POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

COLLEGE OF SCIENCE
Department of Biology

BIOL 30035 GENERAL MICROBIOLOGY A.Y. 2021-2022

Name: De Guzman, Rochele P. Yr. & Sec: BS Biology 1-2

Professor: Dr. Lourdes Alvarez

LECTURE
Activity No. 2
MICROBIAL TAXONOMY

1. Describe the genotypic from phenotypic characteristics.

- Alleles, which are pairs of genes that control specific traits, determine
genotype. Two dominant genes, one dominant and one recessive
gene, or two recessive genes can make up an allele. What phenotype
the allele expresses is determined by the combination of the two
genes and which one is dominant. Genotype simply refers to the
alleles carried by an organism's DNA. It cannot be determined by
simply observation; biological testing is required. The genotype of an
organism is inherited from its parents and expresses all of its genetic
information (Your Dictionary, n.d.). The apparent or observable
expression of the consequences of genes, together with the influence
of the environment on an organism's appearance or behavior, is
referred to as phenotype. The phenotypic might include everything
from the curve of a bird's wing to the sound of a humpback whale.

2. Explain how important is the components of taxonomy in microbiology.

- Taxonomy is a branch of biology that includes three independent but
closely connected disciplines: classification, nomenclature (name),
and organism identification. Taxonomy is a system for classifying,
naming, and identifying organisms that applies to all living things. This
uniformity allows biologists around the world to adopt a single
designation for all organisms examined across a wide range of
biological fields. Taxonomy provides a common vocabulary that
reduces name confusion, allowing more attention to be paid to other
important scientific questions and phenomena. Taxonomy is important
not only in phylogeny (the evolutionary history of species), but in
almost every other biological discipline, including microbiology (I
knowledge, n.d.). Microbiology taxonomy is a classification system for
microorganisms. Organisms that have comparable qualities to the
criteria used are grouped together and separated from other groups of
germs that have distinct traits.
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
COLLEGE OF SCIENCE
Department of Biology

3. Differentiate Systematics from Taxonomy?

- Taxonomy and systematics are two terms that refer to the study of the
evolution of biological forms and their interactions over time. The
primary distinction between taxonomy and systematics is that taxonomy
is concerned with the classification and naming of creatures, whereas
systematics is concerned with the determination of organisms'
evolutionary relationships. This means that systematics determines
whether or not different organisms share a common ancestor. Distinct
species are scientifically named and classified into different taxonomic
levels in taxonomy. The evolutionary relationships between organisms
are used to classify them. Taxonomy can be thought of as a subset of
systematics. Morphological, behavioral, genetic, and biochemical
observations are used in both taxonomy and systematics ( Breen,
2017).

REFERENCES:

Breen, A. (2017). Difference Between Taxonomy and Systematics. Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320413728_Difference_Between_Taxonomy_
and_Systematics#:~:text=The%20main%20difference%20between%20taxonomy,com
mon%20ancestry%20by%20different%20organisms.
I knowledge (n.d.). Microbial Taxonomy. Retrieved from
https://clinicalgate.com/microbial-
taxonomy/#:~:text=Applied%20to%20all%20living%20entities,the%20multitude%20of
%20biologic%20disciplines.
Your Dictionary (n.d.). Examples of Genotype & Phenotype: Differences Defined.
Retrieved from https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-genotype-
phenotype.html