Microbial Ecology Study Guide Questions - 1239 Verified Questions
Microbial Ecology Study Guide Questions
Course Introduction
Microbial Ecology examines the diversity, distribution, and interactions of microorganisms in natural and engineered environments. This course explores the roles microbes play in ecosystems, including nutrient cycling, symbiotic relationships, and their responses to environmental changes. Students will investigate modern techniques for studying microbial communities, such as molecular and genomic approaches, and discuss the implications of microbial activity on global processes, human health, and environmental sustainability.
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Microbiology 1st Edition by Dave Wessner
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Chapter 1: The Microbial World
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Q1) The __________ Theory is used to explain the origins of mitochondria and chloroplasts in eukaryotic cells.
Answer: endosymbiotic,endosymbiont,endosymbiosis
Q2) Microbial nitrogen fixation is the conversion of ammonia into dinitrogen gas.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) Which of these is an example of a macromolecule?
A) an amino acid
B) a nucleoside
C) a protein
D) a purine
E) a monosaccharide
Answer: C
Q4) DNA contributes about 2 to 5% to the dry weight of the cell.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q5) The three domains of life are ________,________,and ________.
Answer: Bacteria,Archaea,Eukarya.
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Chapter 2: Bacteria
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Q1) The bacterial flagellum is turned by a motor using energy from:
A) ATP.
B) glucose.
C) a proton motive force.
D) phosphoenolpyruvate.
E) AMP.
Answer: C
Q2) Short hair-like protrusions on the surface of some bacterial cells,used primarily for attachment but some are used for motility,and called ___ .
Answer: pili
Q3) _______ motility is used by myxobacteria and some cyanobacteria for smooth movement across a solid surface.
Answer: Gliding
Q4) Protein channels in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria that allow the diffusion of small molecules (600 daltons or less)across the membrane into the periplasmic space are called ____.
Answer: porins
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Chapter 3: Eukaryal Microbes
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Q1) Mitochondria replicate independently of the host cell.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Which statement below is FALSE regarding mitochondria and chloroplasts?
A) Both contain DNA.
B) Both replicate independently of the host cell.
C) Both function in energy generation.
D) Both contain the enzymes for the glycolytic pathway.
E) Both contain inner membranes.
Answer: D
Q3) Molecular chaperones are proteins involved in which eukaryal cell process?
A) transcription
B) translation
C) mitosis
D) protein folding
E) energy production
Answer: D
Q4) Microfilament are made of the protein ___.
Answer: actin
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Chapter 4: Archaea
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Q1) The archaeal chromosome is:
A) linear and contained within a nuclear membrane.
B) circular and contained within a nuclear membrane.
C) circular and contains histones.
D) linear and contains histones.
E) circular, contains histones, and contained within a nuclear membrane.
Q2) Evidence clearly shows that Archaea are direct descendants of the earliest life forms.
A)True
B)False
Q3) All members of the phylum Crenarchaeota are hyperthermophiles.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which of these is characteristic of a halophile?
A) It grows in a circle on a petri dish.
B) It is extremely small in size.
C) It has an absolute requirement for salt.
D) It requires an acidic environment for growth.
E) It grows only under anaerobic conditions.
Q5) All known methanogens are found in the domain ___.
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Viruses
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Q1) Many enveloped viruses exit their host cell through a process called _________.
A) exocytosis
B) budding
C) cell lysis
D) receptor-mediated endocytosis
E) phagocytosis
Q2) A single virus-infected cell may produce up to __________ new virions.
A) 10
B) 100
C) 1000
D) 10,000
E) one million
Q3) What is the premise of the progressive hypothesis of viral origin?
A) Viruses evolved from symbionts of cells.
B) Viruses evolved from self-replicating nucleic acid segments.
C) Viruses originated from cells that lost the ability to replicate.
D) Viruses were present when the first primordial cells evolved.
E) Viruses arose from fragmented DNA in a cell.
Q4) Describe the coevolution hypothesis of viral origin.What evidence supports this hypothesis?
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Chapter 6: Cultivating Microorganisms
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Q1) An autotroph is an organism that obtains its energy from the sun.
A)True
B)False
Q2) If a cell culture contains 400 cells/ml at time = 0 and it has a generation time of 30 minutes,how many cells (cells/ml)will be present after 2 hours of incubation?
A) 1200 cells/ml
B) 1600 cells/ml
C) 2400 cells/ml
D) 3200 cells/ml
E) 6400 cells/ml
Q3) How long would it take a culture of E.coli with a starting cell density of 1 X 10 cells/ ml to reach a cell density of 1 X 10 cells/ml if it had a generation time of 30 minutes?
A) 3 hours
B) 4 hours
C) 5 hours
D) 6 hours
E) 7 hours
Q4) Nucleic acids strongly absorb _____________ radiation of 260 nm.
