MBIO 3401
MBIO 3401 Exam 1 Questions and
Answers 2025-2026
What is a microbe? How small does an organism have to be to be considered a
microbe? -Correct Answer ✔A microbe is a living organism that requires a microscope
to be seen. Microbe diameter must be less than 0.15 mm.
True or false: Some microbes can consist of a single cell. -Correct Answer ✔True.
A _____ is the total genetic information contained in an organism's chromosomal DNA. -
Correct Answer ✔Genome.
What developed the first method of DNA sequencing fast enough to sequence large
genomes? -Correct Answer ✔Fred Sanger.
What is a collection of sequences taken directly from the environment called? -Correct
Answer ✔A metagenome.
Ture or false: Each microbe has the capacity to reproduce its own kind. -Correct Answer
✔True.
What is a cell community? -Correct Answer ✔Many of the same kind of cell.
Should plant and animal cells be considered microbes? -Correct Answer ✔No. Plant
and animal cells cannot reproduce their own kind indefinitely. Additionally, animal cells
are differentiated and do not exist as independently or as communities.
What types of organisms are considered microbes? -Correct Answer ✔Bacteria,
Archaea, Algae, Fungi, protists, and Viruses.
What 14th century disease was caused by microbes? -Correct Answer ✔bubonic
plague.
What is Florence Nightingale famous for? -Correct Answer ✔Florence Nightingale was
the first to recognize the significance of disease in warfare. She founded the science of
medical statistics and devised the polar area chart to show that the deaths of soldiers
was due to various causes.
What is Robert Hooke famous for? -Correct Answer ✔Built the first compound
microscope.
Coined the term "cell".
Published the first manuscript that illustrated objects under the microscope.
MBIO 3401
,MBIO 3401
What is Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek famous for? -Correct Answer ✔First to observe
single-cell microbes moving around. He observed samples from his mouth under the
microscope, saw them moving around and called them small animals.
He built the first primitive microscope with the intention to observe fine fabrics (he was a
cloth draper).
Who discovered the microbial basis of fermentation? How did this person do this? -
Correct Answer ✔Louis Pasteur. He built a swan-neck flask and showed that after
boiling, the contents remain free of microbial growth despite access to air.
What scientists disproved the theory of spontaneous generation of microbes? -Correct
Answer ✔Francesco Redi: showed that maggots in decaying meat were the offspring of
flies.
Lazzaro Spallanzani: showed that a sealed flask of meat broth sterilized by boiling failed
to grow microbes.
Louis Pasteur: showed that after boiling, the contents in the swan neck flask remain free
of microbial growth.
Who is considered the Founding Father of Microbiology? -Correct Answer ✔Louis
Pasteur.
What is the Germ Theory of Disease? -Correct Answer ✔That many diseases are
caused by microbes (most infectious diseases).
Who is the founder of the scientific method of microbiology? -Correct Answer ✔Robert
Koch.
What is the purpose of Koch's Postulates? -Correct Answer ✔Koch's Postulates are a
series of criteria (scientific method) for whether a specific microbe is responsible for a
specific disease.
List Koch's Postulates in order for defining the causative agent of a disease. -Correct
Answer ✔1. The microbe is found in call cases of the disease, but is absent from health
individuals.
2. The microbe is isolated from the diseased host and grown in pure culture.
3. When the microbe is introduced into a healthy host, the same disease occurs.
4. The same strain of microbe is obtained from the newly diseased host.
MBIO 3401
, MBIO 3401
Who was the first scientist to develop the first vaccine based on attenuated strains?
What two vaccinations did he develop? -Correct Answer ✔Louis Pasteur. He developed
Fowl Cholera vaccination and Rabies vaccination.
Define immunization -Correct Answer ✔The stimulation of an immune response by
deliberate inoculation with an attenuated pathogen.
Who discovered that Penicillium mold generated a substance that kills bacteria? -
Correct Answer ✔Alexander Fleming.
Who purified penicillin and made it the first commercial antibiotic to save human lives? -
Correct Answer ✔Howard Florey and Ernst Chain.
Who first used solid medium using agar to grow pure cultures of microbes? -Correct
Answer ✔Angelina and Walther Hesse.
How does the human eye observe images? -Correct Answer ✔Light focuses onto retina
where photoreceptor cells fire signals that are transmitted to optic nerve to the brain to
generate images.
Define Resolution. -Correct Answer ✔The smallest distance by which two opbjects can
be separated and distinguished.
What is the resolution of the human retina? What does this mean? -Correct Answer
✔150 micrometers, or, 0.15 mm.
This means that if two objects are closer than 150 micrometers together, the human eye
cannot distinguish between the two objects.
Who was Ignaz Semmelweis? -Correct Answer ✔Semmelweis ordered doctors to wash
their hands with chlorine. He was the first to introduce aseptic techniques in the
hospitals.
Who was Joseph Lister? -Correct Answer ✔He developed carbolic acid to treat wounds
and clean surgical instruments in 1865.
What type of microscopy generates a dark image over a light background? -Correct
Answer ✔Bright-field microscopy.
How do you find total magnification? -Correct Answer ✔magnification of ocular
multiplied by that of the objective.
Example: ocular = 10x and objective = 20x. Total magnification = 200x.
