🦠 Bacteria-like 🦠 A special bacterium

bacteroid

9.9

A tiny rod-shaped living thing in plant roots that helps the plant get nitrogen from the soil

noun
/ˈbæk.tə.rɔɪd/

Specialized

: bacteroide

Many bacteroids are found in the root nodules of legumes.

Examples

The presence of bacteroids in the root nodules enhances nitrogen fixation in legumes.
The presence of bacteroids in the root nodules enhances nitrogen fixation in legumes.
Scientists observed the transformation of bacteria into bacteroids during symbiosis with the host plant.
The microscopy slides clearly showed numerous bacteroids within the plant cells.
The bacteroid plays a crucial role in nitrogen fixation.
The microscopy slides clearly showed numerous bacteroids within the plant cells.
Many bacteroids are found in the root nodules of legumes.

Synonyms

Rhizobium

vsbacteroid

Specialized

1 9.9

A type of bacteria that lives on roots of bean and pea plants and adds nitrogen to the soil

is a rod or branched bacterium with a broader form, not only one genus

Surface Forms

bacteroid singular

bacteroids plural

Morphology

bacteroid = bacterium (transparent) = bacter + oid

The noun sense names an organism 'resembling a bacterium' and is formed by adding the productive '-oid' to the bacterial base, so the relation is directly derivable.

Etymology

The word bacteroid comes from the root bacter- ('small rod' or 'microbe') and the ending -oid ('like'), so it means 'something like a bacterium'. In biology, a bacteroid is a rod-shaped or bacteria-like cell, often the form found inside plant root nodules that helps the plant take nitrogen from the air.