Microbiology Trivia

1. The Gram stain differentiates between bacteria based on the composition of their _________.

From Quiz The Gram Stain

Answer: Cell Wall

I hope you didn't pick nucleus, as bacteria are prokaryotes. Gram positive bacteria have a cell wall composed of ~90% peptidoglycan, whereas Gram negative bacteria only have about 10% in their cell wall and so cannot retain the crystal violet after decolourisation with alcohol.

From Quiz The Wonderful World of Microbiology

Answer: cell wall

Gram positive bacteria have a thick peptidoglycan cell wall, and Gram negative bacteria have a thin peptidoglycan cell wall with an outer membrane. Gram negative bacteria are also more likely to be pathogenic than Gram positive bacteria.

From Quiz The Wonderful World of Protists

Answer: protozoans

An example of a protozoan is an amoeba, which lives in either salt or fresh water. Amoebas reproduce by binary fission, an asexual form of reproduction. Another example is a paramecium which also reproduce asexually.

From Quiz Diatom details

Answer: Phytoplankton

The general term plankton refers to aquatic life which does not swim independently but drifts with the current. Nekton are any aquatic life which swim independently. Within plankton there is the animal and plant/algae divisions, zooplankton and phytoplankton respectively, and meroplankton refers to plankton which is only part of a temporary stage of development such as a larva.

From Quiz Microbiology Miscellaneous

Answer: stain

Crystal violet, a stain, is fixed to the bacterial cell wall by the mordant, iodine. After decolorization and counterstaining with safranin, bacteria appear purple (gram positive) or pink (gram negative).

From Quiz Testing...testing...PROTISTS!

Answer: Macronucleus and Micronucleus

Other protists also have two nuclei, like the amoeba.

From Quiz The Genetics of Viruses and Bacteria

Answer: Tobacco mosaic virus

The discovery of viruses began in 1883 with Adolf Mayer, a German scientist seeking the cause of tobacco mosaic disease. This disease stunts the growth of tobacco plants and gives their leaves a mottled, or mosaic, coloration. Mayer discovered that the disease was contagious when he found he could transmit it from plant to plant by spraying sap extracted from diseased leaves onto healthy plants. He searched for a microbe in the infectious sap but found none. Mayer concluded that the disease was caused by unusually small bacteria that could not be seen with the microscope. This hypothesis was tested a decade later by Dimitri Ivanowsky, a Russian who passed sap from infected tobacco leaves through a filter designed to remove bacteria. After filtering, the sap still produced mosaic disease. Later, David Beijerinck imagined a reproducing particle much smaller and simpler than bacteria. His suspicions were confirmed in 1935, when the American scientist Wendell Stanley crystallized the infectious particle, now known as tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). Subsequently, TMV and many other viruses were actually seen with the help of the electron microscope.

From Quiz Under the Microscope

Answer: Copepods

Look in soil and sand down to a depth of 10 cm, also found in quiet and open waters. Other copepods include the cyclops, eucyclops, limnocalanus and the canthocamptus.

From Quiz Bacterial Tidbits

Answer: Pili

The pili (also known as sex pili) form a bridge between two bacterial cells, allowing DNA to pass between them.

From Quiz The Gram Stain

Answer: Purple and Pink

The purple colour is caused by the crystal violet. This dye is trapped when alcohol and acetone are added, as the cell wall is denatured and retains it. Gram negative bacteria however, lose the dye when the mixture is added; and so take up the neutral red when it is added.

From Quiz The Wonderful World of Microbiology

Answer: plasmid

Plasmids are very useful in genetic engineering, enabling us to insert human genes into bacteria to produce mass quantities of human proteins.

From Quiz The Wonderful World of Protists

Answer: algae

There are six types of algae: euglenoids, diatoms, dinoflagellates, red algae, brown algae, and green algae. Algae are also known for creating colonies, or a group of cells living together.

From Quiz Diatom details

Answer: Photosynthesis

Like most plants, the main way diatoms survive is through photosynthesis and water.

From Quiz Testing...testing...PROTISTS!

Answer: Gives out excess water

An amoeba does not have a contractile vacuole.

