Cell Project

Leslie Gutierrez
Ms. Malonek
Biology 1/2
7 December 2014

Final Project: Create a Cell

The cell I chose to make a 3D model of was: the bacteria E. Coli

Although everyone has E.coli bacteria naturally in their intestines, people and animals infected with the strand of E. coli 0157:H7, which can sometimes be found in under cooked foods, contaminated water and feces. Symptoms of E. Coli include diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting, and low fever.

E. coli, short for the medical term Escherichia coli,  is a common type of bacteria that can get into food, like beef and vegetables . E coli  is not always harmful to our body and normally lives inside out intestines, where it helps the human body break down and digest the food we eat.  However, not all E. coli is good and certain types (called strains) of E. coli can get from the intestines into the blood. Although this is a rare illness it can cause a very serious infection. A person who has an E. coli infection may have symptoms such as bad stomach cramps and belly pain, vomiting, and diarrhea, sometimes with blood in it. One very bad strain of E. coli was found in fresh spinach in 2006 and some fast-food hamburgers in 1993. Beef can contain E. coli because the bacteria often infect cattle, and Cattle's   manure is used for fertilizer  (a common practice to help crops grow). Water as well  contaminated with E. coli may be used to irrigate the crops.

E. coli can be passed from person to person, but serious E. coliinfection is more often linked to food containing the bacteria, which occurs when the person eats the contaminated food and gets sick. E. coli poisoning can occur when you eat under cooked ground beef (used for hamburgers), vegetables grown in cow manure or washed in contaminated water, or fruit juice that isn't pasteurized (pasteurization is a process that uses heat to kill germs).

Heat can kill E. coli and washing and scrubbing vegetables can help get rid of E.coli before eating them. In some cases, E. coli poisoning can cause life-threatening kidney problems. Overall, the main method of preventing e.coli is to always wash and keep your hands clean! 

In addition, since E. coli is a type of bacteria, this means that it is a prokaryotic cell and lack a nucleus. Unlike animal and plant cells, E. coli have a capsule which protects the bacterial cell and serves as a barrier against phagocytosis by white blood cells, a flagellum  which serve as  long appendages" which rotate by means of a "motor" located just under the cytoplasmic membrane" moving the cell to where it desires to go, and a pili which are hollow, hair-like structures which allow bacteria to attach to other cells. In some cases E.coli is considered a pathogen, as it is known to cause diseases. Even though E.coli is known to have an extremely simple cell structure with only one chromosomal DNA and a plasmid, E.coli can perform complicated metabolism that helps it to maintain its cell growth and cell division. Plus, E.coli has been widely used to synthesize DNA and proteins. 

Furthermore, E. coli is a Gram-negative rod-shaped bacteria containing some strains which are "piliated"and able of accepting and transferring plasmid to and from other bacteria, enables E. coli under with bad stress conditions to survive. Interestingly as well, E.coli has a network of fibers that allow them to bind to their host cells. Although E.coli are unique,they are similar to most bacteria in many ways, such as the fact that "E. coli can transfer its DNA materials through bacterial conjugation with other related bacteria to produce more mutation and add more strains into the existing population." 

Unlike both animal and plant cells, E.coli has three "walls" or protection, the outer layer called the capsule, the layer inside that the cell wall, and within that the plasma membrane. Likewise, E.coli contains a ribosomes like animal cells, however, contains a flagellum that enables it move. The pili in E.coli which plant and animal cells do not have are protein filaments that facilitate cell adhesion and conjugation. The DNA of E.coli , also unlike plant and animal cells, is more unorganized and just a clump compared to the nucleus of both which contain a multitude of parts. 

Theodor Escherich, a scientist first discovered E. Coli in 1885. Overtime, E. coli was found to be a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic and non-sporulating.

Reference: http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/e-coli-infection-topic-overview

Hot Zone Blog: How do you think Monet got sick? What is his worst symptom?

Leslie Gutierrez
Ms. Malonek
Biology 1/2
6 December 2014

Task: Hot Zone Blog: How do you think Monet got sick? What is his worst symptom?

