Chapter 1 Vocab.

Question 1

ubiquitous

Answer 1

being or seeming to be, everywhere at the same time.

Question 2

microbiology

Answer 2

a specialized are of biology that deals with living things ordinarily too small to be seen without magnification, including bacteria, archaea, fungi, protozoa, and viruses.

Question 3

microscopic

Answer 3

invisible to the naked eye

Question 4

microorganism

Answer 4

a living thing ordinarily too small to be seen without magnification; an organism of microscopic size.

Question 5

bacteria

Answer 5

category of prokaryotes with peptodoglycan in their cell walls and a single, circular chromosome. This group of small cells is widely distributed in the earth’s habitats.

Question 6

viruses

Answer 6

microscopic, acellular agent composed of nucleic acis surrounded by a protein coat.

Question 7

fungi

Answer 7

Heterotrophic unicellular or multicellular eukaryotic organism that may take the form of a larger macroscopic organism, as in the case of mushrooms, or a smaller microscopic organism, as in the case of yeasts and molds.

Question 8

protozoa

Answer 8

A group of single-celled, eukaryotic organisms.

Question 9

algae

Answer 9

Photosynthetic, plantlike organisms that generally lack the complex structure of plants; they may be single-celled or multi-cellular and inhabit diverse habitats such as marine and freshwater environments, glaciers, and hot springs.

Question 10

helminth

Answer 10

A term that designates all parasitic worms.

Question 11

prokaryotic cell

Answer 11

small cells, lacking special structures such as a nucleus and organelles. All prokaryotes are microorganisms.

Question 12

eukaryotic cell

Answer 12

A cell that differs from a prokaryotic cell chiefly by having a nuclear membrane (a well-defined nucleus), membrane-bounded sub-cellular organelles, and mitotic cell division.

Question 13

organelles

Answer 13

a small component of eukaryotic cells that is bounded by a membrane and specialized function.

Question 14

photosynthesis

Answer 14

a process accurring in plants, algae, and some bacteria, that traps the sun’s energy and converts it to ATP in the cell. This energy is used to fix CO2 into organic compounds.

Question 15

decomposition

Answer 15

the breakdown of dead matter and wastes into simple compounds that can can be directed back into the natural cycle of living things.

Question 16

genetic engineering

Answer 16

a field involving deliberate alterations (recombination) of the genomes of microbes, plants, and animals through special technological processes.

Question 17

recombinant DNA

Answer 17

a technology, associated with genetic engineering that deliberately modifies the genetic structure of an organism to create novel products, microbes, animals, plants, and viruses.

Question 18

bioremediation

Answer 18

the use of microbes to reduce or degrade pollutants, industrial wastes, and household garbage.

Question 19

parasite

Answer 19

an organism that lives on or within another organism (the host), from which it obtains nutrients and enjoys protection. The parasite produces some degree of harm to the host.

Question 20

host

Answer 20

organism in which smaller organisms or viruses live, feed and reproduce

Question 21

pathogen

Answer 21

any agent-usually a virus, bacterium, fungus, protozoan, or helminth-that causes disease.

Question 22

emerging disease

Answer 22

newly identified disease that are becoming more prominent.

Question 23

reemerging disease

Answer 23

previously identified disease that is increasing in occurrence.

Question 24

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Answer 24

designed the first single-lens microscope. A dutch linen merchant and self-made microbiologist.

Question 25

scientific method

Answer 25

principles and procedures for the systematic pursuit of knowledge, involving the recognition and formulation of a problem, the collection of data through observation and experimentation, and the formulation and testing of hypothesis.

Question 26

hypothesis

Answer 26

a tentative explanation of what has been observed or measured.

Question 27

deductive approach

Answer 27

problem-solving process on which an individual constructs a hypothesis, tests its valididty by outlining particular events that are predicted by the hypothesis, and then performs experiments to test for those events.

Question 28

theory

Answer 28

a collection of statements, propositions, or concepts that explains or accounts for a natural event.

