Bits & Pieces
The sticky sugars that surround some bacterium’s cell wall, protecting it and allowing it to adhere to surfaces
What is a Capsule?
A saprophyte feeds on this.
What is Dead Matter?
This infectious agent must infect another cell to reproduce.
What is a virus?
Causing sore throat, these bacteria are composed of long chains of round cells.
What is Streptococcus?
Photoautotrophs such as cyanobacteria derive their energy from this.
What is sunlight?
The cycle in which a virus’s DNA is replicated alongside the host’s DNA.
What is the lysogenic cycle?
A bacteria’s “outboard motor”, this structure is composed of the filament, hook, and basal body.
What is flagellum?
Binary fission is an example of this type of reproduction.
What is asexual?
The cycle in which a virus hijacks the host cell’s DNA replication system, makes copies of itself, and causes the cell to burst.
What is the lytic cycle?
A chemical secreted by a living organism that kills or reduces the spread of other organisms.
What is an antibiotic?
Formed when growing conditions become unfavorable, this internal wall protects a bacterium’s DNA and ribosome until conditions improve.
What is an endospore?
Using bacteria to treat sewage or to remove oil from water in oil spills are examples of this process.
What is microbial bioremediation?
First developed in the 1700s by Edward Jenner, this weakened version of a pathogen is used to stimulate the body’s immune system to prevent disease.
What is a vaccine?
This process allows a desirable trait such as antibiotic resistance to be shared with another bacterium.
What is conjugation?
In addition to a nucleoid, bacteria often contain these smaller circular DNA molecules that help them survive stressful situations.
What are plasmids?
Yogurts and cheese are manufactured by bacteria through this process.
What is fermentation?
Antibiotics work by attacking this part of a pathogenic bacteria.
What is a bacterium's cell wall?
Developed by a Danish physician in the 1800s, this staining technique is one of the ways biologists classify bacteria by cell wall structure.
What is Gram stain?