MIC 205 FINAL EXAM UPDATED ACTUAL QUESTIONS
AND CORRECT ANSWERS
Question:
1. Which of the following bacterial species are capable of converting nitrogen gas in the atmosphere into
compounds that other organisms can better utilize?
Answer:
Rhizobium spp. : gram -, fix nitrogen
Question:
2. Of the bacterial species listed below, which do not utilize type IV secretion to transfer DNA or proteins
into eukaryotic cells?
Answer:
Neisseria gonorrhoeae Type V secretion
Question:
3. After graduating from the University of Arizona you decided to become a benthic marine biologist
(studying the sea floor). Your have been using large dragnets to collect sea floor marine life. In your first
net you see a new species of anglerfish. These fish have a light organ protruding in front of their mouth
that is used to attract prey fish in the dark depths of the ocean. You suspect that the light organ will contain
bacteria. What species from the list below do you suspect is most likely to have colonized the light organ?
Answer:
(Alii)Vibrio fischeri - Aliivibrio fisheri; produce visible light at high bacterial concentrations.
Question:
4. Hans Christian Gram is famous for developing a staining technique that separates pathogenic bacteria
into two roughly equal sized groups. He originally developed this technique to differentiate two bacteria
(one a bacillus and one a coccus) that were causing the same disease. Which of the bacteria below was the
bacillus in his samples?
Answer:
Klebsiella pneumoniae : bacillus
Question:
5. The one thing you learned by your summer at sea (question #3) is that you do not like water. You
decided to return to the arid lands of Arizona where rivers only have water flowing in them a few weeks
out of the year. As fortune would have it, you have been accepted into the UofA medical school. In your
surgical rotation you will be learning under the tutelage of Dr. Yavan Knowsomuch. On the first day with
her, Dr. Knowsomuch offhandedly remarks that her patients keep developing colitis after they are
discharged from her care. What species of bacteria do you suspect is causing these symptoms?
Answer:
Clostridium difficile :colitis is a chronic, inflammatory bowel disease
,Question:
6. Robert Koch was one of the scientists in the late 19th century involved in developing the Germ Theory.
This theory states that diseases are caused by microscopic organisms. Dr. Koch's lasting contribution to
this theory was a systematic approach for identifying the microbial cause of a disease. We call this
approach Koch's Postulates. What were the declarative statements?
Answer:
a. You must find the microbe in all cases of the disease.
b. You must be able to grow the microbe in a pure culture.
c. The pure culture must be able to cause the same disease in a new individual.
d. You must be able to re-isolate the original organism from individual infected in part C.
Question:
7. True or False - Koch's Postulates have been used to show that all known diseases are microbial in origin.
Answer:
False: Not known, only a method to prove what causes disease. Not all diseases are microbial in origin;
example: genetic diseases.
Question:
8. Which scientist is remembered for having developed the first microscope that could resolve
microorganisms? Lecture
Answer:
Dr. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek: compound microscope
Question:
9. Which domain of life contains microorganisms
Answer:
a. Eubacteria
b. Eukaryotes
c. Archaea
Question:
10. True or False - The human body contains 10 times more prokaryotic cells than eukaryotic cells.
Answer:
True: We have more microorganisms on our bodies than our own cells.
Question:
11. Clostridium botulinum is a Gram-positive spore-forming bacterium that produces a toxin that can
block the release of neurotransmitters from human neurons. The purified toxin has been shown to be useful
in the treatment of which of the following diseases:
A. Aging
b. Diarrhea
c. The flu
d. Alcoholism
e. Botox will not prevent or treat any of these diseases
Answer:
e. Botox will not prevent or treat any of these diseases
, Question:
12. I am sure you took the time to study osmosis. Here is your chance to be rewarded. What would happen
to a bacterial cell if you placed it in an isotonic solution?
Answer:
Nothing would happen to the bacterial cell. because of cell wall
Question:
13. Which of the following statements best characterizes the role of ATP in active transport?
Answer:
ATP hydrolysis generates the energy to move a compound from a low concentration outside the cell into
the high concentration inside the cell
Question:
14. When cyanobacteria first evolved photosynthesis (about 2.3 billion years ago), they killed off most life
on earth. What metabolic byproduct of cyanobacteria photosynthesis killed off most of the other
organisms?
Answer:
Oxygen gas (O2)
Question:
15. Which of the following statements about the bacterial glycocalyx is correct? Lecture 3 Slide 24-25
a. Some bacteria, including Klebsiella pneumoniae, have a highly organized glycocalyx - capsule - that can
function to protect the bacteria from the host immune system.
b. Some bacteria secrete protein via the glycocalyx complex between the inner and outer membrane.
c. Some bacteria utilize the glycocalyx for a type motility known as twitching motility
d. All of the above are correct statements about bacterial glycocalyx.
Answer:
d. All of the above are correct statements about bacterial glycocalyx.
Question:
16. What is the fate of the mother cell during bacterial sporulation after the endospore is released?
Answer:
The mother cell is sacrificed in order to allow the endospore to escape.
Question:
17. What is the process of bacterial communication by which bacteria are able to determine the number of
proximal microorganisms?
