Answer :
Final answer:
Pathogenicity refers to the ability of an organism, specifically a microbial agent, to cause disease. It varies significantly among organisms, from being avirulent to highly virulent. Harmless microorganisms can also become pathogenic through mechanisms like transformation.
Explanation:
The term pathogenicity in the field of biology refers to the ability of an organism, specifically a microbial agent, to cause disease. This is a varying trait across different organisms, some are avirulent or harm-free, while others can lead to serious diseases, even causing multi-organ and body system failures in healthy individuals. For instance, some pathogens cause firstly an infectious state which might result in signs like a mild fever or a headache, but not necessarily a severe illness. On the other hand, highly virulent pathogens can cause severe illness almost every time when they enter the body.
Moreover, human pathogens, or harmful microscopic organisms, are capable of parasitizing host organisms, leading to diseases. For example, certain protists are pathogenic parasites, and they have to infect other organisms to survive and multiply. Significant examples include causative agents of malaria and African sleeping sickness.
It is also worth mentioning that, through various mechanisms like transformation, transduction, and conjugation, harmless microorganisms can become pathogenic. In transformation, for example, a harmless bacterium can incorporate the shed DNA of a pathogen from its environment, thus turning pathogenic.
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