Term | Definition |
Taxonomy | The classification of organisms |
Binomial nomenclature | The system of which 2 terms are used to denote a species of living organisms |
Genus | Classification that is below a family and above a species level , and includes group(s) of species that structurally similar |
Virus | A small infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of other organisms |
Pathogen | An agent causing disease or illness to its host |
Viroid | An infectious agent that consists solely of a single strand of RNA and causes diseases in certain plants. |
Prion | A infectious protein particle similar to a virus but lacking nucleic acid |
Capsid | The protein shell of a virus |
Bacteriophage | A virus that parasitizes a bacterium by infecting it and reproducing inside it |
Lytic infection | One of the two major bacteriophage- bacterium relationships |
Lysogenic infection | The spread of the viral DNA occurs through the usual prokarayotic reproduction |
Prophage | The genetic material of bacteriophage |
Vaccine | Biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease |
Plasmid | A genetic structure in a cell that can replicate independently of the chromosomes |
Conjugation | Process by which 1 bacterium transfers genetic material to another through direct contact |
Toxin | A hazardous substance produced by microorganisms , animals , insects and pants that can be harmful when inhaled |
Antibiotic | An antimicrobial agent made from microorganisms, can kill and inhibit the growth of microorganisms |
Protist | A eukaryotic organisms that cannot be classified as a plant, animal, or fungus. |
Protozoa | Defined as a diverse a group of unicellular eukaryotic organisms |
Chitin | Found in cell walls or certain fungi and algae |
Gymnosperm | A vascular plant in which the seed are not enclosed by a ripened ovary |
Angiosperm | Plants producing flowers |
Stomata | Tiny openings that allow plants to exchange gases necessary for cellular processes such as photosynthesis |
Vascular system | The tissues and organs of an animal that transports blood through out the body |
Xylem | A compound tissue in vascular plants that helps provide support and that conducts water and nutrients upward from the roots |
Phloem | Tissue in the vascular plant that conducts food from leaves and other photosynthetic tissues to other plant parts |
Bilateral symmetry | An arrangement of an organism or part of an organism along a central axis, so that the organism or part can be divided into 2 equal halves |
Radial symmetry | Symmetry around around a central axis, as in a starfish and tulip flower |
Protostome | Any of a major group of animals defined by its embryonic development, in which the first opening in the embryo becomes the mouth |
Deuterostome | A subtaxon of the bilateria branch of the subkingdom eumetezoa |