1-3: Naming and Classifying Microbes Flashcards
What is taxonomy
Science of classifying/naming organisms
What is phylogeny
Study of evolutionary relationships between organisms
How do taxonomists make classifications
Use genotype, phenotype and phylogenetic info
What is the order of taxa
Domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species
Did king phillip come over for great soup
What did Carl Linnaeus do
System for classification
Each organism has two names: genus & species
What is a biovar and serovar
Biovar: group based on physiological/biochemical difference from other species members
Serovar: group based on surface antigens
What is a “strain”
Used to refer to specific isolate
Why is taxonomy important
Brings order to chaos, groups organisms with similar traits. Educated guesses about newly discovered organism
How does comparing DNA sequences help us understand evolutionary relationships
How closely related are the organisms
More differences in sequence = more evolutionary distance
What is the best DNA sequence to observe?
Highly conserved gene with conserved function that accumulates mutations slowly over time
What is a sequence commonly used to determine phylogenetic relationships
Ribosomal RNA of the small subunit (SSU)
What are the limitations of phylogenetic trees
They are predictions. Horizontal gene transfer can confuse things, acquired DNA can undergo homologous recombination
What is homologous recombination
DNA sequence of host replaced with homologous gene of another organism
