It’s my understanding that pathogenic bacteria do their damage by producing compounds which destroy cells. Destroy enough and the victim starts to feel sick and/or dead. What compound(s) is/are produced by, say, Streptococcus that does the damage?
Thanks,
Rob
teeth. they have teeth.
streptococcal pyogenic exotoxins are some.
one of many ways of danger.
Since we’re talking about biology, the answers will be numerous, diverse, and complex. I’m going to keep it really simple and really vague and just say “proteins”. Pathogenic bacteria make some protein or proteins that allow to do some or all of the following:
-Evade the immune system
-Get into human cells
-Make a human being sick
-Many other things that don’t come to mind right now
As one example, the cholera bacterium makes a protein toxin that it secretes into the human digestive system. This protein is able to get into the gut epithelial cells and essentially reverse the water-absorbing function of those cells. The result is massive, potentially lethal diarrhea, which has the handy side effect of helping spread the bacteria to new hosts.
What is the pathogenic compound that cholera makes?
Rob