MicrobiologyLesson 2 of 2 in the course An Invisible World

Microbial Taxonomy: Classification, Molecular Phylogeny, and Identification

5 flashcards · 5 quiz questions · 5 match pairs · 5 fill-in sentences · English

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Summary

Taxonomy provides a systematic way to describe, identify, classify, and name organisms. This lesson follows the development of classification from Linnaeus’s hierarchy to later systems that increasingly accounted for evolutionary relationships.

Microorganisms vary in size, appearance, and reproduction. Once microscopes revealed this diversity, scientists needed a consistent way to organize organisms and communicate about them.

All flashcards

What is taxonomy?
The science of classifying, describing, identifying, and naming living organisms.
What is horizontal gene transfer?
The acquisition of genes from organisms other than an organism’s direct ancestors.
What is a strain?
A subtype within a species; strains can differ in important traits.
What is binomial nomenclature?
A two-word naming system consisting of a genus name and a specific epithet.
Which three domains are recognized in Woese and Fox’s system?
Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya.

Quiz questions

  1. Which molecular evidence did Woese and Fox compare when proposing the three-domain system?Answer: Gene sequences coding for small-subunit ribosomal RNA.
  2. In the commonly depicted three-domain tree, which two domains are more closely related to each other than either is to Bacteria?Answer: Archaea and Eukarya.
  3. Why can horizontal gene transfer complicate the reconstruction of evolutionary history?Answer: A gene’s history may differ from the history of the organism carrying it.
  4. Why are viruses absent from the cellular trees of life described in these notes?Answer: Viruses are not made of cells.
  5. What kinds of reference works are Bergey’s manuals?Answer: References used to identify and classify prokaryotes.

Based on Microbiology by Nina Parker, Mark Schneegurt, Anh-Hue Thi Tu, Philip Lister, Brian M. Forster (OpenStax), licensed CC BY 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.

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