Key Terms: Bacteria and Archaea Flashcards
microbe
organism that cannot be seen with the naked eye (need a MICROscope)
prokaryote
a single-celled organism that lacks organelles and does not have nuclei surrounded by a nuclear membrane
(ex: Bacteria, Archaea)
“LUCA”
Last Universal Common Ancestor
cyanobacteria
type of bacteria; the first organisms to perform “oxygen producing” photosynthesis
archaea
domain of life; classified as prokaryotes but more closely related to Eukarya than to Bacteria; best known for being extremophiles, but occupy a wide variety of habitats
metagenomics
method used to classify prokayotic diversity; involves collecting sample from environment and generating sequence data from sample to characterize genomic (DNA) or functional (RNA) diversity
Gram stain
a mechanism used to detect the location of peptidoglycan in different cell walls:
- Gram-positive: contains mainly peptidoglycan in cell walls
- Gram-negative: cell walls contain little peptidoglycan and an outer membrane
binary fission
a form of asexual reproduction in which the DNA of a cell uncoils, duplicates, and moves toward opposite ends of a growing cell before that cell splits into two cells
transformation
type of horizontal gene transfer in which there is uptake of DNA from the environment
transduction
type of horizontal gene transfer in which a virus picks up and transfers DNA between cells
conjugation
type of horizontal gene transfer in which there is direct transfer by cell-to-cell contact
LUCA traits (all organisms have these traits)
- cells
- central dogma
- ATP energy
- C-H organic compounds
Bacteria shared traits (x3)
- Peptidoglycan in cell wall
- Short RNA polymerases
- Translation does not start with Met
Archaea & Eukarya shared traits (x3)
- Histone proteins
- Long RNA polymerases
- Translation starts with Met (methionine; 1st amino acid)
nitrogen fixation
process by which gaseous nitrogen is transformed, or “fixed” into more readily available forms such as ammonia
