Question

Please answer the following two questions with thourough, thoughtful answers that are about a paragraph in length. The following are for College Microbiology 1 (MICR 350) so relate the answers to microbiology. Please answer thoughtfully as I need good responses. Thank you.

1. What do you think are the advantages and limitations of a cell’s having one layer of peptidoglycan (Gram-negative) versus several layers of peptidoglycan (Gram-positive)?

2. In a mixed ecosystem of autotrophs and heterotrophs, what happens if the autotroph begins to outgrow the heterotroph and makes excess organic carbon?

Answer 1

The polymer of the amino acids and sugars, which forms the mesh like layer in the bacteria outside the plasma membrane is referred to as peptidoglycan layer. The gram positive bacteria consists of several layers of the peptidoglycan layer, however, the gram negative bacteria consists of the single peptidoglycan layer. Following are the advantages and disadvantages of the peptidoglycan layer: Advantages: 1. Gram-positive bacteria: The presence of the thick peptidoglycan layer in the gram positive bacteria help them to withstand physical abrasion and environmental toxins. 2. Gram-negative bacteria: In contrast, the peptidoglycan layer in the gram negative bacteria is thin and instead consist of the lipopolysachharide membrane along with an outer membrane. This helps the bacteria to withstand against a range of antibiotics. Disadvantages: 1. Gram-positive bacteria: Due to the presence of the thick peptidoglycan layer, no outer membrane is present in the gram positive bacteria, which makes them more susceptible to the antibiotics than the gram negative bacteria. 2. Gram-negative bacteria: In contrast, to the gram-positive bacteria, the ram negative bacteria are not able to withstand the physical stress, abrasion and the environmental toxin