Questions with Answers
microbiology - correct answers specialized area of biology that deals w/living things ordinarily too small
to be seen without magnification
microorganisms - correct answers microbes or microscopic organisms
microbes - correct answers bacteria, algae, protozoa, helminths, fungi
viruses - correct answers protein coated genetic elements, noncellular, parasitic and dependent on their
infected host
3 cell types - correct answers bacteria, eukaryotes, archaea
basic structures of bacteria - correct answers bacillus, coccus, spiral
protozoans - correct answers diverse group of single-cell eukaryotic organisms
eukaryote - correct answers complex single celled organism which arose from organisms that existed 3.5
billion years ago. 10x larger than archaea and bacteria
eukaryotic cells have membrane-bound organelles and nucleus. Only plants, algae, & fungi have cell
walls (protozoan & animal cells do not)
prokaryote - correct answers bacteria and archaea have no true nucleus - prenucleus -
ancestral cell evolution - correct answers began approx 3.5 billion years ago and evolved into
eukaryotes, archaea, bacteria
evolution - correct answers the accumulation of changes that occur in organisms as they adapt to their
environments
,photosynthesis - correct answers light fueled conversion of carbon dioxide to organic material, forms
oxygen - oxygenic photosynthesis -
bacteria and algae provide 70% of earth's photosynthesis
anoxygenic photosynthesis - correct answersphotosynthesis that doesn't produce oxygen - precursor to
oxygenic photosynthesis
decomposition - correct answersbreakdown of dead matter and wastes into simple compounds and
directed back to natural cycles of living things
genetic engineering - correct answersarea of biotech that manipulates genetics of plants, microbes,
animals to create new products - GMOs
recombinant DNA technology - correct answerstransfer genetic material from one organisms to another
to alter DNA
bioremediation - correct answersintroduction of microbes into the environment to restore
stability/clean toxic pollutants
organelles - correct answerssmall double membrane bound structures in the eukaryotic cell, performs
specific functions and include a nucleus, mitochondria, chlorplasts
bacteria - correct answersmicroorganism smaller than eukarya, lack nucleus & organelles, but have cell
walls containing peptidoglycan, protein, polysaccharides and lipids
archaea - correct answersmicroorganism smaller than eukarya, lack nucleus & organelles, & have cell
walls containing protein, polysaccharides and lipids (no peptidoglycan)
taxonomy - correct answersthe science of classification of biological species, used to organize all of the
forms of modern and extinct life.
biological classification, in part reflects our understanding of evolution; thus, as technological advances
enhance and change our understanding of evolutionary schemes and biological relationships, our
, classification methods may also change (e.g. lateral web-based vs. linear/generational tree-based
phylogeny).
-tool to study microbes-
Robert Hooke - correct answersfirst described & kept records of microorganisms, such as mold species
growing on a leather surface, seen through his early homemade microscope in the 1660s. (Also coined
the word "cell".)
Antonie van Leewenhoek - correct answersin the 1600's used an even more powerful [than Hooke's]
self-made microscope (300X!) to observe & describe "animalcules" (single-celled organisms including
bacteria & protozoa) from surfaces that included never before cleaned teeth.
Francesco Redi - correct answersin the late 1660s, demonstrated that maggots aren't formed from
meat, because if it is covered, flies cannot land on it nor lay their eggs on it.
Louis Pasteur - correct answersbetter convinced skeptics in the 1800s that air itself was not the source
of life by culturing sterilized broth in a flask with a long swan-like curved neck within which gravity
would deposit entering air-borne microbes while still allowing exposure of broth to air.
Joseph Lister - correct answersintroduced aseptic techniques in the 1860s
Oliver Holmes
Ignaz Semmelweis - correct answersobserved, independently, that hospitals could be a great source of
infection
Robert Koch - correct answersin the early 1880s, was the first to definitively demonstrate that a specific
microbe was the cause of a particular disease Bacillus anthracis causes anthrax. This led to a surge of
similar discoveries.
germ theory of disease - correct answershuman diseases could arise from infection. Determinable -
whether an organism was pathogenic and which disease it caused.