The following Glossary is a list of terms used on the PPI High School Connect Website. Terms included in the glossary are capitalized on the High School Connect pages

ALIQUOT	A fraction of a sample with a specific volume. Example: The 20 ml sample was divided into four 5 ml aliquots
ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE	The ability of a particular strain or group of bacteria to prevent an antibiotic from adversely affecting the bacteria
APOPTOSIS	The process of a cell committing suicide
BACTERIAL SPECK DISEASE	A plant disease caused by infection of the plant by bacteria
BIOINFORMATICS	The use of computer science, statistics, and information science to gain new understanding of biological systems. Bioinformatics is especially useful for the organization and interpretation of genome sequence data.
BLAST	Basic Local Alignment Search Tool. This is a program that allows users to rapidly search protein and nucleotide databases for regions similar to your sequence of interest.
BUBONIC PLAGUE	A disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Symptoms include fever, delerium, swollen lymph nodes and black spots on the skin
CONJUGATION	The process by which two bacteria in close proximity exchange a piece of DNA through a hollow tube-like structure called a PILUS. This is also called bacterial mating
DDBJ	DNA Data Bank of Japan. A public genetic sequence database is maintained at this site
DILUENT	Any liquid used to dilute a solution
EFFECTOR PROTEINS	Proteins that are injected by bacteria into the cells they are attacking through the TYPE III SECRETION SYSTEM. EFFECTOR PROTEINS are very diverse and help the bacteria cause disease in the plant.
EMBL-EBI	European Molecular Biology Laboratory-European Bioinformatics Institute. A public genetic sequence database is maintained at this site
EXPOSURE	Probability and/or amount of contact between the hazard and the thing it harms
GENBANK	See NCBI Genbank
GENOMICS	The study of the genetic content of an organism
GMO	Abbreviation for GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISM. Although virtually all agriculturally raised plants and animals have been genetically modified by traditional breeding, the term GMO is generally reserved for those that have had foreign genes inserted by molecular biological techniques
HAZARD	Inherent ability of a substance or activity to cause harm
HORIZONTAL GENE TRANSFER (HGT)	The transfer of genetic information between different species
HYPERSENSITIVE RESPONSE (HR)	Suicide, or APOPTOSIS, of infected cells, which is stimulated by the recognition of EFFECTOR PROTEINS by RESISTANCE PROTEINS, in order to stop the spreading of a pathogen.
HYPOTHESIS	A testable explanation for a set of observations. See also NULL HYPOTHESIS and SCIENTIFIC METHOD
MODEL SYSTEM	A particular organism that is studied in great detail as a representative of other organisms that are like it
NCBI GENBANK	A public genetic sequence database maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)
NULL HYPOTHESIS	The hypothesis that there is no relationship between the variables being tested. For example, if you are testing the HYPOTHESIS that EFFECTOR proteins are required for disease development, the NULL HYPOTHESIS would be that effector proteins are not required for disease development
PATHOVAR	A subset of a species of bacteria identified by the plant it can infect. It is abbreviate pv. Example: P. syringae pv. tomato infects tomato plants, while P. syringae pv. tabaci infects tobacco and P. syringae pv. phaseolicola infects bean plants.
PCR	PCR is an abbreviation for POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION, a molecular biology technique for amplifying (or copying) a piece of DNA many times in the lab.
PILUS	A tube of protein that bacteria use in CONJUGATION to exchange genetic material.
PLANT PATHOGEN	An organism (generally a bacterium, virus or fungus) that causes disease in plants
PSEUDOMONAS SYRINGAE	A bacteria that is a plant pathogen of economic importance. It causes bacterial speck disease on plants.
PUBMED	An online database of scientific literature provided by the National Library of Medicine
RECOMBINATION	The combining and rearrangement of DNA. Often occurs during mating
RESISTANCE PROTEINS	Proteins made by a plant cell that recognize specific bacterial EFFECTOR PROTEINS. Recognition of EFFECTOR PROTEINS by the resistance proteins triggers APOPTOSIS in the plant cell
RESISTANT	A plant which CANNOT be infected by a given pathogen
RISK	Potential harm as determined by the degree of the HAZARD and the amount of EXPOSURE
SCIENTIFIC METHOD	The process of discovery used by scientists and involving: (1) the development of a HYPOTHESIS based on observations, (2) testing of the hypothesis, and (3) determination of whether the results support the stated hypothesis. See also NULL HYPOTHESIS
SERIAL DILUTIONS	A method of making a set, or series, of dilutions wherein a previous dilution is used as the starting point for making the next dilution
STOMATES	Tiny pores in a leaf through which gases and water enter or leave. They can also be an entry point for pathogens
SUSCEPTIBLE	A plant which CAN be infected by a given pathogen
TRANSDUCTION	The transfer of DNA to bacteria by a virus
TRANSFORMATION	The process by which bacteria picks up a piece of DNA from its surroundings that is left over after another cell has died
TYPE III SECRETION SYSTEM	A highly specialized apparatus used to inject EFFECTOR PROTEINS. The type III secretion system works like a syringe to inject effectors directly into the target cell
UBIQUITOUS	A descriptive word that describes something that is everywhere
VIRULENCE PROTEINS	Pathogen proteins that play a role in disease. Effectors are one example of bacterial virulence proteins
YERSINIA PESTIS	A pathogenic bacteria that causes the bubonic plague in humans