Deck 1: The Main Themes of Microbiology

Question 1

The ?rst cells appeared about _____ billion years ago.

A) 5
B) 4
C) 3.5
D) 2
E) 1

Answer 1

4

Question 2

Among these types of microorganisms, the ______ are noncellular.

A) helminths
B) protozoans
C) viruses
D) bacteria

Answer 2

viruses

Question 3

Using microbes to detoxify a site contaminated with heavy metals is an example of ______.

A) biotechnology
B) immunology
C) decomposition
D) epidemiology
E) bioremediation

Answer 3

bioremediation

Question 4

Helminths are ______.

A) infectious particles
B) protozoa
C) bacteria
D) molds
E) parasitic worms

Question 5

Astrobiology is considered a sub-discipline of microbiology because _______.

A) all extraterrestrials known are microbial
B) life elsewhere in the universe is likely to be microbial
C) only microbes can reproduce under the extreme conditions in outer space
D) microbes are known to exist on other planets

Question 6

The microorganisms that recycle nutrients by breaking down dead matter and wastes are called ______.

A) pathogens
B) eukaryotes
C) decomposers
D) fermenters
E) prokaryotes

Question 7

Which of the following is a traditional human use of microorganisms?

A) Treating water and sewage
B) Mass-producing antibiotics
C) Baking bread
D) Cleaning up oil spills

Question 8

Studies of the immune response to an infection caused by microorganisms would be performed by a/an _______.

A) immunologist
B) epidemiologist
C) hypersensitivity specialist
D) geomicrobiologist

Question 9

The majority of oxygen in earth's atmosphere is a product of photosynthesis by ______.

A) agricultural lands
B) microorganisms
C) rain forests
D) green plants

Question 10

Which of the following does not indicate microbe involvement in energy and nutrient ?ow?

A) Thermal hot springs warmed by heat from earth's interior
B) Decomposition of dead matter and wastes
C) Digestion of complex carbohydrates in animal diets
D) Formation of greenhouse gases, CO? and methane

Question 11

Which of the following are not considered microorganisms?

A) Mosquitoes
B) Viruses
C) Protozoa
D) Bacteria
E) Fungi

Question 12

Which area of biology states that living things undergo gradual structural and functional changes over long periods of time?

A) Phylogeny
B) Evolution
C) Genetics
D) Morphology
E) Transformation

Question 13

The three cell types discussed, eukaryotes, archaea, and bacteria, all derived from ______.

A) cells with a true nucleus
B) a common ancestral cell
C) archaea
D) photosynthetic bacteria

Question 14

Disease-causing microorganisms are called ______.

A) decomposers
B) fermenters
C) eukaryotes
D) bacteria
E) pathogens

Question 15

When humans manipulate the genes of microorganisms, the process is called ______.

A) bioremediation
B) taxonomy
C) epidemiology
D) genetic engineering
E) immunology

Question 16

A scientist who studies the in?uence of microbes in the formation of caves is called a/an ______.

A) astrobiologist
B) immunologist
C) epidemiologist
D) geomicrobiologist

Question 17

Which of the following pairs of career descriptions and work tasks is not correctly matched?

A) Industrial microbiologist -- manipulate bacterial strains to be less pathogenic
B) Medical microbiologist -- identify the cause of a bladder infection at a hospital lab
C) Public health microbiologist -- track the incidence of AIDS in a population
D) Agricultural microbiologist -- identify bacterial causes of crop disease

Question 18

A hypothesis must be tested many times before it can be considered a theory.

Question 19

Which activity is an example of biotechnology?

A) Egyptians using moldy bread on wounds
B) Bacteria in the soil secreting an antibiotic to kill competitors
C) Public health o?cials monitoring diseases in a community
D) A microbiologist using the microscope to view bacteria
E) Escherichia coli producing human insulin

Question 20

Microorganisms are best de?ned as organisms that _______.

A) cause human disease
B) are too small to be seen with the unaided eye
C) are infectious particles
D) can only be found growing in laboratories
E) lack a cell nucleus

Question 21

The number one worldwide infectious diseases are ______.