From Quiz The Wonderful World of Microbiology

Answer: lipopolysaccharide

LPS induces a fever response in the human body. Gram negative bacteria are often heat-sensitive, so the fever will help to eliminate the infection.

From Quiz The Wonderful World of Protists

Answer: cytoplasm containing extensions

A flagellum is a long whiplike structure and cilia are the short hairlike fibers. A contractile vacuole collects and pumps out excess water. This organelle is especially beneficial to amoebas because of their moist environments.

From Quiz Testing...testing...PROTISTS!

Answer: Plant-like and animal-like

That was kind of a trick question. The euglena uses chlorophyll for photosynthesis and also hunts for food.

From Quiz The Genetics of Viruses and Bacteria

Answer: Protein

The protein shell that encloses the viral genome is called a capsid. Depending on the type of virus, the capsid may be rod-shaped (more precisely, helical), polyhedral, or more complex in shape. Capsids are built from a large number of protein subunits called capsomeres, but the number of different kinds of proteins is usually small. Tobacco mosaic virus, for example, has a rigid, rod-shaped capsid made from over a thousand molecules of a single type of protein. Adenoviruses, which infect the respiratory tracts of animals, have 252 identical protein molecules arranged into a polyhedral capsid with 20 triangular facets--an icosahedron.

From Quiz Under the Microscope

Answer: Green to bluish-gray

This is the microfungi that gives roquefort cheese its characteristic flavor and texture. The mold grows on breads and fruit.

From Quiz Bacterial Tidbits

Answer: R plasmid

"R" for "resistance." I just made up the others.

From Quiz The Gram Stain

Answer: Water & saline

A drop of water is added so that the colony can be evenly dispersed; if you did not do this, you would most likely have one large clump of bacteria, which you would not be able to look at in the hopes of seeing a structure.

From Quiz The Wonderful World of Microbiology

Answer: DNA replication

Okazaki fragments are the small segments of DNA that are formed on the lagging strand during DNA replication.

From Quiz The Wonderful World of Protists

Answer: malaria

Malaria is most common in tropical climates. Malaria can be transmitted to other mammals besides humans, such as monkeys, and birds can also suffer from malaria. Mosquitoes transfer plasmodium into humans. There are antibiotics that are used to treat malaria.

From Quiz Testing...testing...PROTISTS!

Answer: Amoeboid movement

This movement is also used by animals, such as caterpillars.

From Quiz The Genetics of Viruses and Bacteria

Answer: Lysogenic cycle

In contrast to the lytic cycle, which kills the host cell, the lysogenic cycle replicates the phage genome without destroying the host. Phages that are capable of using both modes of reproducing within a bacterium are called temperate phages. To compare the lytic and lysogenic cycles, we will examine a temperate phage called lambda, written with the Greek letter l. After entering the bacterial cell and circularizing, the l DNA can either integrate into the bacterial chromosome (lysogenic cycle) or immediately initiate the production of a large number of progeny phages (lytic cycle). In most cases, the lytic pathway is followed, but once a lysogenic cycle begins, the prophage may be carried in the host cell's chromosome for many generations.

From Quiz Under the Microscope

Answer: Water bears

These microscopic, bear like creatures are anabiotes- they can assume an inactive state during dry periods. They will remain inactive for years until normal moisture conditions return, then they rehydrate themselves and go about their normal activity.

From Quiz Bacterial Tidbits

Answer: Endospore

The endospore is capable of surviving for millions of years and is quite difficult to kill. Pasteurization and other cleaning techniques use cells that form endospores as the standard for sterilization.

From Quiz The Wonderful World of Microbiology

Answer: Desulfovibrio

The Winogradsky column is a device that models the interactions of bacteria in the environment. Desulfovibrio are sulfate-reducing anaerobic bacteria that live at the bottom of the column.

From Quiz Diatom details

Answer: Symmetry

Despite an amazing range of shapes often almost as complex as snowflakes, they all display either a circular symmetry called 'centrate' or a binary symmetry called 'pennate'. Pennate usually prefer fresh water and centrate salt.

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Last Updated Apr 22 2024 11:01 AM

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