Question 29

John Tyndall

Answer 29

provided the initial evidence that some of the microbes in dust and air have very high heat resistance and that particularly vigorous treatment is required to destroy them

Question 30

Ferdinand Cohn

Answer 30

Clarified the reason that heat would sometimes fail to completely eliminate all microorganisms.

Question 31

sterile

Answer 31

completely free of all life forms including spores and viruses

Question 32

Robert Koch

Answer 32

formulated Koch’s postulates

Question 33

Koch’s postulates

Answer 33

a procedure to establish the specific cause of disease. In all cases of infection: (1) The agent must be found; (2) inoculations of a pure culture must reproduce the same disease in animals; (3) the agent must again be present in the experimental animal; and (4) a pure culture must again be obtained.

Question 34

Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes

Answer 34

American physician, observed that mothers who gave birth at home experienced fewer infections than did mothers who gave birth in hospitals.

Question 35

Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis

Answer 35

showed quite clearly that women became infected in the maternity ward after examinations by physicians coming directly from the autopsy room.

Question 36

Joseph Lister

Answer 36

introduced the aseptic techniques, aimed at reducing microbes in the medical setting and preventing would infections.

Question 37

aseptic technique

Answer 37

methods of handling microbial cultures, patient specimens, and other sources of microbes in a way that prevents infection of the handler and others who may be exposed.

Question 38

Louis Pasteur

Answer 38

father of microbiology, contributions to the understanding of the microbial role in wine and beer formation; invented pasteurization and completed some of the first studies showing that human diseases could arise from infection.

Question 39

germ theory of disease

Answer 39

a theory first originating in the 1800s that proposed that microorganisms can be the cause of diseases. The concept is actually so well established in the present time it is considered a fact.

Question 40

nomenclature

Answer 40

a set system for scientifically naming organisms, enzymes, anatomical structures, etc.

Question 41

taxonomy

Answer 41

the formal system for organizing, classifying, and naming living things.

Question 42

classification

Answer 42

is the orderly arrangement of organisms into groups that indicate evolutionary relationships and history.

Question 43

identification

Answer 43

is the process of determining and recording the traits of organisms to enable their placement in an overall taxonomic scheme

Question 44

hierarchy

Answer 44

levels of power. arrangement in order of rank

Question 45

domain

Answer 45

in the levels of classification, the broadest general category to which an organism is assigned. Members of a domain share only one or dew general characteristics.

Question 46

species

Answer 46

in level of classifiscation, the most specific level organization

Question 47

kingdom

Answer 47

In the levels of classification, the second division from more general to more specific. Each domain is divided into kingdoms.

Question 48

phylum

Answer 48

In levels of of classification, the third level of classification from general to more specific. Each kingdom is divided into numerous phyla. Sometimes referred as divisions.

Question 49

class

Answer 49

In the levels of classification, the division of organisms that follows phylum

Question 50

order

Answer 50

In the levels of classification, the division of organisms that follows class. Increasing similarity may be noticed among organisms assigned to the same order.

Question 51

family

Answer 51

in levels of classification, a mid-level division of organisms that groups more closely related organisms than previous levels. An order is divided into families.

Question 52

genus

Answer 52

the second most specific level. A family is divided into several genera.

Question 53

binomial system of nomenclature

Answer 53

Scientific method of assigning names to organisms that employs two names to identify every organisms - genus name plus species name.

Question 54

phylogeny

Answer 54

the natural relatedness between groups of living things

Question 55

evolution

Answer 55

scientific principle that states that living things change gradually through hundreds of millions of years, and these changes are expressed in structural and functional adaptations in each organism. Evolution presumes that those traits that favor survival are preserved and passed on to following generations, and those traits that do not favor survival are lost.

Question 56

morphology

Answer 56

the study of organisms structure

Question 57

physiology

Answer 57

the study of the function of the organism

Question 58

genetics

Answer 58

the science of heredity

Question 59

archaea

Answer 59

prokaryotic single-celled organisms of primitive origin that have unusual anatomy, physiology, and genetics and live in harsh habitats; when capitalized the term refers to one of the three domains of living organisms as proposed by Woese.