Question

2. Over her fall break, Serena was hiking in Governor Dodge State Park to look at the awesome fall foliage. When she returned home, she found a tick in between her toes and removed it. However, two week later Serena developed a red non-itchy rash, but she decided not to worry about it because she had an A&P practical. Six days later, itchy rashes appeared on her palms and soles and she had a low-grade fever. She finally decided to go to the doctor because she could not hold a pencil or type. Serena was diagnosed with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, which is caused by the Gram-negative coccobacilli Rickettsia rickettsii. She was prescribed doxycycline (an antibiotic in the tetracycline family).

1.    How does doxycycline inhibit bacteria growth?

2.    Which part of translation does doxycycline interfere with?

3.    Unfortunately, Serena’s symptoms worsened with the rash continuing to spread up her arms and toward her torso. What are two possible reasons Serena’s case worsened?

4. A new class of tetracycline antibiotics was discovered in 2005 that has been shown to affect the growth of many multidrug resistant strains of bacteria because the compounds are not transported out of the cell as rapidly. Explain how this change makes the bacteria more sensitive to the antibiotics.

Answer 1