A) AIDS-related diseases
B) diarrheal diseases
C) respiratory diseases
D) measles and other rash diseases
E) malaria and other protozoan diseases

Question 22

All bacteria and archaea are microorganisms, but only some eukaryotes are microorganisms.

Question 23

Which of the following is NOT a recent discovery that has had a huge impact on the understanding of microbiology?

A) Restriction enzymes
B) PCR technique
C) Human microbiome project
D) Small RNAs
E) All are signi?cant discoveries. Refer to the text and read about the recent discoveries that have had a huge impact on the

Question 24

Experimentation _______.

A) is the ?rst step in the scienti?c method
B) provides a means to gather objective data
C) provides a means to gather subjective data
D) is designed to refute an hypothesis
E) is designed to support an hypothesis

Question 25

Which of the following is not a process in the scienti?c method?

A) Development of a theory
B) Systematic observation
C) Formulation of a hypothesis
D) Belief in a preconceived idea
E) Laboratory experimentation

Question 26

The scienti?c method includes all of the following except ______.

A) publication
B) experimentation
C) observation
D) hypothesis

Question 27

Which of the following is a unique characteristic of viruses that distinguishes them from the other major groups of microorganisms?

A) Lack cell structure
B) Cannot be seen without a microscope
C) Cause human disease
D) Lack a nucleus
E) Contain genetic material

Question 28

The incidence of deaths from communicable disease is ______ in the United States compared to the entire world.

A) less
B) greater
C) about the same

Question 29

Koch's postulates are criteria used to establish that ______.

A) a speci?c microbe is the cause of a speci?c disease
B) microbes are found on dust particles
C) microbes can be used to clean up toxic spills
D) life forms can only arise from preexisting life forms
E) a speci?c microbe should be classi?ed in a speci?c kingdom

Question 30

In general, eukaryotic cells are about ______ times larger than bacterial or archaeal cells.

A) 2
B) 10
C) 50
D) 1000

Question 31

The sum total of all the microbes in a certain environment is termed the ______.

A) microbial niche
B) domain
C) bio?lm
D) phylogeny
E) microbiome

Question 32

Which of the following historical microbiologists is incorrectly paired with his contribution to the science?

A) Joseph Lister: promoted disinfecting hands and air prior to surgery
B) Francesco Redi: tested spontaneous generation with meat exposed to the air or covered with cloth
C) Antonie van Leeuwenhoek: made and used quality magnifying lenses to observe and record microorganisms
D) Louis Pasteur: demonstrated that anthrax was caused by a bacterium

Question 33

In which way are bacteria and eukaryotes the same?

A) Contain membrane-bound organelles
B) Contain a nucleus to hold DNA
C) Possess a cell membrane
D) Always have a cell wall for rigidity

Question 34

Archaeal cells are about ______ bacterial cells.

A) ten times larger than
B) ten times smaller than
C) the same size as

Question 35

Which group of microorganisms is composed only of hereditary material wrapped in a protein covering?

A) Parasites
B) Bacteria
C) Fungi
D) Yeasts
E) Viruses

Question 36

The scienti?c method involves formulating a tentative explanation, called the hypothesis, to account for what has been observed or measured.

Question 37

In the experiments constructed by Pasteur to disprove spontaneous generation, swan-necked ?asks were used. Why was this shape of ?ask used in this experiment?

A) Because the glass necks were stretched out, the heat used to sterilize the medium inside of the ?ask could not kill the bacteria in the neck.
B) The shape of the glass neck allowed the bacteria into the ?ask and then into the media, but air could not enter.
C) These ?ask shapes were the easiest and cheapest to produce.
D) The glass necks needed to be open to the air, yet constructed so that bacteria would settle in the lowest part of the neck.

Question 38

Many chronic medical conditions have been found to be associated with microbial agents.

Question 39

In which way are archaea and eukaryotes the same?

A) Possess RNA instead of DNA
B) Contain mitochondria for energy production
C) Have similar ssu rRNA sequences
D) Contain membrane-bound organelles

Question 40

Eukaryotic cells are larger than bacterial or archaeal cells; all cells are larger than macromolecules. Where do viruses ?t on this scale?

