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| A type of polymer in bacterial cell walls consisting of modified sugar 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.Gram positive bacteria are usually less toxic than gram negative bacteria. |
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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.Gram negative bacteria are often more toxic than gram positive bacteria. |
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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 prokayotic cell that helps it adhere to the substrate or to other cells; also known as an attachment pilus. |
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| In bacteria, a structure that links one cell to another at the start of conjugation; also known as a conjugation pilus. |
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| An oriented movement toward or away from a stimulus. |
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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.Plasmids are 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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| A change in genotype and phenotype due to the assimilation of external DNA by a cell. |
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| A type of horizontal gene transfer in which phages (viruses) carry bacterial DNA from one host cell to another. |
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| In prokaryotes, the direct transfer of DNA between two cells (of the same or different species) that are temporarily joined.In ciliates, a sexual process in which two cells exchange haploid micronuclei. |
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| In bacteria, the DNA segment that confers the ability to form pili for conjugation and associated functions required for the transfer of DNA from donor to recipient.The F factor may exist as a plasmid or be integrated into the bacterial chromosome. |
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| The plasmid form of the F factor. |
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| A bacterial plasmid carrying genes that confer resistance to certain antibiotics. |
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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 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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| 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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| the conversion of atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3).Biological nitrogen fixation is carried out by certain prokaryotes, some of which have mutualistic relationships with plants. |
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| A specialized cell that engages in nitrogen fixation in some filamentous cyanobacteria; formerly called heterocyst. |
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| An organism that lives in an environment whose conditions are so extreme that few other species can survive there.Extremophiles include extreme halophiles and extreme thermophiles. |
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| An organisms that lives in a highly saline environment, such as the Great Salt Lake or the Dead Sea. |
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| An organisms that thrives in hot environments (often 60-80ÁC or hotter). |
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| An organism that obtains energy by using carbon dioxide to oxidize hydrogen, producing methane as a waste product; all known methanogens are in domain Archaea. |
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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 n 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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| An organism that feeds on the cell contents, tissues, or body fluids of another species (the host) while in or on the host organism.Parasites harm but usually do not kill their host. |
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| An organism or virus that causes disease. |
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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 use of organisms to detoxify and restore polluted and degraded ecosystems. |
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