Answer to Question #113861 in Microbiology for shania

Question

Describe the following type of antimicrobial and how prokaryotes would (generally) respond to it: bacteriocidal

Answer 1

Bacteriocidal: these can be defined as a treatment of a bacterium in such a way the organism is killed. Prokaryotes are organisms whose cells do not contain a distinct nucleus, bounded by a nuclear envelope, in contrast to eukaryotic organisms that do have distinct nuclei. Prokaryotes include both the bacteria and the archaea, which appear to be only distantly related to bacteria or else can be termed as single-celled organisms belonging to the domains Bacteria and Archaea.

Bacteriocidal are antibiotics that simply have chemicals that kill prokaryotic cells but they are not harmful to eukaryotic cells. They are natural chemicals produced by fungi and bacteria that act to control their bacterial competitors. For example, streptomycin stops protein synthesis in prokaryotic cells by binding to their unusual ribosomes.