MICR 2430 Exam Questions and Correct
Answers
Axenic - Answer-pure culture
Biogeochemical Cycling - Answer-Microbes play a role through: harnessing light energy, degrading dead
plant and animal matter (including recalcitrant substrates), promote plant growth, fix nitrogen gas,
oxidize inorganics, metabolize toxic products
Phototrophs - Answer-obtain energy from sunlight
Heterotrophs - Answer-obtain energy from organic compounds
Lithotrophs - Answer-obtain energy form inorganic compounds
Endospores - Answer-Highly resistant non-vegetative forms of cells that form under unfavorable
conditions. eg. Bacillus
Selective Media - Answer-Favour the growth of specific microorganisms.
,Enrichment Media - Answer-Encourages growth of desired microbe while inhibiting the growth of
others.
Differential Media - Answer-Allows growth of several types of microbes and displays visible differences
among those microbes
The "Great Plate Count Anomaly" - Answer-Many more cells are present in the environment than can
be grown in lab cultures.
Phylogenetic Tree of Life - Answer-Represents the relative relatedness of all life based on the
assumption that all life comes from a common ancestor
Carl Woese - Answer-Used small sumbunit rRNA to further classify organims ancestry.
Small subunit rRNA - Answer-Most widely used gene in constructing phylogenetic trees.
Bacteria vs archaea vs fungi vs protists - Answer-Bacteria: no true nucleus, peptiglycan layer Archaea:
extreme environment,s psuedopeptoglycan layer Protists: informal group of eukaryoyes that are not
animal, plant or fungi, eg algae and protozoa Fungi: chitin cell walls
Carbon Fixation - Answer-The initial incorporation of carbon from CO2 into an organic compound by an
autotrophic organism (a plant, another photosynthetic organism, or a chemoautotrophic prokaryote).
Nitrogen Fixation - Answer-the chemical processes by which atmospheric nitrogen is assimilated into
organic compounds, especially by certain microorganisms as part of the nitrogen cycle.
Macronutrients - Answer-Nutrients found in high numbers in almost every microbe: C, O, N, P, and S
, Micronutrients (trace elements) - Answer-Nutrients required by some cells in small numbers: Na, K, Mg,
Zn, Fe, Ca, Mo, Cu, Co, Mn, and Va
Glucose vs Lactose vs Maltose - Answer-Glucose is a hexose, lactose is a disaccaride of glucose and
galactose, maltose is a disaccaride of two glucose's
Starch, glycogen & cellulose - Answer-examples of polysaccharides that are all composed of glucose
monomers, glycogen: primary energy storage in animals, starch: primary energy storage in plants
cellulose: is a structural component
Fatty acids - Answer-Lipid that contains long-chain hydrocarbons with a carboxylic acid functional group
Saturated vs Unsaturated Fatty Acids - Answer-Saturated with hydrogens, Saturated is solid at room
temperature and Unsaturated is liquid at room temperature
Hydrophobic - Answer-Water fearing
Phospholipids - Answer-a lipid consisting of a glycerol bound to two fatty acids and a phosphate group.
Hydrophillic - Answer-water loving
Amphipathic - Answer-A molecule that has both a hydrophilic region and a hydrophobic region.
Lipid Bilayer - Answer-Made of phospholipids in which the hydrophobic phosphate head is in contact
with the outer and internal environment and the hydrophobic fatty acids only have to interact with
themselves.
Answers
Axenic - Answer-pure culture
Biogeochemical Cycling - Answer-Microbes play a role through: harnessing light energy, degrading dead
plant and animal matter (including recalcitrant substrates), promote plant growth, fix nitrogen gas,
oxidize inorganics, metabolize toxic products
Phototrophs - Answer-obtain energy from sunlight
Heterotrophs - Answer-obtain energy from organic compounds
Lithotrophs - Answer-obtain energy form inorganic compounds
Endospores - Answer-Highly resistant non-vegetative forms of cells that form under unfavorable
conditions. eg. Bacillus
Selective Media - Answer-Favour the growth of specific microorganisms.
,Enrichment Media - Answer-Encourages growth of desired microbe while inhibiting the growth of
others.
Differential Media - Answer-Allows growth of several types of microbes and displays visible differences
among those microbes
The "Great Plate Count Anomaly" - Answer-Many more cells are present in the environment than can
be grown in lab cultures.
Phylogenetic Tree of Life - Answer-Represents the relative relatedness of all life based on the
assumption that all life comes from a common ancestor
Carl Woese - Answer-Used small sumbunit rRNA to further classify organims ancestry.
Small subunit rRNA - Answer-Most widely used gene in constructing phylogenetic trees.
Bacteria vs archaea vs fungi vs protists - Answer-Bacteria: no true nucleus, peptiglycan layer Archaea:
extreme environment,s psuedopeptoglycan layer Protists: informal group of eukaryoyes that are not
animal, plant or fungi, eg algae and protozoa Fungi: chitin cell walls
Carbon Fixation - Answer-The initial incorporation of carbon from CO2 into an organic compound by an
autotrophic organism (a plant, another photosynthetic organism, or a chemoautotrophic prokaryote).
Nitrogen Fixation - Answer-the chemical processes by which atmospheric nitrogen is assimilated into
organic compounds, especially by certain microorganisms as part of the nitrogen cycle.
Macronutrients - Answer-Nutrients found in high numbers in almost every microbe: C, O, N, P, and S
, Micronutrients (trace elements) - Answer-Nutrients required by some cells in small numbers: Na, K, Mg,
Zn, Fe, Ca, Mo, Cu, Co, Mn, and Va
Glucose vs Lactose vs Maltose - Answer-Glucose is a hexose, lactose is a disaccaride of glucose and
galactose, maltose is a disaccaride of two glucose's
Starch, glycogen & cellulose - Answer-examples of polysaccharides that are all composed of glucose
monomers, glycogen: primary energy storage in animals, starch: primary energy storage in plants
cellulose: is a structural component
Fatty acids - Answer-Lipid that contains long-chain hydrocarbons with a carboxylic acid functional group
Saturated vs Unsaturated Fatty Acids - Answer-Saturated with hydrogens, Saturated is solid at room
temperature and Unsaturated is liquid at room temperature
Hydrophobic - Answer-Water fearing
Phospholipids - Answer-a lipid consisting of a glycerol bound to two fatty acids and a phosphate group.
Hydrophillic - Answer-water loving
Amphipathic - Answer-A molecule that has both a hydrophilic region and a hydrophobic region.
Lipid Bilayer - Answer-Made of phospholipids in which the hydrophobic phosphate head is in contact
with the outer and internal environment and the hydrophobic fatty acids only have to interact with
themselves.