A) Viruses are smaller than eukaryotic cells, but larger than bacterial or archaeal cells.
B) Viruses are larger than eukaryotic cells.
C) Viruses are smaller than macromolecules.
D) Viruses are smaller than bacterial or archaeal cells, but larger than macromolecules.

Question 41

When assigning a scienti?c name to an organism, _______.

A) both genus and species names are capitalized
B) both genus and species names are italicized or underlined
C) the species name is capitalized
D) the species name is placed ?rst
E) the species name can be abbreviated

Question 42

Sterile is best described as ______.

A) absence of spores
B) pathogen-free
C) pasteurized
D) absence of any life forms and viral particles
E) homogenized

Question 43

Members of the same species share many more characteristics compared to those shared by members of the same kingdom.

Question 44

A scientist studying the sequence of nucleotides in the rRNA of a bacterial species is working on _______.

A) recombinant DNA
B) bioremediation
C) nomenclature
D) determining if that species is the cause of a new disease
E) determining evolutionary relatedness

Question 45

The orderly arrangement of organisms into a hierarchy of taxa is called ______.

A) classi?cation
B) identi?cation
C) nomenclature
D) experimentation
E) biotechnology

Question 46

The study of evolutionary relationships among organisms is called ______.

A) recombinant DNA
B) taxonomy
C) phylogeny
D) genetics
E) biotechnology

Question 47

Analysis of the small subunit rRNAs from all organisms in the three current domains suggests that _______.

A) the eukaryotes arose from prokaryotes
B) the Archaea are more closely related to bacteria than eukaryotes
C) bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes are not related
D) all modern and extinct organisms on earth arose from a common ancestor Refer to "Systems of Presenting a Universal Tree of Life" for a discussion of the ssu rRNAs and their

Question 48

Which scienti?c ?eld is involved in the identi?cation, classi?cation, and naming of organisms?

A) Pathology
B) Taxonomy
C) Epidemiology
D) Nomenclature
E) Phylogeny

Question 49

Select the correct descending taxonomic hierarchy (left to right).

A) Kingdom, domain, phylum
B) Family, genus, species
C) Genus, species, family
D) Class, phylum, order
E) Family, order, class

Question 50

The names of the three proposed domains are: Bacteria, Protista, and Eukarya.

Question 51

Trees of life that illustrate the phylogenetic relationships of all organisms were traditionally based on ______; newer methods for determining phylogeny rely on ______.

A) nucleic acid sequences; morphology
B) nucleic acid sequences; microbiomes
C) morphology; nutritional requirements
D) morphology; virology
E) morphology; nucleic acid sequences

Question 52

A recently-developed mnemonic for remembering the taxonomic levels from Domain to Species is "Dumb Kids Prefer Candy Over Fancy Green Salad." The word "candy" here is a reminder of the taxonomic level of ______.

A) colony
B) class
C) chain
D) category
E) culture

Question 53

Taxonomy does not involve ______.

A) a common name
B) identi?cation
C) nomenclature
D) classi?cation

Question 54

Which scienti?c name is written correctly?

A) staphylococcus aureus
B) Staphylococcus Aureus
C) S. aureus
D) Staphylococcus aureus

Question 55

Which of the following is a taxon that contains all the other taxa listed?

A) Kingdom
B) Family
C) Genus
D) Species
E) Phylum

Question 56

Which of the following is a scienti?c name?

A) Anthrax
B) Streptobacilli
C) Streptococcus pyogenes
D) Gram-positive streptococcus

Question 57

A diagram of the three domains (Bacteria, Archaea, Eukarya) proceeding from the Last Common Ancestor would show Archaea _______.

A) branching off the Domain Bacteria
B) as the original cells from which the others derived
C) branching off the Domain Eukarya

Question 58

The smallest and most signi?cant taxon is a ______.

A) kingdom
B) species
C) phylum
D) family
E) genus

Question 59

Caring for patients infected with a new virus requires safety precautions for medical personnel. Choosing appropriate procedures is an example of a/an ______ process.

A) pathogenic
B) deductive
C) hypothetical
D) inductive