Microbiology and Protista Lab Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering prokaryotic morphology, bacterial taxonomy, protozoans, slime molds, and algae based on laboratory slides and lecture diagrams.

Prokaryotic Cell Shapes and Arrangements

The structural forms (coccus, bacillus, spiral) and spatial groupings (single, pair, tetrad, chain, staph/masses) of prokaryotic cells.

Colony Morphology, Margin, and Elevation

Macroscopic colonial descriptors: morphology (regular, irregular, concentric, rhizoid), margin (smooth entire, irregular wavy, erose, filamentous branched), and elevation (convex, umbonate, plateau, flat, raised, irregular, dimpled, raised with spreading edge, flat with raised margin, gumdrop-like).

Coccus

A spherical-shaped prokaryotic cell morphology.

Bacillus (Shape)

A rod-shaped prokaryotic cell morphology.

Tetrad

A cellular arrangement consisting of a square cluster of four spherical prokaryotic cells.

Staph (Arrangement)

A clustered, irregular mass or bunch arrangement of cocci.

Streptococcus

A genus of Gram-positive, coccus-shaped, non-spore-forming anaerobic bacteria that always divide along a single parallel axis to form chains and perform chemoorganotrophic fermentation.

Streptococcus salivarius

A commensal bacterium of the mouth, skin, intestines, and upper respiratory tract that produces hydrogen peroxide and alkali to kill harmful pathogens and maintain environmental balance.

Spirillum

A genus of Gram-negative, rigid spiral-shaped chemoorganotrophic bacteria that utilize oxygen, possess large clusters of polar flagellar tufts, and break down lactate and succinate.

Volutin Granules

Prominent intracellular clumps of polyphosphate stored within cells of Spirillum.

Bacillus (Genus)

A genus of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria capable of forming resilient endospores, widely cultivated in industrial bioreactors to manufacture detergent and food-processing enzymes.

Sporulation (Bacillus)

The survival mechanism triggered by drying or starvation in which a cell walls off cytoplasm to form an endospore before the mother cell self-destructs to release it.

Clostridium

A genus of Gram-positive, rod-shaped obligate anaerobes that undergo asymmetric sporulation, secrete potent exotoxins, and ferment carbohydrates into organic solvents and acids.

ABE Fermentation

An industrial anaerobic fermentation process performed by Clostridium to convert starch into Acetone, Butanol, and Ethanol.

Archaebacteria

Domain Archaea prokaryotes characterized by ether-linked branched isoprenoid lipids, pseudopeptidoglycan or S-layers, and natural immunity to antibiotics.

Anabaena

A genus of photosynthetic cyanobacteria in the domain Bacteria with cells linked in chains, noted as Gram-positive in the slide presentation.

Protozoan

Unicellular, heterotrophic animal-like protists primarily inhabiting freshwater environments, divided into four major groups based on locomotion: ciliated, flagellated, amoeboid, and spore-forming.

Paramecium Anatomy

The anatomical structures of Paramecium, featuring cilia, oral groove, gullet, food vacuoles, macronucleus, micronucleus, anal pore, and contractile vacuoles.

Oral Groove

The specialized groove on a paramecium used to trap food particles before directing them down the gullet.

Contractile Vacuole

An organelle that maintains intracellular fluid and osmotic balance by absorbing and pumping out water depending on external salinity.

Trichonympha Anatomy

A flagellated symbiote with a rostral cap, nucleus, thousands of flagella, and engulfed wood particles within its cytoplasm.

Trichonympha

A flagellated protozoan covered with thousands of flagella that lives mutualistically inside termite hindguts to digest cellulose and lignin.

Pseudopodia

Cytoplasmic extensions ('false feet') used by amoeboid protozoans for locomotion and phagocytosis.

Amoeba Anatomy

Structural components of an amoeba, including pseudopodia, cell membrane, ectoplasm, endoplasm, nucleus, nucleolus, food vacuoles, fat droplets, and contractile vacuole.

Naegleria fowleri

A 'brain-eating' amoeboid protozoan responsible for primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), a central nervous system disease with a $97\%$ fatality rate.

Plasmodium

A spore-forming parasitic protozoan with an entirely parasitic life cycle that infects human liver and red blood cells to cause malaria.

Vector

An organism (typically an insect or arthropod) that acts as a carrier to transport a pathogen from one host organism to another.

Physarum (Feeding Stage)

The vegetative multinucleate stage of a plasmodial slime mold characterized by a continuous, interconnected network of cytoplasm foraging on a surface.

Physarum (Reproductive Stage)

The developmental stage of a plasmodial slime mold where the organism walls off and produces fixed fruiting structures on a substrate.

Euglena Anatomy

Cellular model of Euglena highlighting the flagellum, eyespot (stigma), contractile vacuole, nucleus, and chloroplasts.

Eyespot (Stigma)

A collection of light-sensitive crystals in euglenids that allows the cell to detect light direction and orient movement toward or away from illumination.

Dinoflagellates

Unicellular marine algae equipped with two flagella and cellulose armor plates; notable for causing toxic red tides, displaying bioluminescence, and forming coral symbioses.

Diatoms

Unicellular aquatic algae characterized by rigid cell walls made of silica (glass) containing perforations or pores for material transport.

Rhodophyta

Multicellular marine red algae capable of growing in shallow zones but typically adapted to live deeper in the ocean than other algae.

Rockweed

A type of multicellular brown alga (Phaeophyta) that forms dense mats draped across intertidal rocky shores during low tide.

Kelp

The largest variety of protists, belonging to the brown algae (Phaeophyta), which forms extensive underwater marine forests at depths reaching up to $200\text{ feet}$.

Volvox

A colonial freshwater green alga consisting of spherical aggregations of identical, biflagellated cells with no cellular differentiation or division of labor.

Spirogyra

A multicellular freshwater green alga with a unbranched filamentous body containing distinctive spiral, ribbon-shaped chloroplasts.

Cladophora

A multicellular freshwater green alga exhibiting branched filamentous morphology made of cells connected end-to-end.

Codium

A multinucleate, sponge-like marine green alga found in the intertidal zone.

Ulva

A multicellular marine green alga (sea lettuce) commonly inhabiting intertidal zones.