MICR 2420- Midterm Test Questions
and All Correct Answers Graded A+
2025-2026 Updated.
What microbes can degrade and/or utilize every molecule on earth? - Answer bacteria and
archaea
What is botulism used for? - Answer medicine (is a very potent toxin; is a paralytic)
How do we identify new bacteria? - Answer by sequence analysis of universal genes (i.e.
with rRNA)
What is a process that is preserved between cells? Why? - Answer translation of ribosomes;
it is a complex process with lots of restraints on mutations (i.e. genes mutate very slowly)
What is good about rRNA? - Answer these genes can be used to assess how related things
are to each other (evolution; tree of life)
What is transduction by? And what are chromosomal insertions by? - Answer
bacteriophages; latent viruses/retroviruses
Why is bread non alcoholic? - Answer the EtOH evaporates
What is yeast? - Answer unicellular fungus
A sources of disease by the ancient Greeks and Romans? - Answer unseen miasmas (bad air)
What is wrong with the statement: "Bacteria belong to the domain Prokarya." - Answer this
is not a domain; just needed a word to distinguish cell structures; no membrane bound
organelles
Why does water not get vaporized in deep sea vents? - Answer high P
Bacteria that can survive in high temperatures? - Answer hyperthermophiles
What do bacteria do that the environment can't? - Answer nitrogen fixing
,Full word for lithotrophs? - Answer chemolithoautotrophs
3 main greenhouse gases in order of potency and dominance? - Answer Co2>CH4>NO2
What are methanes reserves? - Answer a product of ancient archaea
3 important people for the birth of microbiology? - Answer 1. Louis Pasteur
2. Robert Koch
3. Antoine van Leeumenhoek
What did Antoine van Leeuwenhoek do? - Answer created a powerful microscope to reveal
"animal cules" (swimming in drop of water)
Important work by Louis Pasteur? - Answer -pasteurization (doesn't sterilize, but removes
micro from milk and apple juice)
-proved that microorganisms soil milk
-worked on disease and vaccines (like for rabies)
Important work by Robert Koch? - Answer -solid media for isolation (agar)
-made a set of rules for causative agent of disease by cultures
What is bacterial fermentation? - Answer a process that uses bacteria, mold, or yeast to
convert sugars (carbohydrates) to alcohol, gases, and organic acids
Yeast fermentation yields.... - Answer CO2 and EtOH
Process for making bread with yeast? - Answer Its cells metabolize the carbohydrates in flour
(middle) and produce carbon dioxide, which causes the bread to rise (right).
Idea from Hippocrates? - Answer (a) Hippocrates, the "father of Western medicine," believed
that diseases had natural, not supernatural, causes.
Idea from Thucydides? - Answer (b) The historian Thucydides observed that survivors of the
Athenian plague were subsequently immune to the infection.
Idea from Marcus Terentius Varro? - Answer (c) Marcus Terentius Varro proposed that
disease could be caused by "certain minute creatures . . . which cannot be seen by the eye."
,"Golden Age of Microbiology"? - Answer -a host of new discoveries between 1857 and 1914
-Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch, were especially active in advancing our understanding of the
unseen world of microbes
What are microscopes used for? - Answer to produce magnified images of microorganisms,
human cells and tissues, and many other types of specimens too small to be observed with the
naked eye.
What are stains and dyes used for? - Answer are used to add color to microbes so they can
be better observed under a microscope.
What does growth media provide? - Answer provides nutrients, including water, various
salts, a source of carbon (like glucose), and a source of nitrogen and amino acids (like yeast
extract) so microorganisms can grow and reproduce
What is a petri dish? - Answer -a flat-lidded dish
-made out of either plastic or glass are used to hold growth media
What can test tubes be used for? - Answer -cylindrical plastic or glass tubes with rounded
bottoms and open tops
-used to grow microbes in broth, or semisolid or solid growth media.
