Your patient has a fever of 39 o C, sore throat, cough, and chest pain. You ask her whether she has had pneumococcal vaccine this year, which protects against the the 23 most common strains of the causative bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae. She says she has not. Your patient has a number of questions that you answer to help her understand the genetics of the organism causing her illness.
-Your patient tells you she didn't get the flu vaccine either because she heard that she would have to get it every year. She doesn't understand why this is that case. You explain that flu viruses have two types of glycoprotein spikes that have a role in flu virus pathogenesis. Every year, minor changes occur in the genes that code for these spikes, resulting in slight changes in their amino acid sequence. These changes to the spikes on the surface of the virus is an example of ________.

Question

Your patient has a fever of 39 o C, sore throat, cough, and chest pain. You ask her whether she has had pneumococcal vaccine this year, which protects against the the 23 most common strains of the causative bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae. She says she has not. Your patient has a number of questions that you answer to help her understand the genetics of the organism causing her illness.
-Your patient tells you she didn't get the flu vaccine either because she heard that she would have to get it every year. She doesn't understand why this is that case. You explain that flu viruses have two types of glycoprotein spikes that have a role in flu virus pathogenesis. Every year, minor changes occur in the genes that code for these spikes, resulting in slight changes in their amino acid sequence. These changes to the spikes on the surface of the virus is an example of ________.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Antigenic variation refers to changes in the antigenic properties of a pathogen, such as those present on the surface of a virus. In the case of flu, these changes occur in the genes that code for the glycoprotein spikes on the surface of the virus, resulting in slight changes in their amino acid sequence from year to year. This is why a new flu vaccine needs to be developed each year, to provide protection against the latest strains of the virus. Phase variation refers to the reversible alternation between two or more distinct phenotypic states by a single bacterial cell or colony. Quorum sensing is a form of bacterial communication that involves the production, release, and detection of signaling molecules called autoinducers. Two-component regulation involves a signal transduction pathway that typically involves a sensor kinase that detects a specific environmental signal and a response regulator that mediates a cellular response. Gene splicing involves the process of removing introns from pre-mRNA to produce functional mRNA.

Your Patient Has a Fever of 39oC, Sore Throat, Cough

Your Patient Has a Fever of 39^oC, Sore Throat, Cough