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GATE 2022 BT – Question 17

General Biology · Microbiology: History, bacterial classification and diversity, cell wall, Gram positive and negative bacteria, archaea, methods · 1 mark · Multiple choice

In binomial nomenclature, the name of a bacterial strain is written with the first letter of ___________ word(s) being capitalized.

  1. first
  2. second
  3. neither
  4. first and second

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Correct answer: (A) first

Explanation

In **binomial nomenclature** a species name has two parts: the genus and the species epithet (for example *Escherichia coli*).

The rules are:
- the **genus** name starts with a **capital** letter,
- the **species** epithet is written entirely in **lower case**,
- the whole name is written in italics (or underlined).

For a strain name, only the **first** word (genus) has a capital first letter. Answer **first** (A).