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Chapter 7: DNA Replication and Gene Expression
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Q1) The Hershey and Chase experiment was able to conclusively demonstrate that DNA,not protein,was the genetic material.They were able to distinguish DNA from protein since labeled _____ incorporated into DNA while labeled _____ incorporated into proteins.
A) nitrogen; sulfur
B) magnesium; nitrogen
C) nitrogen; magnesium
D) phosphorous; sulfur
E) sulfur; nitrogen
Q2) Describe the process of mRNA processing in eukaryal cells.
Q3) What is the first protein to bind to the oriC region of the DNA molecule to start the replication process?
A) DNA polymerase
B) the primase
C) DnaA
D) gyrase
E) DnaI
Q4) Describe the structure of DNA according to the Watson - Crick Model.
Q5) Basic proteins that help to package the DNA in eukaryal cells are called ________.
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Chapter 8: Viral Replication Strategies
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Q1) What are the functions of the retrovirus enzymes reverse transcriptase and integrase for the replication of the virus?
Q2) The Baltimore classification scheme for viruses divides all viruses into seven groups based on
A) their shape and host.
B) host and presence or absence of an envelope.
C) how they produce mRNA and replicate their genome.
D) their shape and presence or absence of an envelope.
E) their shape, host, and presence or absence of an envelope.
Q3) Antibodies produced in response to a viral infection may specifically bind to the virus particle to effectively block _______________ to the host cell.
Q4) The influenza virus gains entry into a host cell by
A) direct injection of its nucleic acid.
B) receptor-independent endocytosis.
C) lysis of the cell membrane.
D) receptor-mediated endocytosis.
E) pinocytosis.
Q5) A bacterial cell that contains the integrated genome of a temperate bacteriophage is called a ______.
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Chapter 9: Bacterial Genetic Analysis
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Q1) Which term applies to the transfer of genes from mother to daughter cell?
A) vertical gene transfer
B) lateral gene transfer
C) horizontal gene transfer
D) meiosis
E) transduction
Q2) Escherichia coli strain K12 is considered a wild-type strain and does not have any nutritional vitamin requirements.What term applies to this strain?
A) An autotroph.
B) An auxotroph.
C) A phototroph.
D) A prototroph.
E) A lithotroph.
Q3) Bacterial mutants have been very useful for studying and understanding:
A) biosynthetic pathways.
B) capsule production.
C) antibiotic resistance.
D) carbon metabolism.
E) all of these choices.
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Chapter 10: Microbial Genomics
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Q1) What was the Northern blot hybridization technique used to measure?
A) The transcriptional expression of a specific gene.
B) The translational expression of a specific gene.
C) The the frequency of transcription initiation.
D) The amount of DNA in a cell.
E) The rate of chromosomal replication.
Q2) The Sanger method of sequencing used special nucleotides that are called ________ nucleotides.
Q3) ___________________ gene transfer occurs when an organism acquires a gene from another organism and incorporates the genetic information into its genome.
Q4) Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE)separates proteins based on what property?
A) size
B) charge
C) hydrophobicity
D) size and charge
E) size and hydrophobicity
Q5) The pH at which a protein's charge is completely neutral is the protein's ______________ point.
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Chapter 11: Regulation of Gene Expression
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Q1) Repressor proteins bind to the control region of a gene called the ___________.
Q2) What is a "reporter gene"?
A) A gene that is expressed under adverse environmental conditions.
B) The fusion of two different structural genes.
C) The fusion of a gene of interest to a regulatable promoter.
D) The fusion of a promoter region of interest to a gene whose product can easily be measured.
E) A gene whose product can easily be measured.
Q3) The transfer of T-DNA into a plant cell by Agrobacterium tumefaciens is a highly regulated process.This process only occurs if a plant becomes wounded and excretes various compounds that are detected by A.tumefaciens for expression of its virulence genes.Regulation of virulence gene expression is under the control of which type of system?
A) A two-component system.
B) An inducer/repressor system.
C) An activator/co-activator system.
D) A co-repressor/repressor system.
E) A repressor/co-activator system.
Q4) What is quorum sensing? How is it involved in the bioluminescence of the bacterium Vibrio fischeri?
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Chapter 12: Microbial Biotechnology
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Q1) Which of these amino acids are used for the production of the sweetener aspartame?
A) glycine and asparagine
B) glutamate and asparagine
C) aspartate and phenylalanine
D) aspartate and glycine
E) tryptophan and proline
Q2) Why do microorganisms accumulate polyhydroxyalkanoates?
A) It is a waste product of metabolism.
B) It is used for cell wall synthesis.
C) It is a form of stored energy.
D) It acts as an outer capsule.
E) For osmotic protection.
Q3) The first recombinant protein produced for human use was ________.