What are Bunsen burners being phased out for? - Answer Bunsen burners are being phased
out in favor of infrared microincinerators, which serve a similar purpose without the safety risks
of an open flame. [sterilize equipment]
What is taxonomy? - Answer the classification, description, identification, and naming of
living organisms
What is Linnaean taxonomy? - Answer a system of categorizing and naming organisms using
a standard format so scientists could discuss organisms using consistent terminology
In his taxonomy, how did Linnaeus divide the natural world? - Answer three kingdoms:
animal, plant, and mineral (the mineral kingdom was later abandoned)
The names of the levels in Linnaeus's original taxonomy? - Answer kingdom, class, order,
family, genus (plural: genera), and species
, How did Linnaeus' system get modified? - Answer taxonomies took into account the
evolutionary relationships, or phylogenies, of all different species of organisms on earth
Linnaeus's tree of life contained what branches? - Answer two main branches for all living
things: the animal and plant kingdoms
Added branches to Linnaeus'? - Answer Ernst Haeckel:
-Protista, for unicellular organisms -Monera, for unicellular organisms whose cells lack nuclei,
like bacteria
Robert Whittaker:
-fungi
What else did Whittaker add to the tree? - Answer a level of categorization above the
kingdom level—the empire or superkingdom level—to distinguish between organisms that have
membrane-bound nuclei in their cells (eukaryotes) and those that do not (prokaryotes)
What kingdoms did the Empire Prokaryota contain?
The Empire Eukaryota? - Answer -just the Kingdom Monera
-the other four kingdoms: Fungi, Protista, Plantae, and Animalia
What do genetic methods allow for (regarding trees)? - Answer a standardized way to
compare all living organisms without relying on observable characteristics that can often be
subjective
What does modern taxonomy rely on? - Answer -comparing the nucleic acids
(deoxyribonucleic acid [DNA] or ribonucleic acid [RNA]) or proteins from different organisms
-The more similar the nucleic acids and proteins are between two organisms, the more closely
related they are considered to be.
How did Carl Woese and George Fox create a genetics-based tree of life?based on similarities
and differences they observed in the gene sequences coding for small subunit ribosomal RNA
(rRNA) of different organisms. I - Answer based on similarities and differences they observed
in the gene sequences coding for small subunit ribosomal RNA (rRNA) of different organisms
and All Correct Answers Graded A+
2025-2026 Updated.
What microbes can degrade and/or utilize every molecule on earth? - Answer bacteria and
archaea
What is botulism used for? - Answer medicine (is a very potent toxin; is a paralytic)
How do we identify new bacteria? - Answer by sequence analysis of universal genes (i.e.
with rRNA)
What is a process that is preserved between cells? Why? - Answer translation of ribosomes;
it is a complex process with lots of restraints on mutations (i.e. genes mutate very slowly)
What is good about rRNA? - Answer these genes can be used to assess how related things
are to each other (evolution; tree of life)
What is transduction by? And what are chromosomal insertions by? - Answer
bacteriophages; latent viruses/retroviruses
Why is bread non alcoholic? - Answer the EtOH evaporates
What is yeast? - Answer unicellular fungus
A sources of disease by the ancient Greeks and Romans? - Answer unseen miasmas (bad air)
What is wrong with the statement: "Bacteria belong to the domain Prokarya." - Answer this
is not a domain; just needed a word to distinguish cell structures; no membrane bound
organelles
Why does water not get vaporized in deep sea vents? - Answer high P
Bacteria that can survive in high temperatures? - Answer hyperthermophiles
What do bacteria do that the environment can't? - Answer nitrogen fixing
,Full word for lithotrophs? - Answer chemolithoautotrophs
3 main greenhouse gases in order of potency and dominance? - Answer Co2>CH4>NO2
What are methanes reserves? - Answer a product of ancient archaea
3 important people for the birth of microbiology? - Answer 1. Louis Pasteur
2. Robert Koch
3. Antoine van Leeumenhoek
What did Antoine van Leeuwenhoek do? - Answer created a powerful microscope to reveal
"animal cules" (swimming in drop of water)
Important work by Louis Pasteur? - Answer -pasteurization (doesn't sterilize, but removes
micro from milk and apple juice)
-proved that microorganisms soil milk
-worked on disease and vaccines (like for rabies)
Important work by Robert Koch? - Answer -solid media for isolation (agar)
-made a set of rules for causative agent of disease by cultures
What is bacterial fermentation? - Answer a process that uses bacteria, mold, or yeast to
convert sugars (carbohydrates) to alcohol, gases, and organic acids
Yeast fermentation yields.... - Answer CO2 and EtOH
Process for making bread with yeast? - Answer Its cells metabolize the carbohydrates in flour
(middle) and produce carbon dioxide, which causes the bread to rise (right).
