Chapter 16 Flashcards
cellular slime mold
A type of protist that has unicellular amoeboid cells and aggregated reproductive bodies in its life cycle; members of amoebozoan clade.
biofilm
a surface-coating colony of prokaryotes that engage in metabolic cooperation.
autotroph
An organism that makes its own food (often by photosynthesis), thereby sustaining itself without eating other organisms or their molecules. Plants, algae, and numerous bacteria are autotrophs.
proteobacteria
A diverse clade of gram-negative bacteria that includes five subgroups known as alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and epsilon.
green alga
A member of a group of photosynthetic protists that includes chlorophytes and charophyceans, the closest living relatives of land plants. Green algae include unicellular, colonial, and multicellular species.
coccus
(plural, cocci) A spherical prokaryotic cell
secondary endosymbiosis
A process by which diversity is hypothesized to have evolved from a symbiotic association that arose when an autotrophic eukaryotic protist was engulfed by a heterotrophic eukaryotic protist.
radiolarian
A protist that moves and feeds by means of threadlike pseudopodia and has a mineralized support composed of silica.
foraminiferan (Foram)
A protist that moves and feeds by means of threadlike pseudopodia and has porous shells composed of calcium carbonate.
endotoxin
A poisonous component of the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria that is released only when the bacteria die.
diatom
A unicellular, autotrophic protist that belongs to the stramenopile clade. Diatoms possess a unique, glassy cell wall containing silica.
peptidoglycan
A polymer of complex sugars cross-linked by short polypeptides; a material unique to bacterial cell walls.
gametophyte
The multicellular haploid form un the life cycle of organisms undergoing alternation of generations; mitotically produces haploid gametes that unit and grow into the sporophyte generation.
spirochete
A member of a group of helical bacteria that spiral through the environment by means of rotating, internal filaments.
photoautotroph
an organism that obtains energy from sunlight and carbon from CO2 by photosynthesis.
methanogen
A type of Archaea that produces methane as a metabolic waste product.
extreme halophile
A microorganism that lives in a highly saline environment, such as the Great Salt Lake or the Dead Sea.
cyanobacteria
photoautotrophic prokaryotes with plantlike, oxygen-generating photosynthesis
pathogen
An agent sucs as a virus, bacteria, or fungus, that causes disease.
pilus
(plural, pili) A short projection on the surface of a prokaryotic cell that helps the prokaryote attach to other surfaces. Specialized sex pili are used in conjugation to hold the mating cells together.
gram stain
microbiology technique to identify the cell wall composition of bacteria. Results categorize bacteria as gram-positive or gram-negative.
chlamydia
a group of bacteria that live inside eukaryotic host cells. Includes human pathogens that cause blindness and nongonococcal urethitis, a common sexually transmitted disease.
heterotroph
An organism that cannot make its own organic food molecules and must obtain them by consuming other organisms or their organic products; a consumer or a decomposer in a food chain.
archaea
One of two prokaryotic domains of life, the other being Bacteria.
gram-positive
Diverse group of bacteria with a cell wall that is structurally less complex and contains more peptidoglycan than that of gram-negative bacteria. Gram-positive bacteria are usually less toxic than gram negative bacteria.
endospore
A thick-coated protective cell produced within a bacterial cell; endospore becomes dormant and is able to survive harsh environmental conditions.
protist
a member of the Kingdom Protista. Most protists are unicellular, though some are colonial or multicellular.
red alga
A member of a group of marine, mostly multicellular, autotrophic protists, which includes the reef-building coralline algae.
amoeba
Protist that moves and feeds by means of pseudopodia.
exotoxin
a poisonous protein secreted by certain bacteria.
parasite
Organism that derives its nutrition from a living host, which is harmed by the interaction.
cellular slime mold
A type of protist that has unicellular amoeboid cells and aggregated reproductive bodies in its life cycle; members of amoebozoan clade.
plasmodium
1) A single mass of cytoplasm containing many nuclei. 2) The amoeboid feeding stage in the life cycle of a plasmodial slime mold.
chemoautotroph
An organism that obtains both energy and carbon from inorganic chemicals. A chemoautotroph makes its own organic compounds from CO2 without using light energy.
biofilm
A surface-coating colony of prokaryotes that engage in metabolic cooperation.
extreme thermophile
A microorganism that thrives in a hot environment (often 60-80 degrees C).
water mold
A fungus-like protist in the stramenopile clade.
sporophyte
The multicellular diploid form in the life cycle of organisms undergoing alternation of generations; results from a union of gametes and meiotically produces haploid spores that grow into the gametophyte generation.
photoheterotroph
An organism that obtains energy from sunlight and carbon from organic sources.
alternation of generations
A life cycle in which there is both a multicellular diploid form, the sporophyte, and a multicellular haploid form, the gametophyte; a characteristic of plants and multicellular green algae.
protozoan
(plural, protozoa) A protist that lives primarily by ingesting food; a heterotrophic, “animal-like” protist.
ciliate
A type of protist that moves and feeds by means of cilia. Ciliates belong to the alveolate clade.
bioremediation
the use of living organisms to detoxify and restore polluted and degraded ecosystems.
symbiosis
a close association between organisms of two or more species.
amoebozan
A member of a clade of protists that includes amoebas and slime molds and is characterized by lobe-shaped pseudopodia
bacillus
(plural, bacilli) A rod-shaped prokaryotic cell.
dinoflagellate
A member of a group of protists belonging to the alveolate clade. Dinoflagellates are common components of marine and freshwater phytoplankton.
plasmodial slime mold
A type of protist that has amoeboid cells, flagellated cells, and an amoeboid plasmodial deeding stage in its life cycle.
pseudopodium
(plural, pseudopodia) A temporary extension of an amoeboid cell. Pseudopodia function in moving cells and engulfing food.
alga
(Plural, algae) A protist that produces its food by photosynthesis.
