Nosocomial infections: infections contracted by patients as a result of being hospitalized. They are also called hospital-acquired infection.
Palindromic sequence: is a DNA or RNA sequence arranged in a way that it reads equally from 5 ’to 3’ and from 3 ’to 5’.
Peptidoglycan: it is the main component of the bacterial cell wall. It can be defined as a structure consisting of sugars and amino acids that surrounds the cell membrane, giving structural strength.
Phylum: is the third element of classification of living beings in a taxonomic hierarchy. The first one is “Domain”, then “Kingdom”, and finally “Phylum” or “Division”. Phylum groups together all living things with the same organization system.
Prokaryote: very simple cells that lack membrane-bound organelles or nucleus. This is why the genetic material (DNA) is located in the cytoplasm. Bacteria belong to this type of microorganisms.
spp.: in general, is an abbreviation to refer to all the species of a genus.
T lymphocytes: also called T cell. They are an important type of lymphocytes that maintain the immune system and are essential to fight against pathogenic microorganisms. There are two main types of T lymphocytes, Cytotoxic T cell (Tc) and the T helper cells (Th). The Tc look for antigen infected cells in the body. When a Tc recognizes an antigen bound to a cell, it adheres to the surface of the infected cell and produces toxic molecules, killing the cell.
The Th secretes cytokines when activated by an antigen. Then, they activate B lymphocytes to begin their immune response
Transposons: Are mobile DNA fragments that can move from one chromosome to another.
Virulence factors: It refers to pathogen’s intrinsic properties that enable adhesion, invasion, and infection of the host. Adhesins are bacterial adhesion factors that enable pathogen bacteria to colonize the host’s mucus. Some components of the surface or enzymes, facilitate host cell invasion. Toxins change the physiology of the cell or the host, resulting in the appearance of the symptoms and the development of the disease.
