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| Amoebozoa | the eukaryotic supergroup that contains the amoebas and slime molds |
| Archaeplastida | the eukaryotic supergroup that contains land plants, green algae, and red algae |
| Ascomycota (sac fungi) | a division of fungi that store spores in a sac called ascus |
| anaerobic | refers to organisms that grow without oxygen |
| anoxic | without oxygen |
| Black Death | a devastating pandemic that is believed to have been an outbreak of bubonic plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis |
| basidiomycota (club fungi) | a division of fungi that produce club shaped structures, basidia, which contain spores |
| biofilm | a microbial community that is held together by a gummy-textured matrix |
| bioremediation | benefits while the other member is not affected the use of microbial metabolism to remove pollutants |
| botulism | a disease produce by the toxin of the anaerobic bacterium Clostridium botulinum |
| Chromalveolata | the eukaryotic supergroup that contains the dinoflagellates, ciliates, the brown algae, diatoms, and water molds |
| Chytridiomycota (chytrids) | a primitive division of fungi that live in water and produce gametes with flagella |
| capsule | an external structure that enables a prokaryote to attach to surfaces and protects it from dehydration |
| commensalism | a symbiotic relationship in which one member |
| conjugation | the process by which prokaryotes move DNA from one individual to another using a pilus |
| cyanobacteria | bacteria that evolved from early phototrophs and oxygenated the atmosphere; also known as blue-green algae |
| Deuteromycota | (imperfect fungi) a division of fungi that do not have a known sexual reproductive cycle |
| Excavata | the eukaryotic supergroup that contains flagellated single-celled organisms with a feeding groove |
| endosymbiosis | the engulfment of one cell by another such that the engulfed cell survives and both cells benefit; the process responsible for the evolution of mitochondria and chloroplasts in eukaryotes |
| epidemic | a disease that occurs in an unusually high number of individuals in a population at the same time |
| extremophile | an organism that grows under extreme or harsh conditions |
| foodborne disease | any illness resulting from the consumption of contaminated food, or of the pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or other parasites that contaminate food |
| Glomeromycota | a group of fungi that form symbiotic relationships with the roots of trees |
| Gram-negative | describes a bacterium whose cell wall contains little peptidoglycan but has an outer membrane |
| Gram-positive | describes a bacterium that contains mainly peptidoglycan in its cell walls |
| hydrothermal vent | a fissure in Earth’s surface that releases geothermally heated water |
| hypha | a fungal filament composed of one or more cells |
| lichen | the close association of a fungus with a photosynthetic alga or bacterium that benefits both partners |
| MRSA | (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) a very dangerous Staphylococcus aureus strain resistant to antibiotics |
| microbial mat | a multi-layered sheet of prokaryotes that may include bacteria and archaea |
| mold | a tangle of visible mycelia with a fuzzy appearance |
| mycelium | a mass of fungal hyphae |
| mycorrhiza | a mutualistic association between fungi and vascular plant roots |
| mycosis | a fungal infection |
| Opisthokonta | the eukaryotic supergroup that contains the fungi, animals, and choanoflagellates |
| pandemic | a widespread, usually worldwide, epidemic disease |
| parasite | an organism that lives on or in another organism and feeds on it, often without killing it |
| pathogen | an organism, or infectious agent, that causes a disease |
| pellicle | an outer cell covering composed of interlocking protein strips that function like a flexible coat of armor, preventing cells from being torn or pierced without compromising their range of motion |
| peptidoglycan | a material composed of polysaccharide chains cross-linked to unusual peptides |
| phototroph | an organism that uses energy from sunlight |
| plastid | one of a group of related organelles in plant cells that are involved in the storage of starches, fats, proteins, and pigments |
| pseudopeptidoglycan | a component of some cell walls of Archaea |
| Rhizaria | the eukaryotic supergroup that contains organisms that move by amoeboid movement |
| saprobe | an organism that feeds on dead organic material |
| septum | the cell wall division between hyphae |
| stromatolite | a layered sedimentary structure formed by precipitation of minerals by prokaryotes in microbial mats |
| thallus | a vegetative body of a fungus |
| transduction | the process by which a bacteriophage moves DNA from one prokaryote to another |
| transformation | a mechanism of genetic change in prokaryotes in which DNA present in the environment is taken into the cell and incorporated into the genome |
| yeast | a general term used to describe unicellular fungi |
| Zygomycota | (conjugated fungi) the division of fungi that form a zygote contained in a zygospore |
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