Bacteria and Archaea - Chapter 11 Practice Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the classification, biosafety levels, and specific pathogenic and non-pathogenic species of Bacteria and Archaea discussed in Chapter 11.

Firmicutes

Gram-positive bacteria characterized as low $G + C$ rods and cocci, including the classes Bacilli and Clostridia.

Actinobacteria

Gram-positive bacteria characterized as high $G + C$ bacteria.

Cyanobacteria

A phylum of oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria.

Chlorobi

Anoxygenic, photosynthetic green sulfur bacteria.

Chloroflexi

A phylum including anoxygenic, photosynthetic, filamentous green nonsulfur bacteria.

Chlamydiae

Gram-negative bacteria that grow only inside eukaryotic host cells.

Planctomycetacia

A class of aquatic bacteria, some of which are stalked.

Fusobacteria

Anaerobic bacteria that can cause tissue necrosis and septicemia in humans.

Spirochaetes

A phylum containing classes of pathogens that cause syphilis and Lyme disease.

Crenarchaeota

A phylum of Archaea that includes mostly thermophiles and hyperthermophiles.

Euryarchaeota

A phylum of Archaea including Methanobacteria, which are important sources of methane.

BSL-4

Biosafety level for dangerous and exotic microbes posing a high risk of frequently fatal aerosol-transmitted infections, such as Ebola and Marburg viruses.

BSL-3

Biosafety level for indigenous or exotic microbes that cause serious or lethal diseases through respiratory transmission, like Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

BSL-2

Biosafety level for indigenous microbes associated with varying severity of disease that pose moderate risk, such as Staphylococcus aureus.

BSL-1

Biosafety level for microbes not known to cause disease in healthy hosts, such as nonpathogenic strains of Escherichia coli.

Proteobacteria

The largest taxonomic group of Gram-negative bacteria, containing five classes: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon.

Pelagibacter ubique

The most abundant organism on Earth, found in oceans with a diameter of $0.3\,\mu m$ and a very small genome.

Azospirillum

A microaerophilic soil bacterium that grows in association with plant root systems and performs nitrogen fixation ($N_2$ to $NO_3$).

Rickettsia

Intracellular coccobacilli parasites transmitted via tick or flea bites that enter host cells through phagocytosis.

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

A systemic disease caused by Rickettsia that results in damage to blood vessels.

Rhizobium

A genus of endosymbionts known as rhizobia that live in the nodules of leguminous plant roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen.

Agrobacterium tumefaciens

An organism used in biotechnology to transfer genetic material to plants via the Ti plasmid.

Bartonella henselae

A Gram-negative bacillus carried by flea feces that causes cat scratch fever.

Brucella

Small, non-motile Gram-negative coccobacilli that are obligate parasites of mammals; known to cause spontaneous abortion in cattle.

Wolbachia

The most common infectious bacterial genus in the world; these Gram-negative obligate intracellular endosymbionts infect insect cells.

Bordetella pertussis

An encapsulated Gram-negative coccobacillus that causes whooping cough by producing toxins that damage ciliated cells in the respiratory tract.

Neisseria spp.

Aerobic Gram-negative cocci that inhabit mucosal membranes, including pathogens like N. gonorrhoeae and N. meningitidis.

Francisella tularensis

A pathogenic Gram-negative bacterium with a very low infectious dose that causes tularemia; it is considered a potential bioterrorism agent.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa

A motile, soil-dwelling Gram-negative bacterium with polar flagella that commonly causes hospital-acquired infections (HAI) and affects cystic fibrosis patients.

Moraxella catarrhalis

A coccobacillary strain that is a common cause of otitis media (15% - 20%), conjunctivitis, and chronic sinusitis in children.

Acinetobacter baumannii

An aerobic Gram-negative soil bacillus commonly found in ICUs that is naturally resistant to many antibiotics.

Legionella

Bacteria that replicate inside amebae and can live inside host white blood cells, causing a type of pneumonia known as Legionnaires disease.

Vibrio cholerae

A bacterium found in salty aquatic environments that causes extreme dehydration and "rice water stool" through an exotoxin.

Vibrio vulnificus

A bacterium found in warm brackish or salt water that causes necrotizing fasciitis, with a $1$ in $5$ fatality rate.

Escherichia coli O157:H7

A BSL-2 pathogenic strain of E. coli associated with bloody diarrhea and Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

Salmonella

A lactose-negative pathogen often isolated from reptiles that infects approximately $1.35$ million people per year in the US.

Shigella sonnei

The primary cause of bacillary dysentery or shigellosis for which humans are the primary host.

Klebsiella

Bacteria found in soil or mucosal surfaces that form capsules and biofilms, often associated with pneumonia and CRE (carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae) infections.