Meaning & use
peritrichous
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Meaning
adjectivebefore a nounbiology
Describing a bacterium whose flagella, the whip-like tails it swims with, cover its whole surface rather than one end.
Grammar: Usually before the noun: peritrichous bacteria, peritrichous flagella.
Patterns
- peritrichous flagella
- peritrichous bacteria
E. coli is peritrichous, so its flagella stick out in all directions.
Under the microscope, the peritrichous cells looked like they wore a fringe of threads.
Students compared peritrichous and polar flagellation in a lab exercise.
Common combinations
- peritrichous flagella
- The peritrichous flagella bundle together when the cell swims forward.
- peritrichous bacteria
- Peritrichous bacteria include Salmonella.
- peritrichous arrangement
- A peritrichous arrangement lets the cell tumble and change direction.
- peritrichous flagellation
- Peritrichous flagellation is seen in many gut bacteria.
Synonyms and how they differ
- flagellated all over
- This plain phrase says the same in everyday words, while peritrichous is the exact technical term.
- monotrichous
- Monotrichous is not a synonym but a contrast: it means a single flagellum, whereas peritrichous means many around the cell.
- lophotrichous
- Lophotrichous means a tuft of flagella at one end, so it differs by position.
Opposites
Word family
- flagellum noun
- a whip-like tail used for movement
- monotrichous adjective
- having a single flagellum
- lophotrichous adjective
- having a tuft of flagella at one end
- peritrichously adverb
- in a peritrichous arrangement
Commonly confused: peritrichous or polar flagellation? peritrichous or peristalsis?
peritrichous vs polar flagellation
In polar flagellation the flagella sit at one or both ends, but in a peritrichous cell they cover the surface.
peritrichous vs peristalsis
Peristalsis is the wave of muscle movement in the gut and is unrelated.
Practice
A peritrichous bacterium has flagella that are:
Choose one answer.
Peritrichous means flagella surround the entire cell. A single tail is monotrichous.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “peritrichous”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.