BACTERIAL IDENTIFICATION VIRTUAL LAB
EXAM SCRIPT 2026 DETAILED QUESTIONS
GRADED A+
⩥ What are the four basic steps involved in this bacterial
identification lab? Answer: 1. Prepare sample from patient and isolate
whole bacterial DNA
2. Make many copies of desired piece of DNA
3. Sequence the DNA
4. Analyze the sequence and identify the bacteria
⩥ What is 16s rDNA and how is it used to identify species of
bacteria? Answer: 16s rDNA is a piece of DNA used for identifying
bacteria the region codes for a small subunit of ribosomal RNA.
Identification relies on matching the sequence form your sample
against a database of all known 16s rDNA sequences
⩥ As the pathology lab technician what's your task in this virtual lab?
Answer: Identify a bacterial sample received from a clinician
⩥ Extracting DNA involves which initial step? Answer: Dissolving
the cell wall with a digestive buffer (in white capped bottle)
⩥ What is the wire ring used for? Answer: Obtain a sample form the
Petri dish (extracts a colony)
, ⩥ Why are the proteolytic enzymes necessary? Answer: Buffer is a
digestive enzyme that east the cell wall in order to extract the
bacterial DNA
⩥ Why do you need to inactivate the proteolytic enzymes and how do
you do it? Answer: Other enzymes are used in next step and enzyme
is denatured by heating sample in a H2O bath @ 100 °C
⩥ After removing the enzymes why do you spin the sample in a
centrifuge? Answer: So cellular debris is spun down in the centrifuge
and will appear as a solid deposit (pellet) @ bottom of the tube
⩥ What is the pellet? Answer: Solid debris
⩥ What is supernatant? Answer: clear liquid found on top of solid
solution after a mixture has been centiruged contains the inclusion
bodies
⩥ Where is the DNA? Answer: Contained in the supernatant (liquid)
in the PCR tube
⩥ What does PCR stand for and what does it do? Answer: polymerase
chain reaction; uses a special type of DNA polymerase to make
billions of copies of a targeted sequence of DNA; widely used in
research
EXAM SCRIPT 2026 DETAILED QUESTIONS
GRADED A+
⩥ What are the four basic steps involved in this bacterial
identification lab? Answer: 1. Prepare sample from patient and isolate
whole bacterial DNA
2. Make many copies of desired piece of DNA
3. Sequence the DNA
4. Analyze the sequence and identify the bacteria
⩥ What is 16s rDNA and how is it used to identify species of
bacteria? Answer: 16s rDNA is a piece of DNA used for identifying
bacteria the region codes for a small subunit of ribosomal RNA.
Identification relies on matching the sequence form your sample
against a database of all known 16s rDNA sequences
⩥ As the pathology lab technician what's your task in this virtual lab?
Answer: Identify a bacterial sample received from a clinician
⩥ Extracting DNA involves which initial step? Answer: Dissolving
the cell wall with a digestive buffer (in white capped bottle)
⩥ What is the wire ring used for? Answer: Obtain a sample form the
Petri dish (extracts a colony)
, ⩥ Why are the proteolytic enzymes necessary? Answer: Buffer is a
digestive enzyme that east the cell wall in order to extract the
bacterial DNA
⩥ Why do you need to inactivate the proteolytic enzymes and how do
you do it? Answer: Other enzymes are used in next step and enzyme
is denatured by heating sample in a H2O bath @ 100 °C
⩥ After removing the enzymes why do you spin the sample in a
centrifuge? Answer: So cellular debris is spun down in the centrifuge
and will appear as a solid deposit (pellet) @ bottom of the tube
⩥ What is the pellet? Answer: Solid debris
⩥ What is supernatant? Answer: clear liquid found on top of solid
solution after a mixture has been centiruged contains the inclusion
bodies
⩥ Where is the DNA? Answer: Contained in the supernatant (liquid)
in the PCR tube
⩥ What does PCR stand for and what does it do? Answer: polymerase
chain reaction; uses a special type of DNA polymerase to make
billions of copies of a targeted sequence of DNA; widely used in
research
