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Stromatolite
a laminated micrbial material, typically built from layers of filamentous bacteria and other microorganisms, which can be fossilized
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16S rRNA
a large polynucleotide that functions as a part of the small subunit of the ribosome of bacteria and archaea and from whose gene sequence evolutionary info can be obtained
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Ribotyping
a means of identifying microorganisms from analysis of DNA fragments generated from restriction enzyme digestion of the genes encoding their 16S rRNA
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Ribosomal Database Project (RDP)
a large database of small subunit (SSU) rRNA sequences that can be retrived electronically and used in comparative rRNA sequence studies
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Phylogenetic probe
an oligonucleotide, sometimes made flourescent by atachment of a dye, complementary in sequence to some sequence in rRNA
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Multilocus sequence typing (MLST)
a taxonomic tool for classifying organisms from gene sequence variations in several housekeeping genes
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Monophyletic
in phylogeny, a group descended from another
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Molecular clock
a DNA sequence, such as the gene for rRNA, that can be used as a comparative temporal measure of evolutionary divergence
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GC ration
in DNA from an organism, the % of the total nucleic acid that consists of guanine and cytosine bases
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FISH
Flourescent In Situ Hybridization
a staging technique for phylogenetic studies
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FAME
Fatty Acid Methyl Ester
a technique for identifying microorganisms from their fatty acids
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Endosymbiotic Hypothesis
the idea that a chemoorganotrophic bactrieum and a cyanobacterium were stably incorporated inot another cell type to give rise, respectively, to mitochondria and chloroplast
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Ecotype
a population of genetically identical cells sharing a particular resource within an ecological niche
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Binomial system
Carl Linnaeus (swedish)
naming living organisms in whic an organism is given a genus name and species epithet
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Cladistics
phylogenetic methods that group organisms by their evolutionary relationships, not by their phenotypic similarities
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Banded iron formation
iron oxide-rich ancient sedimentary rocks containing zones of oxidized iron (Fe^3+) formed by oxidation of Fe^2+ by O_2 produced by cyanobacteria
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Endosymbiosis
-the theory that mitochondria and chloroplast originated from bacteria
-The engulfment of one cell type by another cell type and the subsequent and stable association of the two cells.
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virus
a genetic element that contains either a DNA or an RNA genome, has an extracellular form (the virion), and depends on a host cell for replication
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Protists
algae and protozoa
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Proeobacteria
a large phylum of bacteria that includes many gram-positive bacteria: Escherichia coli
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Plasmid
an extrachromosomal genetic element nonessential for growth
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Phylogeny
the evolutionary relationships between organisms
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Gram stain
a differential staining technique in which bacterial cells stain either pink (gram-neg.) or purple (gram-pos.) depending on their structural make-up
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Cyanobacteria
prokaryotic oxygenic phototrophs
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Chemoorganothroph
an organism that obtains its energy from the oxidation of organic compounds
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Pure culture
a culture containing a single kind of microorganism
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Pathogen
a disease causing microorganism
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Koch's postulates
a set of criteria for proving that a given microorganism casuses a given disease
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Growth
in microbiology, an increase in cell number with time
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Genome
an organism's full compliment of genes
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Enrichment culture technique
a method for isolation specific microorganisms from nature using specific culture media and incubation conditions
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Differentiation
modification of cellular components to form a new strucure, such as a spore
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Chemolithotrophy
a form of metabolism in which energy in generated from inorganic compounds
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Universal phylogenetic tree
A tree that shows the evolutionary position of representatives of all domains of living organisms.
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Genomics
The discipline that maps, sequences, analyzes, and compares genomes.
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Macromolecule
A large molecule (polymer) formed by the connection of a number of small molecules (monomers); proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and polysaccharides in a cell.
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Isomers
Two molecules that have the same molecular formula but that differ structurally.
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Nodule
A tumorlike structure produced by the roots of symbiotic nitrogen-fixing plants. Contains the nitrogen-fixing microbial component of the symbiosis.
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Protozoa
Unicellular eukaryotic microorganisms that lack cell walls.
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DNA–DNA hybridization
The experimental determination of genomic similarity by measuring the extent of hybridization of DNA from the genome of one organism with that of another.
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