What is meant by strain of bacteria?
A strain is a genetic variant or subtype of a microorganism, that is to say a virus or bacterium or fungus. Bacteria do exchange DNA, but they may exchange it between different kinds of bacteria, which shows their difference from eukaryotes. Strains are therefore an essential part of bacterial identification.
How do you identify a strain of bacteria?
Bacteria are identified routinely by morphological and biochemical tests, supplemented as needed by specialized tests such as serotyping and antibiotic inhibition patterns. Newer molecular techniques permit species to be identified by their genetic sequences, sometimes directly from the clinical specimen.
What is the difference between a bacterial species and a bacterial strain?
The key difference between species and strain is that species is the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of appropriate sexes can produce fertile offspring through sexual reproduction, while strain is a sub-type of a genetic variant of biological species.
What are bacterial strains commonly used for?
Some bacteria strains are workhorses for genetic laboratories and are often modified to be efficient vectors for producing recombinant proteins. Some are well-described model organisms that may be used to study fundamental cellular processes. Others have niche applications such as controls for experimental validation.
What does strain mean in medical terms?
A strain is when a muscle is stretched too much and tears. It is also called a pulled muscle. A strain is a painful injury. It can be caused by an accident, overusing a muscle, or using a muscle in the wrong way.
Why are some strains of bacteria harmless?
Dispensable genes give the strains that possess them advantages under particular environmental conditions, such as adaption to distinct living spaces, the ability to colonize new human or animal hosts and antibiotic resistance.
What is sprains and strains?
The difference between a sprain and a strain is that a sprain injures the bands of tissue that connect two bones together, while a strain involves an injury to a muscle or to the band of tissue that attaches a muscle to a bone.
What are some examples of antibiotic resistant bacteria?
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
What is microbial strain?
Strain (biology) Strains are often seen as inherently artificial concepts, characterized by a specific intent for genetic isolation. This is most easily observed in microbiology where strains are derived from a single cell colony and are typically quarantined by the physical constraints of a Petri dish.
What is a fungal strain?
Fungal Strains. It is this genetic diversity that allows fungi to adapt to new environments and control responses to changes in the environment. Using this genetic diversity, the fungi have been able to colonize nearly every carbon-containing compound on earth, from simple sugars to complex man-made polycarbonates.