Classification of Microorganisms

These flashcards cover key concepts from the lecture on the classification of microorganisms, including taxonomic hierarchy, the three-domain system, endosymbiotic theory, and methods of classification.

What does the science of classifying organisms provide?

Universal names for organisms and a reference for identifying organisms.

What is a taxon in biological classification?

A taxon is a biological classification grouping of any rank such as species, family, or class.

What does phylogeny refer to?

The evolutionary history of a particular group of organisms.

What is the goal of the All Species Inventory?

To identify all species of life on Earth, with a goal of discovering 8.7 million species.

Who introduced the Kingdom Prokaryotae?

Murray introduced the Kingdom Prokaryotae in 1968.

What are the three domains established by Woese in 1978?

Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya.

What is the endosymbiotic theory?

The proposal that primitive eukaryotic cells evolved from bacteria living as symbionts within a larger prokaryotic cell.

What distinguishes Eukarya from Bacteria and Archaea?

Eukarya includes organisms with eukaryotic cells, while Bacteria and Archaea are prokaryotic.

Define eukaryotic species.

A group of closely related organisms that breed among themselves.

Define prokaryotic species.

A population of cells with similar characteristics.

What is Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology used for?

To provide identification schemes for identifying bacteria and archaea.

What are morphological characteristics useful for?

For identifying and classifying eukaryotes, but have limited use for identifying bacteria.

What is the purpose of differential staining in bacteria?

To identify bacteria based on cell wall composition, such as in Gram staining.

What is a dichotomous key?

An identification key based on successive questions.

What is cladistics?

A method of classification where organisms are grouped by common ancestry.

What is a clade?

A clade consists of an ancestral species and all its evolutionary descendants.

What does a cladogram illustrate?

It is a branched map based on rRNA sequences that reveals evolutionary relatedness of bacterial species.

What did the nucleotide sequence coding for 16S ribosomal RNA signify?

It has been highly conserved and minor changes signify new bacterial species.

What are the main characteristics of Kingdom Plantae?

Multicellular organisms with cellulose cell walls that undergo photosynthesis.

How many kingdoms did the Five Kingdom system include?

Five kingdoms, including Fungi, Plantae, Animalia, Protista, and Monera.

What is the significance of horizontal gene transfer?

It occurs within the community of early cells and is related to evolution.