Q4) Bioreactors or fermentors are used in industry to maximize cell density and therefore also increase product ________.
Q5) All secondary metabolites produced by microorganisms are used as antibiotics. A)True B)False
Page 14
Q6) Why are microalgae an attractive source of biodiesel?
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Chapter 13: Metabolism
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Q1) How is ATP generated during the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis?
A) Substrate-level phosphorylation.
B) A proton motive force driven ATP synthase.
C) Electron driven NADPH synthase.
D) Carbon dioxide fixation.
E) Chlorophyll a.
Q2) The reduction of dinitrogen to ammonia for assimilation is called nitrogen
Q3) Metabolic processes in the cell that yield energy are called ____________.
Q4) The reduction of nitrate to a gaseous form of nitrogen,such as dinitrogen,is called
Q5) The most common carbon dioxide fixation pathway used by cyanobacteria is the Calvin cycle.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Organism that use light as energy sources are called _____________.
Q7) Describe the components of the respiratory electron transport chain.Indicate if they are both an electron and proton acceptor,or an electron only acceptor.
Q8) Distinguish between anaerobic respiration and fermentation.
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Chapter 14: Biogeochemical Cycles
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Q1) What is the oxidation state of carbon in methane?
A) +1
B) + 2
C) -1
D) -2
E) -4
Q2) The anaerobic oxidation of methane by some archaeons may occur syntrophically with these organisms.
A) nitrogen fixing bacteria
B) nitrifying bacteria
C) denitrifying bacteria
D) iron-oxidizing bacteria
E) sulfate-reducing bacteria
Q3) The oxidation state of the carbon atom in methanol (CH OH)is ______.
Q4) What is the oxidation state of nitrogen in ammonia?
A) -3
B)-1
C) 0
D) +1
E) +3
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Chapter 15: Microbial Ecosystems
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Q1) Soil texture classification is based on the percent of __________ that make up the soil.
A) air, water, and solids
B) water and solids
C) sand, silt, and clay
D) sand and water
E) clay and sand
Q2) What is the % salinity of the ocean?
A) 1% or less
B) 3.5%
C) 8%
D) 15%
E) 35%
Q3) Approximately what percent of primary production reaches the ocean floor?
A) one
B) five
C) ten
D) twenty
E) forty
Q4) Sulfur emitted from hydrothermal vents is in the form of __________.
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Chapter 16: The Microbiology of Food and Water
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Q1) All of the following are goals of wastewater treatment except A) reduction of total organic content (TOC).
B) removal of harmful pathogens.
C) enhancement of the taste of water.
D) removal of nitrogen.
E) removal of phosphorus.
Q2) Vacuum packaging inhibits the growth of microbes that
A) are obligate anaerobes.
B) rely on fermentation for energy metabolism.
C) are aerotolerant anaerobes.
D) rely on aerobic respiration for growth.
E) are chemolithotrophs.
Q3) The ________________ is a measure of the amount of oxygen required for the microbial oxidation of organic compounds in a water source.
A) chemical oxygen demand
B) biological oxygen demand
C) respiration rate
D) carbon dioxide production
E) cell yield
Q4) Compare and contrast a food-borne infection to intoxication.
Page 18
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Chapter 17: Microbial Symbionts
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Q1) The mycobiont of a lichen receives sugars from the photobiont as a benefit from this relationship while the photobiont receives _______________ from the mycobiont as a benefit.
A) amino acids
B) ATP
C) inorganic nutrients and protection from desiccation
D) protection from predation
E) vitamins and amino acids
Q2) When the diet of a ruminant is drastically changed from grass to a starch rich diet,the ruminant may become very ill or die because:
A) the microbes in the rumen cannot break down starch.
B) of the production of large amounts of acid, resulting in acidosis.
C) they lack a source of protein.
D) they are unable to regurgitate the starch as cud.
E) the starch is broken down very slowly and the rumen becomes clogged.
Q3) All microorganisms that live on or within the human body are referred to collectively as the human ________________.
Q4) Describe the process of rhizobial recognition of its host legume for the initiation of nodule formation.
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Chapter 18: Introduction to Infectious Diseases
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Q1) Which of these would need to occur for a disease to be considered infectious?
A) A susceptible host encounters an infectious agent.
B) An infectious agent colonizes a host.
C) An infectious agent colonizes a host and can be transmitted to another host.
D) An infectious agent causes damage to the host.
E) An infectious agent causes damage to the host and can be transmitted to another host.
Q2) Which of these outcomes is the focus of molecular Koch's postulates?
A) The isolation of the pathogen.
B) The identification of the pathogen.
C) The determination of the LD .
D) The determination of the ID .
E) The identification of virulence factor genes.
Q3) Term for newly identified infectious diseases or those with a recent significant increase in incidence.
