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| A type of polymer in bacterial cell walls consisting of modified sugars cross-linked by short polypeptides. |
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| A staining method that distinguishes between two different kinds of bacterial cell walls. |
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| Describing the group of bacteria that have a cell wall that is structurally less complex and contains more peptidoglycan than the cell wall of gram-negative bacteria. Usually less toxic than the opposite. |
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| Describing the group of bacteria that have a cell wall that is structurally more complex and contains less peptidoglycan than the cell wall of gram-positive bacteria. Usually more toxic than the opposite. |
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| A sticky layer that surrounds the cell wall of some prokaryotes, protecting the cell surface and sometimes helping to glue the cell to surfaces. |
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| A short, hairlike appendage of a prokaryotic cell that helps it adhere to the substrate or to other cells; also known as an attachment pilus. |
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| Hairlike appendages found on the surface of many bacteria. |
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| A dense region of DNA in a prokaryotic cell. |
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| A small, circular, double-stranded DNA molecule that carries accessory genes separate from those of a bacterial chromosome. Also found in some eukaryotes, such as yeasts. |
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| A thick-coated, resistant cell produced by a bacterial cell exposed to harsh conditions. |
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| An organism that harnesses light energy to drive the synthesis of organic compounds from carbon dioxide. |
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| An organism that needs only carbon dioxide as a carbon source but obtains energy by oxidizing inorganic substances. |
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| An organism that uses light to generate ATP but must obtain carbon in organic form. |
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| An organism that must consume organic molecules for both energy and carbon. |
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| An organism that requires oxygen for cellular respiration and cannot live without it. |
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| An organism that makes ATP by aerobic respiration if oxygen is present but that switches to anaerobic respiration or fermentation if oxygen is not present. |
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| An organism that only carries out fermentation or anaerobic respiration. Such organisms cannot use oxygen and in fact may be poisoned by it. |
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| The use of inorganic molecules other than oxygen to accept electrons at the “downhill” end of electron transport chains. |
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| The conversion of atmospheric nitrogen (N) to ammonia (NH). The biological kind is carried out by certain prokaryotes, some of which have mutualistic relationships with plants. |
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| A surface-coating colony of one or more species of prokaryotes that engage in metabolic cooperation. |
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| An organism that lives in an environment whose conditions are so extreme that few other species can survive there. |
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| An organism that thrives in hot environments (often 60–80°C or hotter). |
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| An organism that lives in a highly saline environment, such as the Great Salt Lake or the Dead Sea. |
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| An organism that obtains energy by using carbon dioxide to oxidize hydrogen, producing methane as a waste product. |
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| An organism that absorbs nutrients from nonliving organic material such as corpses, fallen plant material, and the wastes of living organisms and converts them to inorganic forms; a detritivore. |
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| An ecological relationship between organisms of two different species that live together in direct and intimate contact. |
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| The larger participant in a symbiotic relationship, serving as home and food source for the smaller symbiont. |
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| The smaller participant in a symbiotic relationship, living in or on the host. |
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| A symbiotic relationship in which both participants benefit. |
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| A symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits but the other is neither helped nor harmed. |
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| A symbiotic relationship in which one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of another, the host, by living either within or on the host. |
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| A toxic protein that is secreted by a prokaryote or other pathogen and that produces specific symptoms, even if the pathogen is no longer present. |
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| A toxic component of the outer membrane of certain gram-negative bacteria that is released only when the bacteria die. |
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| The use of organisms to detoxify and restore polluted and degraded ecosystems. |
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