biology

Veillonella parvula

Veillonella parvula 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 Veillonella parvula rather than just read about it. In short: Veillonella parvula is a strictly anaerobic, Gram-negative, coccus-shaped bacterium in the genus Veillonella. It is a normal part of the oral flora but can be associated with diseases such as periodontitis and dental caries as well as various systemic infections, including meningitis and osteomyelitis.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Veillonella parvula is a strictly anaerobic, Gram-negative, coccus-shaped bacterium in the genus Veillonella. It is a normal part of the oral flora but can be associated with diseases such as periodontitis and dental caries as well as various systemic infections, including meningitis and osteomyelitis. It has also been isolated from women with bacterial vaginosis and has been associated with hypertension together with Campylobacter rectus and Prevotella melaninogenica. V. parvula is unable to feed on carbohydrates, but can feed on lactate provided by Streptococcus species also found in the oral cavity. Specifically, Streptococcus mutans and V. parvula can form multispecies biofilms that lead to a lower susceptibility to antimicrobial treatments, resulting in periodontitis and dental caries.

Antimicrobial susceptibility V. parvula bacteria are susceptible to and typically treated with metronidazole and penicillin in clinical reports. Other antibiotics that have been shown to be active against V. parvula include cephalosporin, clindamycin, and chloramphenicol.

Antibiotic resistance There have been several reports of antibiotic resistance in V. parvula isolates in different countries. In Greece, V. parvula isolates were found to be somewhat resistant to penicillin, ampicillin, piperacillin/tazobactam, clindamycin, and moxifloxacin, with no reported resistance to metronidazole. In Taiwan, V. parvula isolates were found to be resistant against metronidazole. These findings represent the growing issue of antibiotic resistance worldwide.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Veillonella parvula

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Veillonella parvula 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 Veillonella parvula 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 Veillonella parvula 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 Veillonella parvula

In research: Veillonella parvula 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 Veillonella parvula 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: Veillonella parvula is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bacteria described in 1898, Bacterial vaginosis, Gram-negative bacteria, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Veillonella parvula 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 Veillonella parvula in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Veillonella parvula 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 Veillonella parvula out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Veillonella parvula in simple terms?

Why does Veillonella parvula 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 Veillonella parvula?

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 Veillonella parvula.