BIOL 371 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Microbial Toxin, Tetanus, Red Blood Cell
Document Summary
Biol371 lecture 19: microbial infection & pathogenesis. Infection: a situation in which a microorganism is established and growing in a host, whether or not the host is harmed. Pathogen: a microbial parasite that causes disease, or tissue damage in host. Pathogenicity: the ability of a parasite to inflict damage on the host. Adherence is the enhanced ability of microbes to attach to host tissues. It is necessary, but not sufficient, to start disease. There are many different receptors coating both the pathogen and tissues where the bacteria or virus binds. Adhesins are glycoproteins or lipoproteins found on the pathogen"s surface that enable it to bind to host cells. The bacterial capsule forms a thick coating outside the plasma membrane and cell wall and serves 2 important functions in bacterial pathogenicity: the capsule is both sticky and contains specific receptors to facilitate attachment on host tissues.
