B6 Keywords

Front 1

A chemical that kills microorganisms and viruses on contact. Useful for sterilising surfaces or treating waste but cannot be taken internally.

Back 1

Antiseptic

Front 2

A clearly defined procedure for measuring the concentration of a particular substance.

Back 2

Assaying technique

Front 3

A gaseous fuel produced by the anaerobic digestion of organic material from a wide variety of sources.

Back 3

Biogas

Front 4

A general term for renewable sources of energy produced from biomass.

Back 4

Biofuel

Front 5

A group of single celled organisms that include simple animals like amoeba and pathogens like Plasmodium that cause malaria.

Back 5

Protozoan

Front 6

A large glass or stainless steel vessel used to grow large volumes of microorganisms under carefully controlled conditions.

Back 6

Fermenter

Front 7

A population of microorganisms, usually of a single defined species, grown to a high density on a suitable growth medium.

Back 7

Culture

Front 8

A product of anaerobic respiration in yeast that is particularly important in the production of beers and wine.

Back 8

Alcohol

Front 9

A simple disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose, widely used as a sweetener.

Back 9

Sucrose

Front 10

A simple hydrocarbon, produced by anaerobic digestion, that is the major useful component of biogas.

Back 10

Methane

Front 11

A simple single-celled fungus that is used in brewing and bread making.

Back 11

Yeast

Front 12

A simple sugar that together with glucose forms lactose.

Back 12

Galactose

Front 13

A simple sugar that together with glucose forms sucrose.

Back 13

Fructose

Front 14

A simple way of immobilising enzymes or microorganisms using a polysaccharide derived from seaweed.

Back 14

Alginate beads

Front 15

A small circular DNA molecule that exists as a small chromosome in bacteria, often carrying genes for antibiotic resistance.

Back 15

Plasmid

Front 16

A type of enzyme used in genetic engineering for cutting DNA into defined pieces based on the sequence of bases in the DNA.

Back 16

Restriction enzyme

Front 17

A whip like appendage used by bacteria, protozoa and some animal and plant sex cells for movement.

Back 17

Flagellum

Front 18

An animal that derives its energy from eating plant materials. A primary consumer.

Back 18

Herbivore

Front 19

An animal that derives most of its energy from eating other animals.

Back 19

Carnivore

Front 20

An enzyme used in genetic engineering to rejoin two DNA molecules. For example, when cloning a gene into a bacterial plasmid.

Back 20

Ligase

Front 21

An enzyme, mainly in plants, that catalyses the breakdown of sucrose into glucose and fructose.

Back 21

Invertase

Front 22

An explosion in the population of simple photosynthetic organisms caused by the contamination of water by nutrient-rich waste streams.

Back 22

Algal bloom

Front 23

An organism that has been genetically engineered to carry a gene from a different species.

Back 23

Transgenic organism

Front 24

Animals that feed on dead and decaying organic matter. Important as they accelerate the decay process by increasing the surface area of the material.

Back 24

Detritivores

Front 25

Flash heating milk or other liquid foods to about 80 degrees C for 15 seconds to kill most potentially harmful bacteria or prolong shelf-life.

Back 25

Pasteurisation

Front 26

Found in freshwater protists, this organelle is important in the regulation of the organism's water content under different osmotic conditions.

Back 26

Contractile vacuole

Front 27

Name given to a wide range of organisms, including plants and simple animals, that drift in large bodies of water such as seas and lakes.

Back 27

Plankton

Front 28

Lag phase

Back 28

When bacteria are adjusting to the new conditions by synthesising the enzymes they need for growth.

Front 29

Log or exponential phase

Back 29

When bacteria are dividing rapidly by binary fission. Bacterial numbers double in a fixed period.

Front 30

Stationary phase

Back 30

When bacteria are running out of nutrients and toxic products are accumulating. The death rate equals the growth rate.

Front 31

Death or decline phase

Back 31

When bacteria are no longer dividing. The death rate significantly exceeds any growth.

Front 32

The animal equivalent of invertase, catalysing the breakdown of sucrose into glucose and fructose.

Back 32

Sucrase

Front 33

The increase in chemical nutrients in a water-based ecosystem that can lead to its destabilisation, often due to a rapid increase in the population of algae.

Back 33

Eutrophication

Front 34

The process of concentrating alcohol by heating the products of yeast fermentation and condensing the most volatile products.

Back 34

Distillation

Front 35

The revolutionary idea that much disease is caused by microscopic organisms too small to be seen with the naked eye.

Back 35

Germ theory of disease

Front 36

The term used to describe photosynthetic plankton. They are usually microscopic but can be present in very large numbers

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Phytoplankton

Front 37

The time between being exposed to an infectious disease and first experiencing symptoms.

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Incubation period

Front 38

Treating material with heat or radiation to kill all microorganisms and spores.

Back 38

Sterilisation

Front 39

Type of asexual reproduction where cell divides to give two identical daughter cells.

Back 39

Binary fission

Front 40

Type of microorganism without a nucleus or any membrane-bound organelles. Many types can cause disease.

Back 40

Bacterium