QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
(GRADED A+)
Which statement about the relationship between microbes and humans is false?
A) most microbes are pathogenic
B) infectious disease is an important public health concern
C) Bacteria in the digestive tract are important for digestion
D) Microbes in root nodules fix nitrogen and allow plants to make nitrogen-rich
products - ANSWER-A
A pure culture:
A) is sterile
B) is a population of identical cells
C) is made of a clearly defined chemical medium
D) contains one microbial cell - ANSWER-B
Which of the following is/are characteristics of ALL cellular organisms?
A) communication
B) evolution
C) motility
D) communication, evolution, motility - ANSWER-B
The person who described the "wee animalcules" was:
A) Robert Hooke
B) Antoni van Leeuwenhoek
C) Louis Pasteur
D) Ferdinand Cohn - ANSWER-B
,Microbes playing a role in nitrogen fixation in plants live in ______, while those
playing a role in the digestive tract of certain herbivores live in ______.
A) rumens/nodules
B) nodules/rumens
C) nodules/fortrans
D) fortrans/rumens - ANSWER-B
The theory of spontaneous generation was refuted by the work of:
A) Louis Pasteur
B) Robert Koch
C) Robert Hooke
D) Antoni van Leeuwenhoek - ANSWER-A
Some microorganisms can undergo _____ in which various cell types can become
specialized and arise from one parent cell type
A) differentiation
B) genetic exchange
C) maturation
D) mutagenesis - ANSWER-A
The process whereby microorganisms are used to help clean up pollution created by
human activities is known as:
A) bioaugmentation
B) biodegradation
C) bioengineering
D) bioremediation - ANSWER-D
Microbes that live at high temperatures in hot springs are
A) always Archaea
B) also able to thrive at low temperatures
C) called extremophiles
,D) rarely found - ANSWER-C
The disease anthrax is caused by the pathogenic bacterium _______, which
produced heat-resistant structures known as _______.
A) Azotobacter chroococcum/endospores
B) Azotobacter chroococcum/plasmids
C) Bacillus anthracis/endospores
D) Bacillus anthracis/plasmids - ANSWER-C
Which of the following types of microscopy could be used to visualize the layers of
the cell membrane and the cell wall?
A) phase-contrast microscopy
B) transmission electron microscopy
C) bright-field microscopy
D) dark field microscopy - ANSWER-B
The science of grouping and classifying microorganisms is known as:
A) microbial physiology
B) proteomics
C) metabolomics
D) microbial systematics - ANSWER-D
_______ are charged molecules that are partially responsible for the ______ charge
of the gram-positive bacterial cell surface.
A) Diaminopimelic acids/positive
B) Teichoic acids/negative
C) phospholipids/negative
D) peptide interbridges/neutral - ANSWER-B
Why is ribosomal RNA especially useful for the study for phylogenetic relationships?
A) it is only found in some species, helping to distinguish them from others
, B) it is highly conserved
C) it is highly variable
D) it is extremely short - ANSWER-B
The structure that confers structural strength on the cell is known as the
A) cytoplasmic membrane
B) cell wall
C) ribosome
D) cytoplasm - ANSWER-B
Which of the following types of microscopy is especially effective for viewing details
of internal structures within live cells?
A) phase-contrast microscopy
B) transmission electron microscopy
C) bright-field microscopy
D) scanning electron microscopy - ANSWER-A
Microorganisms play key roles in the cycling of important nutrients in plant nutrition,
particularly those of:
A) carbon only
B) nitrogen only
C) sulfur only
D) carbon, nitrogen and sulfur - ANSWER-D
The production of human proteins (eg insulin) by genetically engineered
microorganisms is an example of _______, a subdiscipline of microbiology.
A) applied microbiology
B) biotechnology
C) immunology
D) molecular microbiology - ANSWER-B