
Abiotic
non-living

Actinomyces
In mouth and intestines

Adineta
Crowned ditch resident

Aerobic
Needing oxygen

Agar
Gelatine to grow in

Alcohol
Far more than a drunk’s tipple

Alexander Fleming
The birth of antibiotics

Algae
The green engine

Alice Catherine Evans
Discovered that raw milk contains pathogenic bacteria

Amoeba
Shapeshifter

Anaerobic
Life without oxygen

Antibiotics
Wonder drug for infections?

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek
Founder of microbiology

Archaea
Discovered in very hot water

Arthrospira maxima
watery inhabitant

Aspergillus
Extremely divers and useful fungi

Autoclave
Cleaning under pressure

Autotrophic
Independent life

Bacillus subtilis
Best researched bacterium

Bacteria
They are everywhere

Bacteriophage
Friendly virus

Baudoinia compniacensis
Angel’s share fungus

Beatrix Potter
Celebrated writer, but ignored scientist

Belgian brewer’s yeast
unique flavours

Binary fission
Quick reproduction

Biodiversity
Look for the difference

Biofilm
a community of microbes

Bioluminescence
Natural night lights

Biotechnology
Around for thousands of years

Biotic
Living things

Bitter oyster
flashy forest fungus

Blepharisma japonicum
Shy protist

Botryococcus braunii
Fuel factory

Botrytis cinerea
Noble rot

Brachionus plicatilis
Self-cultivated food for the ARTIS-sea horses

Cable bacteria
Microbial electricity

Caenorhabditis elegans
Roundworm important to research

Cell
Earth’s smallest life form

Cell membrane
Where the cell stops

Cell nucleus
The DNA’s residence

Cell wall
Prevents bursting

Chaetomium globosum
Wood rot fungus full of useful substances

Charles Darwin
Father of the theory of evolution

Chlamydomonas nivalis
red-coloured green algae in white

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Micro cyclops

Chlorella vulgaris
common small cell with great potential

Chloroplast
Energetic sunlight absorber

Chromosome
Colourful body

Chroococcus turgidus
Slimy bunch of bacteria

Ciliates
Crawling, swimming and eating with cilia

Cladosporium cladosporioides
Plastic eater in your own backyard

Cladosporium sp.
Gut fungus

Clostridium difficile
The black sheep of the class

Clostridium perfringens
Rapidly dividing fat lover

Colony
Two's a crowd

Colpidium striatum
shaggy swimmer

Conjugation
Horizontal gene transfer

Conservation
The battle against decay

Culture
The art of multiplying

Cyanobacteria
Bacteria or algae?

