Viruses
This tiny infectious particle consists of nucleic acid enclosed in a protein coat.
What is a virus?
These viruses specifically infect bacteria.
What are bacteriophages (or phages)?
These two domains are made entirely of prokaryotes.
What are Bacteria and Archaea?
The region where prokaryotic DNA is found, since they lack a nucleus.
What is the nucleoid?
These archaea thrive in extremely salty environments.
What are extreme halophiles?
These protein subunits make up the capsid of a virus.
What are capsomeres?
This type of phage reproductive cycle ends with the host cell bursting.
What is the lytic cycle?
This external structure allows bacteria to attach to surfaces or each other during conjugation.
What are pili?
Prokaryotes reproduce using this simple process that produces two identical cells.
What is binary fission?
The cycle in which a bacteriophage inserts its DNA into the host’s chromosome without killing it.
What is the lysogenic cycle?
This term describes the limited range of organisms a virus can infect.
What is a host range?
These drugs can slow viral infections by interfering with DNA synthesis or virus assembly.
What are antiviral drugs?
Some prokaryotes break down dead organisms and wastes, earning them this ecological role.
What are decomposers?
The bacterial whip-structure used for movement that acts like a tiny propeller.
What is a flagellum?
The cell wall component that differentiates archaea and bacteria.
What is peptidoglycan?
These structures, taken from the host cell membrane, help animal viruses enter cells.
What are viral envelopes?
A phage that only uses the lytic cycle is given this name.
What is a virulent phage?
These organisms can survive with or without oxygen by switching metabolic pathways.
What are facultative anaerobes?
In this type of symbiosis, both organisms benefit—like humans and their gut bacteria.
What is mutualism?
Many antibiotics are ineffective against viruses because viruses lack these cellular structures that antibiotics normally target. Name 2.
What are cell walls / ribosomes / metabolic pathways (any of these)?
Because they cannot reproduce or carry out metabolism on their own, viruses are described as these types of parasites.
What are obligate intracellular parasites?
In the lysogenic cycle, this is what the integrated viral DNA inside a bacterium is called.
What is a prophage?
Gram-negative bacteria are generally more resistant to antibiotics due to this feature.
What is an extra membrane outside of the cell wall?
DNA is transferred from one bacterium to another via a mating bridge during this process.
What is conjugation?
This nutritional mode describes organisms that obtain carbon from organic molecules and energy from light.
What are photoheterotrophs?