biology

Prevotella intermedia

Prevotella intermedia is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Prevotella intermedia rather than just read about it. In short: Prevotella intermedia (formerly Bacteroides intermedius) is a gram-negative, obligate anaerobic pathogenic bacterium involved in periodontal infections, including gingivitis and periodontitis, and often found in acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis. It is commonly isolated from dental abscesses, where obligate anaerobes predominate.

Key takeaways

Prevotella intermedia belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Prevotella intermedia to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Prevotella intermedia from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Prevotella intermedia (formerly Bacteroides intermedius) is a gram-negative, obligate anaerobic pathogenic bacterium involved in periodontal infections, including gingivitis and periodontitis, and often found in acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis. It is commonly isolated from dental abscesses, where obligate anaerobes predominate. Prevotella intermedia is thought to be more prevalent in patients with noma.

Prevotella intermedia use steroid hormones as growth factors, so their numbers are higher in pregnant women. It has also been isolated from women with bacterial vaginosis.

See also Oral microbiology List of bacterial vaginosis microbiota

References

External links Type strain of Prevotella intermedia at BacDive - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Prevotella intermedia

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Prevotella intermedia claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Prevotella intermedia before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Prevotella intermedia ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Prevotella intermedia

In research: Prevotella intermedia appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Prevotella intermedia in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Prevotella intermedia is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bacteria described in 1970, Bacterial vaginosis, Bacteroidia, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Prevotella intermedia outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Prevotella intermedia in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Prevotella intermedia means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Prevotella intermedia out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Prevotella intermedia in simple terms?

Why does Prevotella intermedia matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Prevotella intermedia?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Prevotella intermedia.