Idea from Hippocrates? - Answer (a) Hippocrates, the "father of Western medicine," believed
that diseases had natural, not supernatural, causes.
Idea from Thucydides? - Answer (b) The historian Thucydides observed that survivors of the
Athenian plague were subsequently immune to the infection.
Idea from Marcus Terentius Varro? - Answer (c) Marcus Terentius Varro proposed that
disease could be caused by "certain minute creatures . . . which cannot be seen by the eye."
,"Golden Age of Microbiology"? - Answer -a host of new discoveries between 1857 and 1914
-Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch, were especially active in advancing our understanding of the
unseen world of microbes
What are microscopes used for? - Answer to produce magnified images of microorganisms,
human cells and tissues, and many other types of specimens too small to be observed with the
naked eye.
What are stains and dyes used for? - Answer are used to add color to microbes so they can
be better observed under a microscope.
What does growth media provide? - Answer provides nutrients, including water, various
salts, a source of carbon (like glucose), and a source of nitrogen and amino acids (like yeast
extract) so microorganisms can grow and reproduce
What is a petri dish? - Answer -a flat-lidded dish
-made out of either plastic or glass are used to hold growth media
What can test tubes be used for? - Answer -cylindrical plastic or glass tubes with rounded
bottoms and open tops
-used to grow microbes in broth, or semisolid or solid growth media.
What are Bunsen burners being phased out for? - Answer Bunsen burners are being phased
out in favor of infrared microincinerators, which serve a similar purpose without the safety risks
of an open flame. [sterilize equipment]
What is taxonomy? - Answer the classification, description, identification, and naming of
living organisms
What is Linnaean taxonomy? - Answer a system of categorizing and naming organisms using
a standard format so scientists could discuss organisms using consistent terminology
In his taxonomy, how did Linnaeus divide the natural world? - Answer three kingdoms:
animal, plant, and mineral (the mineral kingdom was later abandoned)
The names of the levels in Linnaeus's original taxonomy? - Answer kingdom, class, order,
family, genus (plural: genera), and species
, How did Linnaeus' system get modified? - Answer taxonomies took into account the
evolutionary relationships, or phylogenies, of all different species of organisms on earth
Linnaeus's tree of life contained what branches? - Answer two main branches for all living
things: the animal and plant kingdoms
Added branches to Linnaeus'? - Answer Ernst Haeckel:
-Protista, for unicellular organisms -Monera, for unicellular organisms whose cells lack nuclei,
like bacteria
Robert Whittaker:
-fungi
What else did Whittaker add to the tree? - Answer a level of categorization above the
kingdom level—the empire or superkingdom level—to distinguish between organisms that have
membrane-bound nuclei in their cells (eukaryotes) and those that do not (prokaryotes)
What kingdoms did the Empire Prokaryota contain?
The Empire Eukaryota? - Answer -just the Kingdom Monera
-the other four kingdoms: Fungi, Protista, Plantae, and Animalia
What do genetic methods allow for (regarding trees)? - Answer a standardized way to
compare all living organisms without relying on observable characteristics that can often be
subjective
What does modern taxonomy rely on? - Answer -comparing the nucleic acids
(deoxyribonucleic acid [DNA] or ribonucleic acid [RNA]) or proteins from different organisms
-The more similar the nucleic acids and proteins are between two organisms, the more closely
related they are considered to be.
How did Carl Woese and George Fox create a genetics-based tree of life?based on similarities
and differences they observed in the gene sequences coding for small subunit ribosomal RNA
(rRNA) of different organisms. I - Answer based on similarities and differences they observed
in the gene sequences coding for small subunit ribosomal RNA (rRNA) of different organisms
