Alexander Flemming: The Antibacterial Enzyme

The unknown bacteria plate chosen was plate #2. It was identified to be Micrococcus luteus. It is a gram positive, Coccus bacteria that is commonly found in dust, water, soil, and the air. M. luteus also thrives in the human mouth and upper respiratory tract. Sir Alexander Fleming discovered it in 1928 before he identified penicillin. It is part of the normal flora on human skin as well as other mammals. Since it is part of normal flora it is normally not pathogenic, but can become opportunistic in an immune-deficient person. It has been known to cause septic shock, UTI’s, and even pneumonia. Micrococcus luteus is both urease and catalase positive. It does not utilize tryptophan for indole production. It is a facultative anaerobe. Mobility is not present for this bacterium. Starch is also not hydrolyzed and oxidase is not present.

This experiment was conducted to first, determine if Staphylococcus is present in the nose cavity. Staphylococcus is very common in in the nasal cavities and therefor its highly likely that some type of Staphylococcus will be detected. In order to detect the presence of Staphylococcus a nose swab will be taken and incubated at 37.0˚C for 48hrs in a (m-G+C) broth. This broth has a 10% salt concentration and as Staphylococcus is a halophile and requires salt to flourish, the salt concentration in this broth will help to enable an ideal environment for the Staphylococcus. After the 48hrs a Mannitol Salt agar plate will be inoculated by the swab and then incubated for at the same temperature and length of time as before. The MSA plate, which contains sugars and salts will

Enzymes are a key aspect in our everyday life and are a key to sustaining life. They are biological catalysts that help speed up the rate of reactions. They do this by lowering the activation energy of chemical reactions (Biology Department, 2011).

Therefore, like benzalkonium chloride, polymyxin B sulfate alters the external membrane of bacterial cells. Additionally, because of its positively charged amino group in the cyclic peptide region in the compound, it has an electrostatic attraction for the negatively charged lipopolysaccharide layer of bacterial cells and binds to these specific sites. Once these sites have been compromised, the outer membrane of the bacterial cell becomes destabilized and

The disclosure by Alexander Fleming of penicillin opened up a totally new time of chemotherapy. Antibiotics are the chemotherapeutic specialists that kill or inhabit the development of microorganisms. These substance operators are utilized to treat malady by wrecking pathogenic microorganisms or restraining their development at focus sufficiently low to enough to avoid undesirable harm to the host (Dafale et al., 2016).

In 1918, Alexander Fleming returned to St. Mary’s when the war had ended. Later in 1921, Alexander Fleming had discovered an important bacteriolytic substance which he named Lysozyme. Fleming had thought

There are two major structures found in dog saliva that apply to this experiment: lysozymes and histatins. Lysozymes are enzymes that have antimicrobial capabilities. They are found in many organisms such as plants, birds, bacteria, mammals, and insects. Lysozymes were first found in the chicken egg by Laschtschenko in 1909. Many scientists have specifically tested its potential use as a natural antibiotic. Lysozymes work by hydrolyzing the peptidoglycan of bacterial cell walls. Because of this, these enzymes are more efficient when breaking down gram-positive bacteria.

Alexander Fleming, a name often connected to the evolution of medicine. Perhaps one of the most impactful and influential scientific researchers of the 20th century thus making him the most deserving to receive The Carleton Prize for Biotechnology. Providing enormous advances in the understanding of human biology through his findings of Lysozyme and Benzyl penicillin (The Nobel Foundation, 1945). Lysozyme has acted as a stepping stool for scientists in further understanding the human immune system and Benzyl penicillin later transformed into one of the most vastly used antibiotics in human history. He and his co-scientists (Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain) were recognized by receiving the

Before Alexander Fleming founded penicillin,a French medical student Ernest Duchesne first noticed penicillin. In 1897, he first recorded his finding on a piece of paper differentiating molds and microbes. Ernest first came across clues for developing penicillin when he was in the Military Health Service School in Arabia. He saw that the stable boys at the hospital kept their saddles in dark and damp rooms to intentionally let mold grow.When Ernest ask the reason for these peculiar actions, the stable boys told him that the mold would heal the saddle sore on horse.Ernest then take this information and decided to test it on guinea pigs. Ernest Duchesne extracted substances from penicillium glaucum and successfully cured typhoids in guinea pigs,

In the mid 1900’s, illnesses swept through the city of London and consumed the lives of many unknowing citizens. Any sickness or open wound was susceptible to a fatal infection, which led the body to be taken over by millions of harmful bacteria (Fogel). Thanks to Alexander Fleming’s encounter of penicillin, we no longer have to worry about this. Penicillin serves as a life-saving, bacteria killing drug that is responsible for the lives of millions. Plus, it played a major role in furthering the effectiveness of medicine. Alexander Fleming’s miraculous discovery of penicillin saved a countless amount of lives and was the basis for progressing medicine.

The scientific context of the Phenylalanine Deaminase is prove that organisms that produce phenylalanine deaminase can be identified by their ability to deaminate the amino acid phenylalanine. In the test, three tubes will be immunized with Enterobacter aerogenes, Proteus vulgaris , the unknown ,and a control group.The positive outcomes demonstrated a green shading and the negative outcomes demonstrated no shading. In the experiment, two phenylalanine plates would be inoculated with the organism that were being tested. The Bile Esculin test, four bile esculin agar would be inoculated with Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, the unknown and a control group. Any blackening or brown coloring of organisms are positive and coloring is a

Alexander started medical school at London university and was interested in natural bacterial actions of blood. He began to work on antibacterial substances that wouldn’t be toxic on animal tissue which he named lysozyme. Then while working on a cure for the influenza virus an accident occurred. He accidently spilled a culture plate that developed a mold that created a bacteria-free center. Now it is to be published into

He was able to continue his studies throughout his military career and on demobilization he settled to work on antibacterial substances which would not be toxic to animal tissues. DUring the war Fleming learned that treatments done to the wounded often did more harm than good. Fleming advised only to clean wounds with a sterile towel as to avoid infections. In 1921, he discovered in tissues an important bacteriolytic substance which he named Lysozyme. About this time, he devised sensitivity titration methods and assays in human blood and other body fluids, which he subsequently used for the titration of penicillin. In 1928, after getting home from a vacation he noticed he had accidentally left some influenza slides out. When he went to clean it up he noticed a strange thing. He observed that mould had developed accidently on a staphylococcus culture plate and that the mould had created a bacteria-free circle around itself. He was inspired to further experiment and he found that a mould culture prevented growth of staphylococci, even when diluted 800 times. He named the active substance

Mucus is found in a wide variety of organisms, where it is used to coat cell surfaces both internally and externally (Bansil and Turner, 2006). Mucus is a viscous colloid made up of a combination of water, antiseptic enzymes, proteins, inorganic salts, immunoglobulins and glycoproteins (Bansil and Turner, 2006). Mucus is made up of approximately 90% water, up to 5% mucin glycoproteins and other proteins and compounds. This mixture of components enables mucus to provide a protective barrier against infectious agents like bacteria and viruses, offer protection against desiccation and play a role in wound healing (Stabili et al., 2014). Specifically, glycoproteins, known as mucins, protect cell membranes from infection and inflammation while water

Effective treatment of infections depends on selecting the source, site, complete medical history, also, conduct a physical assessment to identify the signs and symptoms consistent with the current infection. Other factors include patient’s age, weight, present health condition and the severity of the infection should be put into consideration (Arcangelo & Peterson, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to describe the categories of antimicrobial agents, also, description of the differences between viral and bacterial infections will be reviewed. In addition, explain why proper identification of viral and bacterial infections is the key to selecting the proper antimicrobial agent.