Microbiology: Introduction to Microbes and Their Building Blocks

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards covering the introductory concepts of microbiology, cellular organization, historical discoveries, biochemical building blocks, and taxonomy as presented in Chapter 1.

Microbiology

A specialized area of biology that deals with living things ordinarily too small to be seen without magnification.

Eukaryotes

Organisms meaning "true nucleus" that can be single-celled or multicellular and contain membrane-bound organelles.

Bacteria

Single-celled microorganisms that lack a true nucleus and are ubiquitous in the environment.

Archaea

Single-celled microorganisms that lack a true nucleus and are distinct from bacteria in their genetics and cell wall structure.

Akaryotes

An alternate term for prokaryotes meaning "no nucleus."

Ubiquity

The state of being found everywhere, such as microbes existing deep in the earth's crust, polar ice caps, and inside plant and animal bodies.

Theory of Evolution

The accumulation of changes that occur in organisms as they adapt to their environments; a well-studied and established natural phenomenon.

Anoxygenic photosynthesis

A light-fueled conversion of carbon dioxide to organic material that occurred in bacteria before plants evolved and did not produce oxygen.

Oxygenic photosynthesis

A type of photosynthesis evolved from anoxygenic types; microorganisms performing this are responsible for $70\%$ of the earth's photosynthesis.

Biotechnology

The manipulation of microbes, plants, and animals to create new products and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Recombinant DNA technology

A process that makes it possible to transfer genetic material from one organism to another and deliberately alter DNA.

Bioremediation

The use of microbes already present or introduced intentionally to restore stability or clean up toxic pollutants.

Pathogens

Microbes that cause disease, of which there are over $2,000$ different types causing infections globally.

Organelles

Small, double-membrane-bound structures in eukaryotic cells that perform specific functions, such as the nucleus, mitochondria, and chloroplasts.

Viruses

Acellular agents composed of a small amount of hereditary material ($DNA$ or $RNA$) surrounded by a protein coat.

Prions

Simple infectious agents containing no nucleic acid, only protein.

Spontaneous generation

The belief that invisible vital forces present in matter led to the creation of life.

Abiogenesis

The belief in spontaneous generation, suggesting living things could arise from non-living matter.

Biogenesis

The principle that living things arise only from others of their same kind.

Pasteurization

A process invented by Louis Pasteur to kill microorganisms in food and drink, linked to his studies on fermentation.

Koch’s Postulates

A series of logical steps developed by Robert Koch to establish whether an organism is pathogenic and which disease it causes.

Restriction Enzymes

Molecular "scissors" discovered in the 1970s that allow scientists to cut $DNA$ in specific ways for genetic engineering.

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)

A technique developed in the 1980s used to detect and amplify tiny amounts of $DNA$ for study and diagnosis.

Human Microbiome Project (HMP)

A 2010s initiative that revealed the overall set of metabolic capabilities of bacterial communities is similar among people despite diverse microbe types.

Monomers

The individual subunits that serve as the building blocks for larger macromolecules.

Polymers

Chains of various lengths made of repeating monomer subunits.

Peptidoglycan

A structural polysaccharide that is a main component of the bacterial cell wall.

Lipopolysaccharide

A complex of lipid and polysaccharide found in the cell wall of gram-negative bacteria.

Triglycerides

Storage lipids composed of a single molecule of glycerol bound to three fatty acids.

Phospholipids

Membrane lipids containing a hydrophilic head and hydrophobic tail that naturally form a bilayer in aqueous solutions.

Primary ($1^{\circ}$) structure

The first level of protein structure consisting of the specific type, number, and order of amino acids in the chain.

Secondary ($2^{\circ}$) structure

Protein structure arising from hydrogen bonds that fold the chain into an alpha helix or beta pleated sheet.

Tertiary ($3^{\circ}$) structure

The three-dimensional mass created by additional bonds, such as disulfide bonds, between functional groups in a protein.

Quaternary ($4^{\circ}$) structure

Protein structure formed when more than one polypeptide chain forms a large, multiunit protein.

Enzymes

Proteins that serve as catalysts for all chemical reactions in cells.

Native state

The functional three-dimensional form of a protein.

Denatured

The state of a protein after its functional shape is disrupted by heat, acid, alcohol, or disinfectants.

Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP)

The energy molecule of cells composed of adenine, ribose, and three high-energy phosphate molecules.

Taxonomy

The science of classifying living things, developed by Carl von Linné.

Nomenclature

The assignment of scientific names to various taxonomic categories and individual organisms.

Binomial system

A nomenclature system where the scientific name is a combination of the genus and species names.

Phylogeny

The taxonomic scheme that represents the natural relatedness between groups of living beings.

Woese-Fox System

A system of taxonomy based on conserved small subunit ribosomal $RNA$ sequences ($\text{ssu 16S rRNA}$), proposing three domains: Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya.