This document provides an overview of a lecture on bacteria and archaea. It discusses their structural and functional adaptations that allow prokaryotes to thrive in diverse environments. Key points include:
- Prokaryotes have a variety of shapes and sizes, and cell surfaces like cell walls, capsules, and fimbriae that aid environmental interactions.
- They reproduce rapidly through binary fission and genetic diversity arises from high mutation rates and horizontal gene transfer between cells through transformation, transduction, and conjugation.
- Adaptations like motility, endospores, metabolic pathways, and rapid evolution allow prokaryotes to be highly successful and found almost everywhere on Earth.
50. Figure 27.13
F plasmid Bacterial chromosome
F+
cell
(donor)
F−
cell
(recipient)
Mating
bridge
Bacterial
chromosome
(a) Conjugation and transfer of an F plasmid
Hfr cell
(donor)
F−
cell
(recipient)
(b) Conjugation and transfer of part of an Hfr bacterial chromosome
F factor
A+
A−
A+
A−
A+
A+ A−
F+
cell
F+
cell
A+A−
Recombinant
F−
bacterium
A+