front 1 Anaerobic Respiration | back 1 A catabolic pathway in which inorganic molecules other than oxygen accept electrons at the “downhill” end of electron transport chains. |
front 2 Bioremediation | back 2 The use of organisms to detoxify and restore polluted and degraded ecosystems. |
front 3 Commensalism | back 3 A symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits but the other is neither helped nor harmed. |
front 4 Decomposer | back 4 An organism that absorbs nutrients from nonliving organic material such as corpses, fallen plant material, and the wastes of living organisms and converts them to inorganic forms; a detritivore. |
front 5 Endospore | back 5 A thick-coated, resistant cell produced by some bacterial cells when they are exposed to harsh conditions. |
front 6 Endotoxin | back 6 A toxic component of the outer membrane of certain gram-negative bacteria that is released only when the bacteria die. |
front 7 Exotoxin | back 7 A toxic protein that is secreted by a prokaryote or other pathogen and that produces specific symptoms, even if the pathogen is no longer present. |
front 8 Extreme Halophiles | back 8 An organism that lives in a highly saline environment, such as the Great Salt Lake or the Dead Sea. |
front 9 Extreme Thermophiles | back 9 An organism that tribes in hot environments (60-80ºC or hotter). |
front 10 Extremophile | back 10 An organism that lives in environmental conditions so extreme that few other species can survive there. Extremophiles include extreme halophiles (“salt lovers”) and extreme thermophiles (“heat lovers”). |
front 11 Facultative Anaerobe | back 11 An organism that makes ATP by aerobic respiration if oxygen is present but that switches to anaerobic respiration or fermentation if oxygen is not present. |
front 12 Gram-Negative | back 12 Describing the group of bacteria that have a cell wall that is structurally more complex and contains less peptidoglycan than the cell wall of gram-positive bacteria. Gram-negative bacteria are often more toxic than gram-positive bacteria. |
front 13 Gram-Postive | back 13 Describing the group of bacteria that have a cell wall that is structurally less complex and contains more peptidoglycan than the cell wall of gram-negative bacteria. Gram-positive bacteria are usually less toxic than gram-negative bacteria. |
front 14 Gram Stain | back 14 A staining method that distinguishes between two different kinds of bacterial cel walls; may be used to determine medical response to an infection. |
front 15 Host | back 15 The larger participant in a symbiotic relationship, often providing a home and food source for the smaller symbiont. |
front 16 Mutualism | back 16 A symbiotic relationship in which both participants benefit. |
front 17 Nitrogen Fixation | back 17 The conversion of atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3). Biological nitrogen fixation is carried out by certain prokaryotes, some of which have mutualistic relationships with plants. |
front 18 Obligate Anaerobe | back 18 An organism that only carries out fermentation or anaerobic respiration. Such organisms cannot use oxygen and in fact may be poisoned by it. |
front 19 Plasmid | back 19 A small, circular, double-stranded DNA molecule that carries accessory genes separate from those of a bacterial chromosome; In DNA cloning, used as vector carrying up to 10,000 base pairs (10 kB) of DNA. Plasmids are also found in some eukaryotes, such as yeasts. |
front 20 R-Plasmids | back 20 A bacterial plasmid carrying genes that confer resistance to certain antibiotics. |
front 21 Symbiosis | back 21 An ecological relationship between organisms of 2 different species that live together in direct and intimate contact. |
front 22 Transformation | back 22 A change in genotype and phenotype due to the assimilation of external DNA by a cell. When the external DNA is from a member of a different species, transformation results in horizontal gene transfer. |