Bacteria in Sanskrit

In this blog, I will name some of the famous bacteria in Sanskrit as well as even go over the parts of a plasmid. I am a biological engineering major, so this blog post was exciting for me to write. Microbiology is a vast field, meaning there is only so much I can cover in a single blog post

Bacteria

There already exists a neologism for "bacterium" in modern Indian languages, which is जीवाणु, which means "smallest life form", a very fitting name. 

There are three main forms of Bacteria that we shall explore. The first is spherical (coccus), thus गोलक​. The second is the stereotypical rod shapped bacteria (baccilus), thus वेत्रक.​ The third is spiral shaped , thus आवर्तक​.

Bacteria can also be divided into two main groups, Gram Negative and Gram Positive. The former have thin Peptidoglycan in their cell wall so when stained with Crystal Violet, they don't show up purple. The latter have thick Peptidoglycan in their cell wall, so they do stain purple. 

I shall call Crystal Violet as  महानिलारुण​-द्रव्य​. Now, Gram Positive is सदर्श्यलेप​, or "having a visible stain". Gram Negative is निर्दर्श्यलेप​, or "not having a visible stain". By the way, Peptidoglycan will be rendered as "protein sugar" or प्रोभुजिनशर्करा.

Now I shall name the famous bacteria genuses. We shall start with the intestine dwelling Enterobacteria or अन्त्रवासजीवाणु. The first is Escherichia, in which E. Coli is the most famous. This bacteria will be called "bowel dwelling bacilliform" or गुदवेत्राणु. For now, E.Coli will be known as गुदा-गुदवेत्राणु (literally "bowel dwelling bacilliform of the bowl", to emphasize that it is a type species). A short hand is गुदावेत्राणु (गुदा as opposed to गुद).

Salmonella is the next genus, known for causing food poisoning in people who eat uncooked chicken. Because of its infamy in food poisoning, shorthandedly called here as indigestion, I will call it "indigestion bacilliform" or अजीर्णिवेत्राणु.

Moving out of tne Enterobacteria, we will look at other genera. Streptococcus is another infamous bacteria, known for causing Strep Throat. The bacteria is so named as it grows in chains of spheres. Thus आलिगोलाणु. 

Pseudomonas is too diverse of a bacteria group to homogenize. I will for time being call is "diversity bacilliform" or विविधवेत्राणु. Another species is Stenotrophomonas, which love to live in soil, so I will call it "soil bacilliform" or मृद्वेत्राणु.

Bacteria Growth Phases

The initial phase is the Lag Phase, or "slow (growth) time" -- मन्द​(वर्ध​)काल​. The next phase is the Log Growth Phase, where the bacteria grow exponentially. I will call it "fast (growth) time" or शीघ्र​(वर्ध​)काल​. Then there is Stationary Phase, where the bacteria reeached carrying capacity. and there is no growth. I shall call this "no growth time" or निर्वर्धकाल​. Alternatively, संवृद्धिकाल​ or "propserous time". then there is the Death Phase, where the nutrients are scarce so the bacteria die. This is appropriately मृत्युकाल​. 

Plasmids

There already exists the neologism गुणसूत्र​ in modern Indian languages to refer to "Chromosome", literally meaning "string of attributes". DNA therefore, I have rendered as गुणतन्त्र, which more or less means the same thing. I shall thus render "plasmid" as "ring of attributes" or गुणवलय​. 

Now onto the parts of the plasmid, but first for the time being the word "gene" will be rendered as "जन्त्र​" and codon will be "त्रिक​". 

The above is a diagram of a vector plasmid. The first part is the one in green, which is the Promotor, which is essentially where the polyamerase enzymes bind and transcription of our desired gene starts. I shall call this "starting part" or "आरंभभाग​". The next is the red part, which is the actual Gene of Interest that we are inserting into the plasmid for a bacteria to express. Thus I will call it इष्टजन्त्र or "desired gene". Next is the Terminator seuqence, in orange, which tells the transcriptase enzymes to stop transcription. Thus I will call it the "ending part" or अन्तिमभाग​.  

Now, we have the Origin of Replication, in blue, which allows the plasmid to be copied multiple times so that daughter cells will inherit the plamid code. I will call it "replication portion" or प्रतिकृतिभाग​​. Then is the Selection Marker, in purple, which allows us to select for the cells that took up the plasmid. In many cases, this is an antibiotic resistance gene. Cells that have the plasmid will not die when exposed to a specific antibiotic while the other cells die. I will call this the "selection portion" or वरणभाग. 

Many premade plasmid templates will have a designated section to add the Gene of Interest, called the Multiple Cloning Site or MCS. This will be rendered directly as बह्वनुकृतिस्थान​.  

There are various Restriction Sites where one can insert the gene of interest. Usually these are a section of specific nucleotide sequences called "sticky ends". I will call them "cutting sites" or  "छेदस्थान​". A Restriction Enyme is छेदावेजकण​.

One final note, many times, plasmids come premade as templates for scientists to edit. I shall call the template or backbone plasmid as "foundational ring" or आधर​(गुण​)वलय​. Sometimes we in order to do PCR on a plasmid, we need Primers or आरब्ध्रक​ (literally those used for starting something). 

Summary

Bacterium: जीवाणु

Bacilliform: वेत्रक

Coccus: गोलक

Spiral Shaped: आवर्तक

Gram Positive: सदर्श्यलेप

Gram Negative:निर्दर्श्यलेप

Crystal Violet: महानिलारुण​-द्रव्य​

Peptidoglycan: प्रोभुजिनशर्करा

Enterobacteria: अन्त्रवासजीवाणु.

Escherichia: गुदवेत्राणु

E.Coli: गुदा-गुदवेत्राणु ; गुदावेत्राणु (short hand)

Salmonella: अजीर्णिवेत्राणु

Streptococcus: आलिगोलाणु

Pseudomonas: विविधवेत्राणु

Stenotrophomonas: मृद्वेत्राणु

Lag Phase: मन्द​(वर्ध​)काल​

Log Phase: शीघ्र​(वर्ध​)काल

Stationary Phase: निर्वर्धकाल​ or संवृद्धिकाल​ 

Death Phase: मृत्युकाल

Gene: जन्त्र

Codon: त्रिक

Chromosome: गुणसूत्र

DNA: गुणतन्त्र

Plasmid: गुणवलय

Promoter: आरंभभाग

Gene of Interest: इष्टजन्त्र 

Terminator: अन्तिमभाग

Origin of Replication: प्रतिकृतिभाग​

Selection Marker: वरणभाग

Multiple Clone Site: बह्वनुकृतिस्थान

Restriction Site: छेदस्थान

Restriction Enzyme: छेदावेजकण

Primer: आरब्ध्रक

Plasmid Template/Backbone: आधर​(गुण​)वलय