Bacteria Basics Vocab

Aerobe

An organism that uses oxygen, including ones that must have oxygen.

Aerobic respiration

Process in which aerobic organisms gain energy from the catabolism of organic molecules via the Krebs cycle and oxidative phosphorylation.

Alcoholic fermentation

Fermentation in which pyruvic acid is reduced to ethyl alcohol by electrons from reduced NAD (NADH)

Anaerobe

An organism that doesn't use oxygen, including some organisms that are killed by exposure to oxygen

Anaerobic respiration

Respiration in which the final electron acceptor in the electron transport chain is an inorganic molecule other than oxygen (e.g. sulfate, nitrate)

Beta-oxidation

A metabolic pathway that breaks down fatty acids into 2-carbon pieces

Catabolism

The chemical breakdown of molecules in which energy is released

Cytochrome

An electron carrier functioning in the ETC; heme protein

Fermentation

Anaerobic metabolism of the pyruvic acid produced in glycolysis

Endotoxin

(Lipopolysaccharide) A toxin incorporated in Gram - negative bacterial cell walls and released when bacterium dies

Glycolysis

An anaerobic metabolic pathway used to break down glucose into pyruvic acid while producing some ATP

Oxidation

The loss of electrons and hydrogen atoms

Exotoxin

A soluble toxin secreted by microbes into their surroundings, including host tissues

Oxidative phosphorylation

Process in which the energy of electrons is captured in high-energy bonds as phosphate groups combine with ADP to from ATP

Phosphorylation

The addition of a phosphate group to a molecule, often from ATP; generally increasing the molecule's energy

Hydrolysis

A chemical reaction that produces simpler products from more complex organic molecules

Endocytosis

Process in which vesicles form by invagination of the plasma membrane to move substances into eukaryotic cells

Reduction

The gain of electrons and hydrogen atoms

Barophile

An organism that lives under high hydrostatic pressure

Biofilm

A layer of one or more kinds of bacteria growing on a surface

Facultative

Able to tolerate the presence or absence of a particular environmental condition

Facultative anaerobe

A bacterium that carries an aerobic metabolism when oxygen is present but shifts to anaerobic metabolism when oxygen is absent

Fastidious

Refers to microorganisms that have special nutritional needs that are difficult to meet in the laboratory

Obligate

Requiring a particular environmental condition

Obligate anaerobe

A bacterium that is killed by free oxygen

Halophile

A salt-loving organism that requires moderate to large concentrations of salt