MBIO 3401
MBIO 3401 Exam 1 Questions and
Answers 2025-2026
What is a microbe? How small does an organism have to be to be considered a
microbe? -Correct Answer ✔A microbe is a living organism that requires a microscope
to be seen. Microbe diameter must be less than 0.15 mm.
True or false: Some microbes can consist of a single cell. -Correct Answer ✔True.
A _____ is the total genetic information contained in an organism's chromosomal DNA. -
Correct Answer ✔Genome.
What developed the first method of DNA sequencing fast enough to sequence large
genomes? -Correct Answer ✔Fred Sanger.
What is a collection of sequences taken directly from the environment called? -Correct
Answer ✔A metagenome.
Ture or false: Each microbe has the capacity to reproduce its own kind. -Correct Answer
✔True.
What is a cell community? -Correct Answer ✔Many of the same kind of cell.
Should plant and animal cells be considered microbes? -Correct Answer ✔No. Plant
and animal cells cannot reproduce their own kind indefinitely. Additionally, animal cells
are differentiated and do not exist as independently or as communities.
What types of organisms are considered microbes? -Correct Answer ✔Bacteria,
Archaea, Algae, Fungi, protists, and Viruses.
What 14th century disease was caused by microbes? -Correct Answer ✔bubonic
plague.
What is Florence Nightingale famous for? -Correct Answer ✔Florence Nightingale was
the first to recognize the significance of disease in warfare. She founded the science of
medical statistics and devised the polar area chart to show that the deaths of soldiers
was due to various causes.
What is Robert Hooke famous for? -Correct Answer ✔Built the first compound
microscope.
Coined the term "cell".
Published the first manuscript that illustrated objects under the microscope.
MBIO 3401
,MBIO 3401
What is Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek famous for? -Correct Answer ✔First to observe
single-cell microbes moving around. He observed samples from his mouth under the
microscope, saw them moving around and called them small animals.
He built the first primitive microscope with the intention to observe fine fabrics (he was a
cloth draper).
Who discovered the microbial basis of fermentation? How did this person do this? -
Correct Answer ✔Louis Pasteur. He built a swan-neck flask and showed that after
boiling, the contents remain free of microbial growth despite access to air.
What scientists disproved the theory of spontaneous generation of microbes? -Correct
Answer ✔Francesco Redi: showed that maggots in decaying meat were the offspring of
flies.
Lazzaro Spallanzani: showed that a sealed flask of meat broth sterilized by boiling failed
to grow microbes.
Louis Pasteur: showed that after boiling, the contents in the swan neck flask remain free
of microbial growth.
Who is considered the Founding Father of Microbiology? -Correct Answer ✔Louis
Pasteur.
What is the Germ Theory of Disease? -Correct Answer ✔That many diseases are
caused by microbes (most infectious diseases).
Who is the founder of the scientific method of microbiology? -Correct Answer ✔Robert
Koch.
What is the purpose of Koch's Postulates? -Correct Answer ✔Koch's Postulates are a
series of criteria (scientific method) for whether a specific microbe is responsible for a
specific disease.
List Koch's Postulates in order for defining the causative agent of a disease. -Correct
Answer ✔1. The microbe is found in call cases of the disease, but is absent from health
individuals.
2. The microbe is isolated from the diseased host and grown in pure culture.
3. When the microbe is introduced into a healthy host, the same disease occurs.
4. The same strain of microbe is obtained from the newly diseased host.
MBIO 3401
, MBIO 3401
Who was the first scientist to develop the first vaccine based on attenuated strains?
What two vaccinations did he develop? -Correct Answer ✔Louis Pasteur. He developed
Fowl Cholera vaccination and Rabies vaccination.
Define immunization -Correct Answer ✔The stimulation of an immune response by
deliberate inoculation with an attenuated pathogen.
Who discovered that Penicillium mold generated a substance that kills bacteria? -
Correct Answer ✔Alexander Fleming.
Who purified penicillin and made it the first commercial antibiotic to save human lives? -
Correct Answer ✔Howard Florey and Ernst Chain.
Who first used solid medium using agar to grow pure cultures of microbes? -Correct
Answer ✔Angelina and Walther Hesse.
How does the human eye observe images? -Correct Answer ✔Light focuses onto retina
where photoreceptor cells fire signals that are transmitted to optic nerve to the brain to
generate images.
Define Resolution. -Correct Answer ✔The smallest distance by which two opbjects can
be separated and distinguished.
What is the resolution of the human retina? What does this mean? -Correct Answer
✔150 micrometers, or, 0.15 mm.
This means that if two objects are closer than 150 micrometers together, the human eye
cannot distinguish between the two objects.
Who was Ignaz Semmelweis? -Correct Answer ✔Semmelweis ordered doctors to wash
their hands with chlorine. He was the first to introduce aseptic techniques in the
hospitals.
Who was Joseph Lister? -Correct Answer ✔He developed carbolic acid to treat wounds
and clean surgical instruments in 1865.
What type of microscopy generates a dark image over a light background? -Correct
Answer ✔Bright-field microscopy.
How do you find total magnification? -Correct Answer ✔magnification of ocular
multiplied by that of the objective.
Example: ocular = 10x and objective = 20x. Total magnification = 200x.
MBIO 3401
