Scientific names for organisms are italicized and have two parts. The first is the genus (plural genera) name, which is capitalized. Genus refers to a group of organisms that are closely related. The second part is the species name.
Achillea millefolium Milfoil or yarrow. Aromatic perennial plant in the composite family with finely divided leaves.
Agrobacterium tumefaciens Soil bacterium that causes tumor formation in plants called crown gall disease. This bacterium has a plasmid responsible for tumor formation called Ti plasmid, which is widely used for genetic engineering in plants.
Arabidopsis thaliana Small weedy plant in the mustard family. It has become a model plant for genetics since it grows easily and has a relatively small genome, which has been sequenced.
Bacillus thuringiensis Bacterium that is a natural pathogen of insects. It produces toxins that kill insects’ intestinal cells.
Caenorhabditis elegans Tiny (~ one mm in length) nematode that has become a model animal for genetic and developmental studies. Its developmental pattern has been determined and its genome has been sequenced.
Drosophila melanogaster The fruit fly that been used for many different genetic studies. Its genome has been sequenced.
Erwinia ureidovora Soil bacterium that is a source of one of the genes used to make golden rice, which produces provitamin A in the seed.
Fugu rubripes Pufferfish; considered a model genetic animal for vertebrates.
Thermus aquaticus Bacterium from which heat-resistant DNA polymerase was isolated. This DNA polymerase is used in polymerase chain reaction.