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Scientific Naming of Organisms definitions

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  • Binomial Nomenclature

    A Latin-based two-part system for naming organisms, consisting of a genus and species.
  • Genus

    The first part of a scientific name, always capitalized and italicized or underlined.
  • Species

    The second part of a scientific name, always lowercase and italicized or underlined.
  • Strain

    A genetic variant within a species, often indicated by a specific designation.
  • Strain Designation

    A label added to a scientific name to identify a particular genetic variant within a species.
  • Italicization

    A formatting style used for both genus and species names in scientific naming.
  • Underlining

    An alternative formatting style to italicization for scientific names when handwritten.
  • Latin

    The classical language used as the basis for scientific names in taxonomy.
  • Carl Linnaeus

    The scientist who developed the two-part naming system for organisms in the 1700s.
  • Microorganism

    A microscopic living entity, such as bacteria or fungi, classified using scientific naming.
  • Bacterium

    A single-celled prokaryotic organism, often identified by genus, species, and sometimes strain.
  • Fungus

    A eukaryotic organism, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, named using the binomial system.
  • Taxonomy

    The scientific discipline concerned with classifying and naming organisms.