What are the functions of a capsule?
Capsules can protect a bacterial cell from ingestion and destruction by white blood cells (phagocytosis). While the exact mechanism for escaping phagocytosis is unclear, it may occur because capsules make bacterial surface components more slippery, helping the bacterium to escape engulfment by phagocytic cells.
What are four specific functions of capsules?
It has several functions: promote bacterial adhesion to surfaces or interaction with other organisms; act as a permeability barrier, as a defense mechanism against phagocytosis and/or as a nutrient reserve. Among pathogens, capsule formation often correlates with pathogenicity.
What is the function of a capsule quizlet?
What are the two functions of the capsule in bacterial cells? It protects the cell from being engulfed (phagocytosis) by white blood cells.
What are the functions of the capsules that some bacteria produce quizlet?
1. Capsules are virulence factors that serve to protect bacteria from phagocytosis by macrophages and neutrophils. 2. They also aid bacteria in attaching to host surfaces.
What is the structure and function of a capsule?
3.2 Capsules. The bacterial capsule is usually a hydrated polysaccharide structure that covers the outer layer of the cell wall, and in most bacteria it is composed of monosaccharides linked together via glycosidic bonds. However, amino acid (peptide) and protein–carbohydrate capsules have also been described.
What are the 2 functions of the capsule or Glycocalyx in bacterial cells?
The glycocalyx enables certain bacteria to resist phagocytic engulfment by white blood cells in the body or protozoans in soil and water. The glycocalyx also enables some bacteria to adhere to environmental surfaces (rocks, root hairs, teeth, etc.), colonize, and resist flushing.
What is Mesosomes function?
– The main function of the mesosome is to increase the surface area of the cell, thus helping in aerobic respiration. It also serves as a site for chromosome replication and oxidative photophosphorylation. These functions can be considered analogous to the cristae in the mitochondria.
What is the function of capsule in prokaryotic cell?
The capsule helps prokaryotes cling to each other and to various surfaces in their environment, and also helps prevent the cell from drying out. In the case of disease-causing prokaryotes that have colonized the body of a host organism, the capsule or slime layer may also protect against the host’s immune system.
What is a capsule quizlet?
Capsules. • Capsules are solid dosage forms in which one or more medicinal or inert substances (as powder, compact, beads, or granulation) are enclosed within a small gelatin shell.
What function does the capsule have for Streptococcus mutans?
What function does the capsule have for Streptococcus mutans? Streptococcus mutans forms a capsule that allows the bacterium to attach to the surface of a tooth. This results in the formation of a biofilm called plaque.
What is the function of capsule in disease pathogenesis?
Capsules have a significant role in determining access of certain molecules to the cell membrane, mediating adherence to surfaces, and increasing tolerance of desiccation. Furthermore, capsules of many pathogenic bacteria impair phagocytosis (22, 29, 30) and reduce the action of complement-mediated killing (7, 31, 35).