BIOL 203: Eukaryotic Microbiology Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards generated from BIOL 203 lecture notes covering key historical figures, prokaryotic vs. eukaryotic structures, protist diversity, feeding modes, pathogenic lineages, ciliate genetics, and evolutionary mechanisms.

Antoine Van Leeuwenhoek

Microscopist who developed the first effective microscope and was the first to observe microbial life, including bacteria, microbes, and protists.

Carl Linnaeus

Taxonomist known as the Father of Modern Taxonomy who classified thousands of species into a two-kingdom system consisting of Kingdom Animalia and Kingdom Plantae.

Kingdom Protista

The third kingdom introduced by Ernest Haeckel to classify single-celled organisms beyond the traditional plant and animal kingdoms.

Five Kingdom Classification System

Taxonomic framework developed by Robert Whittaker comprising Animalia, Fungi, Plantae, Protista, and Monera.

Carl Woese

Microbiologist who defined Archaea and established the three-domain system consisting of Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryota.

Protist

Any single-celled eukaryotic organism that is not a plant or animal.

Peptidoglycan

Mesh-like bacterial cell wall component composed of amino acids and D-isomer amino sugars that maintains cell morphology and protects against environmental stress.

Periplasmic Space

The intermembrane space in prokaryotes situated between the outer membrane and the peptidoglycan cell wall.

Microfilaments

Actin-based cytoskeletal fibers in eukaryotes that facilitate cell movement, endocytosis, exocytosis, secretion, and vesicle transport.

Microtubules

Tubulin-based cytoskeletal structures in eukaryotes providing mechanical support, organelle movement, chromosome segregation, and cell shape.

Methanogenesis

A specialized form of anaerobic respiration unique to archaebacteria that produces methane.

Algae

A collective term for all photosynthetic organisms that are not plants.

Protozoa

A collective term for heterotrophic protists.

Glaucophytes

A group of mostly freshwater, photosynthetic protists in Archaeplastida that uniquely retain peptidoglycan in their plastids.

Microsporidia

Obligate intracellular parasites related to fungi that infect insects and other animals, using a specialized filament to pierce hosts and steal ATP directly.

Stramenopiles

A clade characterized by motile stages featuring heterokont flagellation, consisting of one naked trailing flagellum and one leading flagellum with mastigonemes.