There are many possibilities and way that Monet may have gotten sick, however, I believe that the most believable way he got sick was by touching the black guano from the velvety mass of bats, which hung at the back of Kitum Cave on broken pillar. The bats were insect eaters, and the guano was an ooze of digested insects, which may have carried the disease.  Although the author is not certain of it, Monet may have put his hand in the guano out of curiosity. Monet worst symptom is continuous bleeding flowing out of his body. When the virus crashes and Monet dies, Dr. Musoke inspects him and notices his body still continuing to bleed. 

Website: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001339.htm

Ebola Chapter 1

Leslie Gutierrez
Ms. Malonek
Biology 1/2
1 December 2014


Symptoms

• Massive headache
• Throbbing pain behind pain behind eyeballs
• His eyeballs ached
• His temples began to ache, the pain seeming to circle around inside his head. (It would not to go away with aspirin)
• Severe backache
• Became nauseated, spiked ever and began to vomit
• His vomiting grew intense and turned into dry heaves
• His face lost all appearance of life and set itself into an expressionless mask with the eyeballs fixed , paralytic, and staring
• The eyelids were slightly droopy, which gave him a peculiar appearance, as if his eyes were popping our of his head and half-closed at the same time
• The eyeballs themselves seemed almost dozen in their sockets, and they turned bright red
• The skin of his face turned yellowish, with brilliant star like red speckles.
• His personality changed. He became sullen, resentful, angry, and his memory seemed to be blown away. 
• expressionless mass of bruises 
• his whole head is turning black-and-blue
• the connective tissue in his face is dissolving, and his face appears to hang from the underlying bone, as id the face is detached itself from the skull 

Possible Ways Monet was Exposed

• The doctors at the hospital examined Monet, and could not come u with any explanation for what he might some kind of bacterial infection, they gave him injections of antibiotics, but the antibiotics had no effect on his illness. 
• his job, which was to take care of the sugar factory's water-pumping machinery, which drew water from the Nzoia River and delivered it to many miles of sugar-cane fields
• HIV or AIDS
• the weaver bird or beavers or crow
• food
• his trip to Mount Elgon with this woman from the nearby town of Eldoret 
• volcanic dust from Mount Elgon
• the monkey or baboon
• the steam that gurgled out of the rain forest 
• African olive trees as they walk to their campsite
• podocarpus trees 
• Kitum Cave- they found shelves inside the cave coated with green slime and Monet may have put his hand in the ooze
• Monet ran his ran over the minerals in the petrified rain forest in Kitum Cave
• over it hung a velvety mass of bats, which had fouled the pillar with black guano-a different type of guano from the green slime near the mouth of the cave, which Monet may have put his hand in 

Once Monet was effected with Ebola, many strange and absurd symptoms occurred. His intestinal muscles started to die and the intestines began to start going slack. Monet also began with a massive headache and throbbing pain behind pain behind eyeballs, which ached. His temples began to also ache as well, the pain seeming to circle around inside his head and would not to go away with aspirin. In addition, he also had severe backache and became nauseated, spiked ever and began to vomit. Not only did his vomiting grow intense and turned into dry heaves, his face also lost all appearance of life and set itself into an expressionless mask with the eyeballs fixed , paralytic, and staring. His eyelids were slightly droopy, which gave him a peculiar appearance, as if his eyes were popping our of his head and half-closed at the same time. Plus, the eyeballs themselves seemed almost dozen in their sockets, and they turned bright red. The skin of his face turned yellowish, with brilliant star like red speckles and his personality changed. He became sullen, resentful, angry, and his memory seemed to be blown away, instead of the nice, friendly man he was known to be.  Monet also had expressionless mass of bruises and his whole head began turning black-and-blue. Once the virus began, the connective tissue in his face is dissolving, and his face appeared to be hanging from the underlying bone, as if the face was detached from the skull. Tiny spots in his brain are liquefying and the higher function of consciousness are winking out first, leaving the deeper parts of the brain stem still alive and functioning. Most importantly, Monet got constant nose bleeds from both nostrils, a shining cloteless, arterial liquid that drips over his teeth and chin.

Source:

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/symptoms/