adjective
- having flagella distributed uniformly over the entire surface of a bacterial cell
Usage: biology; microbiology
Examples
- Peritrichous bacteria can move in multiple directions due to their flagella arrangement.
- E. coli is a classic example of a peritrichous bacterium.
- The peritrichous flagellation allows the organism to tumble and change direction rapidly.
- Scientists identified the species as peritrichous based on electron microscopy images.
- Peritrichous bacteria contrast with those having flagella only at the poles.