A) emerging diseases
B) new diseases
C) modern diseases
D) future diseases
E) special diseases
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Chapter 19: Innate Host Defenses Against Microbial Invasion
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Q1) A special type of endocytosis whereby large particles or cells are taken into a cell enclosed in an endosome for digestion is called __________________.
Q2) Vasodilation is the increase in the diameter of blood vessels.Which of the following does NOT cause vasodilation?
A) lysozyme
B) the inflammatory response
C) histamine
D) prostaglandins
E) serotonin
Q3) The inflammatory response will sometimes produce a fever.Why is fever considered a defense mechanism?
A) Fever slows the body's metabolism.
B) Fever decreases the inflammatory response.
C) Fever prevents a person from becoming cold.
D) Fever inhibits or decreases pathogen growth.
E) Fever stimulates antibody production.
Q4) NK cells can recognize and destroy cancer cells.
A)True
B)False
21
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Chapter 20: Adaptive Immunity
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Q1) The cytokine _________________ functions as a growth factor for T cells by promoting cell division.
Q2) CD4 T cells are activated through binding to specific antigen presented by the MHC II molecules on the surface of a dendritic cell.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Every time an antigen is encountered the immune memory response increases.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Exogenous antigen can be taken up by antigen-presenting cells through phagocytosis,processed,and presented to T cells on their surface by these.
A) MHC I molecules
B) MHC II molecules
C) interleukin 2 molecules
D) tumor necrosis factor alpha
E) interferon gamma
Q5) CD8 T cells are activated by specifically binding to an antigen displayed on the surface of an antigen presenting cell in the major histocompatibility (MHC)marker type
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Chapter 21: Survival in the Host
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Q1) Hemolytic uremic syndrome is caused by Staphylococcus aureus.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Lipoteichoic acids are associated with which of these bacteria?
A) Staphylococcus aureus
B) Escherichia coli
C) Shigella sonnei
D) Klebsiella pneumoniae
E) Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
Q3) Select the example of a virulence factor that does not directly cause damage to host cells but elicits a strong,damaging inflammatory host response.
A) immunoglobulin protease
B) endotoxin
C) cytotoxin
D) fimbriae
E) urease
Q4) Explain how superantigens are able to cause toxic shock syndrome.
Q5) Enterotoxins produced by Staphylococcus aureus are weak superantigens.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 22: Viral Pathogenesis
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Q1) How do retroviruses cause cancer?
A) Through the inhibition of tumor suppressor genes.
B) By encouraging frequent cell lysis.
C) By directly inducing the cell to enter into S-phase.
D) By preventing the cell from entering into apoptosis.
E) Through the integration of their DNA into a proto-oncogene.
Q2) Which is TRUE of an acute viral infection?
A) They rarely occur.
B) They occur over a long period of time.
C) They result in a slow onset of symptoms.
D) They have a relatively short duration.
E) They are always very mild in nature.
Q3) This type of viral infection results in the continuous production of virions over several years.
A) acute infection
B) latent infection
C) persistent infection
D) lytic infection
E) spontaneous infection
Q4) A viral infection of short duration is referred to as a(n)________ infection.
Page 24
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Chapter 23: Eukaryal Microbe Pathogenesis
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Q1) How does the fungus Amanita cause disease?
A) From the ingestion of a potent toxin it produces.
B) Through the invasion of the intestinal mucosa.
C) By inhalation of fungal spores that germinate in the lungs to cause pneumonia.
D) By invading the neuronal tissue and causing disease.
E) Through the invasion of muscle cells.
Q2) What can result from an ascaris infection in children?
A) Poor nutrient absorption and growth.
B) Damage to the liver.
C) Damage to the heart.
D) Rashes.
E) Damage to the bladder.
Q3) How do spores of the causative agent of Dutch elm disease,Ophiostoma novo-ulmi,spread from a dead infected tree to a non-infected tree?
A) an airborne route of transmission
B) woodpeckers
C) an elm beetle
D) squirrels that live in the dead tree
E) mosquitos
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Chapter 24: Control of Infectious Diseases
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Q1) Describe two unique targets for antimicrobial drugs in bacteria.
Q2) Modern vaccines elicit effective immune responses in everyone that is vaccinated.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Azidothymidine (AZT)is an antiviral drug used to treat HIV infections.AZT is somewhat selective for use in HIV treatment because it has an affinity for the viral enzyme
A) RNA polymerase.
B) DNA polymerase.
C) topoisomerase.
D) reverse transcriptase.
E) neuraminidase.
Q4) For an antimicrobial drug to work properly,a person's acquired immune response must be functioning properly.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Azidothymidine (AZT)is an antiviral drug used to treat a(n)_________ infection.
Q6) The Sabin polio vaccine was a(n)________________ vaccine.
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