Match the given characteristics to the corresponding prokaryotes.

1. spherical

2. rod-shaped

3. purple stain

4. pink stain

a. bacilli

b. gram-positive

c. gram-negative

d. cocci

1. spherical

Answer: d. cocci

A bacteria with spherical shape would be called cocci or coccus if they are in coccus in a group. One of the examples would be Staphylococcus aureus which is one of the normal flora of the skin. The word staphy - describe how their colony shaped which is look like grapes.

2. rod-shaped

A bacteria with rod-shape would be called bacilli or bacillus if they are in coccus in a group. One of the examples would be Bacillus anthracis which is a pathogen that could do deadly infection called anthrax. Many other bacteria is not named bacillus but have rod-shape like Escherichia coli, one of normal flora in the human gut

3. purple stain

Answer: gram-positive

4. pink stain

Answer: gram-negative

In gram staining procedure, bacteria can have either purple or pink color. If the bacteria have high amount peptidoglycan in their membrane, they can retain the crystal violet color from the staining procedure. Bacteria with a high amount of peptidoglycan will be called gram-positive bacteria.

If they are not, the alcohol will remove the stain, allow the bacteria to retain safranin or fuchsine pink color. Bacteria with a low amount of peptidoglycan will be called gram-negative bacteria.