Cyclops strenuus
Microscopic little lobsters

Cytoplasm
The fluid cell

DNA
Key to the organism

Deinococcus radiodurans
Toughest bacteria on earth

Diatom
Armour of glass

Dinoflagellate
Diverse plankton group

Ecosystem
An organic unit

Edward Jenner
Developer of the first vaccine

Elizabeth Bugie
Invisible discoverer of streptomycin

Endosymbiosis
Linked lives

Enterobacteriaceae
Sometimes infamous, often indispensable

Enterococcus faecalis
member of man’s microbiome

Enzymes
Reaction accelerators

Ernst Boris Chain
Made penicillin into the drug we know and love

Escherichia coli
Not really that bad

Escherichia virus T4
commandeer and copy

Eukaryote
In possession of a cell nucleus

Evolution
From microbe to mankind

Exidiopsis effusa
Frost bearded fungus

Extremophile
Organisms from extremes

Fanny Hesse
Unexpected and unacclaimed creator of agar

Fermentation
Energy supplier

Firmicutes
abundant gut inhabitants

Flagellum
Zigzagging with a lash-like appendage

Foraminifera
Little chambers of calcium

Frederick Twort
discoverer of bacteriophages

Fungus
Up to 5 million species

Fusarium venenatum
The Quorn fungus

Gene
25,000 genes decide who you are

Generic modification

Genetics
What you inherit and from whom

Gonium
Groups of green algae

Haematococcus pluvialis
Pink like a flamingo

Haloferax volcanii
ancient salt lover

Heterotrophic
Second-hand energy

Hypholoma fasciculare
Sulphur tuft

Ignaz Semmelweis
discoverer of the antiseptic method

Ilja Iljitsj Metsjnikov
At the start of immunology and probiotics

Infection
Source of sickness and infection

Janthinobacterium lividum
Useful pigment

Johanna Westerdijk
First female professor

John Snow
Founder of epidemiology and infection theory

Jonas Salk
Developer of the polio vaccine

Laboratory
Workplace of the laboratory technician

Lactic acid bacteria
Present and future impact

Lactobacillus brevis
a bit acidic

Lactobacillus casei
Indispensable for your health

Lactobacillus plantarum
A fermenting bacterium in our intestines

Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG
Keeps our products well

Lactococcus lactis
Ingested microbe

Lichens
successful partnership between fungi and algae

Louis Pasteur
Father of microbiology

Magnetic stirrer
Stirring with a magnet

Martinus Willem Beijerinck
Father of virology

Metabolism
The body at work

Micrasterias thomasiana
star among algae

Micro-organism or microbe
100 million different species

Microbiology
The science of micro-organisms

Microbiome
All your microbes

Microbiota
Microbes in one place

Microscope
Progress of the magnifying glass

Mitochondrion
The cell’s power stations

Multicellular
Between two and three billion cells

Mushrooms
Smart spore spreaders

Mutation
Change in the genetic material

Mycelium
Network of fungal threads

Mycorrhiza
Plants and fungi interact

Navicula sp.
Boat-shaped oxygen factory

Nematode
Successful string

Neocallimastix frontalis
Helping with fermentation

Organelle
The cell’s organs

Organism
All living things

PCR
Smart chain reaction

Parasite
Living off a host

Pasteurization
Food sterilization with low heat

Pathogen
Driving force of diseases

Pediastrum boryanum
Green algae

Penicillium roqueforti
A famous cheesemaker

Penicillium vanoranjei
Orange pride

Petri dish
A container for microbes

Philodina roseola
Feeds with the flow

Phormidium animale
Bright green

Photobacterium phosphoreum
Luminous bacterium

Photosynthesis
Providing our oxygen

Pichia barkeri
Micropia yeast

Pilobolus
Dung fungus

Pinnularia nobilis
Handy water pollution indicator

Pipette
Very accurate suspension

Plankton
Foundation of the food web

Plasmid
Pieces of DNA with convenient properties

Prebiotics
Food for your microbes

Probiotics
Helpful microorganisms

Prokaryote
Organism with no cell nucleus

Propionibacterium acnes
Helpful skin resident

Protists
Eukaryotic microbes

Psilocybe cubensis
A magic mushroom

Pyrocystis noctiluca
flashing algae

Quorum sensing
Crowd control

RNA
Help in copying

Radiolaria
Crystal clear creatures

Rasamsonia emersonii
The thermophilic fungus

Reproduction
From one, comes another

Resistance
Insensitive due to super-fast evolution

Rhizobium
Root nodules

Rhizopus oligosporus
Tasteful, sustainable and healthy

Rhodotorula mucilaginosa
Gut yeast

Ribosome
Indispensable protein factories

Robert Koch
Father of modern bacteriology

Rot
Decay after death

Rotifer
Catching food with a vortex

SCOBY
Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeasts

STI
Sick from sex

Saccharomyces boulardii
Beneficial effects

Saccharomyces cerevisiae
life in beer, bread and wine

Sea sparkle
Noctiluca scintillans

Selenastrum gracile
Green crescent moon

Selman Waksman
Controversial discoverer of antibiotics

Sergei Winogradsky
Microbial ecology and the Winogradsky column

Slide
the micro-world in between glass

Slime mould
The brainless clever clogs

Slipper animalcule
Single-cell organism with a tiny mouth

Spore
Tough reproductive cells

Staphylococcus aureus
not always too nice

Staphylococcus epidermidis
Lives in sweaty places

Starter culture
Microbes in your food

Sterilization
Removal of microbes

Streptococcus
At home everywhere

Streptomycetes
From antibiotics to earthy forest scent

Symbiosis
In between co-operation and merger

Synechococcus sp.
Photosynthesizing blue-green algae

Synechocystis sp. PCC6803
Sustainable cyanobacterium

Telomere
Repeating end bits

Theodor Escherich
discoverer of Escherichia coli

Tolypothrix distorta
Hairy ball

Tree of life
Soo many branches

Trichophyton rubrum
Home between the toes

Ulothrix zonata
Living camouflage

Unicellular
From algae to amoebas

Vaccination
Injecting weakened pathogens

Vibrio fischeri
The light inside the squid

Virus
The very smallest are the most numerous

Volvox
Floating inside the mother sphere

Water bears or moss piglets
Little survivors all over the place

Water flea
Bouncing crustaceans

Xanthoria parietina
a lichen consisting of fungus and algae

Xylaria polymorpha
Dead man’s fingers

Yarrowia lipolytica
Desired yeast in the industry

Yeast
A fungus in a hundred