinase coded by its own
DNA sequence.

Classification

1. Insertion sequence: transposable genetic elements that carry only genes required for
transposition. Structure: small stretches of DNA that have repeated sequences at their
ends, which are involved in transposition. In between the terminal repeated sequences
there are genes involved in transposition and sequences that can control the expression of
the genes, but no other nonessential genes are present.
 2. Transposon: transposable genetic elements that carry one or more other genes in addition
to those for transposition. Structure: like that of an insertion sequence. The extra genes are
located between the terminal repeated sequences. In some instances (composite
transposons) the terminal repeated sequences are insertion sequences.
Importance: Many antibiotic resistance genes are located on transposons. Since transposons
can jump from one DNA molecule to another, these antibiotic resistance transposons are a
major factor in the development of plasmids which can confer multiple drug resistance on a
bacterium harbouring such a plasmid. These multiple drug resistance plasmids have become
a major medical problem because the indiscriminate use of antibiotics has provided a
selective advantage for bacteria harbouring these plasmids.

3. Transposable phage: temperate phage with competence of transposition.

Gene transfer and recombination

Gene transfer: DNA transfer from Donor to recipient

Gene recombination: The process that exogenous DNA integrate with the chromosome of the
recipient cell, resulting in the change of the genotype and become a recombinant bacterium.

Main ways of gene transfer and recombination

1. Transformation (refer to bacteriology A notes)

2. Conjugation (refer to bacteriology A notes)
3. Transduction (refer to bacteriology A notes); can ne generalised (any fragment of donor
bacteria is transferred) or specialised (fragment near attachment is transferred)
4. Lysogenic conversion
5. Protoplast fusion

Lysogenic conversion

Definition: The prophage DNA as a gene recombined with chromosome of host cell and assign some
character to the host cell.

Example; Corynebacterium diphtheriae (Does not produce diphtheria toxin) infected with β-
corynebacterial becomes Lysogenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae (Phage’s DNA integrated into host
chromosome and encode diphtheria toxin)
Protoplast fusion

highly efficient method for the direct transfer of expression vectors from bacteria to another cell. It
involves digesting bacterial cell walls with lysozyme or penicillin to produce protoplasts and then
fusing the two protoplasts in the presence of polyethylene glycol.

Practical implications of bacterial heredity and variation

1. Application in diagnosis, treatment and prevention of infectious diseases E.g. L-form PCR
2. Detection of mutagenicity (The Ames Test for mutagenicity)
 3. Application in genetic engineering

REFERENCE

https://www.slideshare.net/prabeshrajjk/3-heredity-and-variation-of-bacteria

http://course.sdu.edu.cn/Download/b111928c-9552-4d72-9e0f-838feef51a1f.pdf