Answer:
Quorum sensing
AND CORRECT ANSWERS
Question:
1. Which of the following bacterial species are capable of converting nitrogen gas in the atmosphere into
compounds that other organisms can better utilize?
Answer:
Rhizobium spp. : gram -, fix nitrogen
Question:
2. Of the bacterial species listed below, which do not utilize type IV secretion to transfer DNA or proteins
into eukaryotic cells?
Answer:
Neisseria gonorrhoeae Type V secretion
Question:
3. After graduating from the University of Arizona you decided to become a benthic marine biologist
(studying the sea floor). Your have been using large dragnets to collect sea floor marine life. In your first
net you see a new species of anglerfish. These fish have a light organ protruding in front of their mouth
that is used to attract prey fish in the dark depths of the ocean. You suspect that the light organ will contain
bacteria. What species from the list below do you suspect is most likely to have colonized the light organ?
Answer:
(Alii)Vibrio fischeri - Aliivibrio fisheri; produce visible light at high bacterial concentrations.
Question:
4. Hans Christian Gram is famous for developing a staining technique that separates pathogenic bacteria
into two roughly equal sized groups. He originally developed this technique to differentiate two bacteria
(one a bacillus and one a coccus) that were causing the same disease. Which of the bacteria below was the
bacillus in his samples?
Answer:
Klebsiella pneumoniae : bacillus
Question:
5. The one thing you learned by your summer at sea (question #3) is that you do not like water. You
decided to return to the arid lands of Arizona where rivers only have water flowing in them a few weeks
out of the year. As fortune would have it, you have been accepted into the UofA medical school. In your
surgical rotation you will be learning under the tutelage of Dr. Yavan Knowsomuch. On the first day with
her, Dr. Knowsomuch offhandedly remarks that her patients keep developing colitis after they are
discharged from her care. What species of bacteria do you suspect is causing these symptoms?
Answer:
Clostridium difficile :colitis is a chronic, inflammatory bowel disease
,Question:
6. Robert Koch was one of the scientists in the late 19th century involved in developing the Germ Theory.
This theory states that diseases are caused by microscopic organisms. Dr. Koch's lasting contribution to
this theory was a systematic approach for identifying the microbial cause of a disease. We call this
approach Koch's Postulates. What were the declarative statements?
Answer:
a. You must find the microbe in all cases of the disease.
b. You must be able to grow the microbe in a pure culture.
c. The pure culture must be able to cause the same disease in a new individual.
d. You must be able to re-isolate the original organism from individual infected in part C.
Question:
7. True or False - Koch's Postulates have been used to show that all known diseases are microbial in origin.
Answer:
False: Not known, only a method to prove what causes disease. Not all diseases are microbial in origin;
example: genetic diseases.
Question:
8. Which scientist is remembered for having developed the first microscope that could resolve
microorganisms? Lecture
Answer:
Dr. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek: compound microscope
Question:
9. Which domain of life contains microorganisms
Answer:
a. Eubacteria
b. Eukaryotes
c. Archaea
Question:
10. True or False - The human body contains 10 times more prokaryotic cells than eukaryotic cells.
Answer:
True: We have more microorganisms on our bodies than our own cells.
Question:
11. Clostridium botulinum is a Gram-positive spore-forming bacterium that produces a toxin that can
block the release of neurotransmitters from human neurons. The purified toxin has been shown to be useful
in the treatment of which of the following diseases:
A. Aging
b. Diarrhea
c. The flu
d. Alcoholism
e. Botox will not prevent or treat any of these diseases
Answer:
e. Botox will not prevent or treat any of these diseases
, Question:
12. I am sure you took the time to study osmosis. Here is your chance to be rewarded. What would happen
to a bacterial cell if you placed it in an isotonic solution?
Answer:
Nothing would happen to the bacterial cell. because of cell wall
Question:
13. Which of the following statements best characterizes the role of ATP in active transport?
Answer:
ATP hydrolysis generates the energy to move a compound from a low concentration outside the cell into
the high concentration inside the cell
Question:
14. When cyanobacteria first evolved photosynthesis (about 2.3 billion years ago), they killed off most life
on earth. What metabolic byproduct of cyanobacteria photosynthesis killed off most of the other
organisms?
Answer:
Oxygen gas (O2)
Question:
15. Which of the following statements about the bacterial glycocalyx is correct? Lecture 3 Slide 24-25
a. Some bacteria, including Klebsiella pneumoniae, have a highly organized glycocalyx - capsule - that can
function to protect the bacteria from the host immune system.
b. Some bacteria secrete protein via the glycocalyx complex between the inner and outer membrane.
c. Some bacteria utilize the glycocalyx for a type motility known as twitching motility
d. All of the above are correct statements about bacterial glycocalyx.
Answer:
d. All of the above are correct statements about bacterial glycocalyx.
Question:
16. What is the fate of the mother cell during bacterial sporulation after the endospore is released?
Answer:
The mother cell is sacrificed in order to allow the endospore to escape.
Question:
17. What is the process of bacterial communication by which bacteria are able to determine the number of
proximal microorganisms?
Answer:
Quorum sensing
