Basic Microbiology - Intro to Microbes & Their Building Blocks

Which of the following statements is incorrect regarding the scientific method? A) Data collection follows accepting or rejecting a hypothesis B) Background research precedes experimentation C) A hypothesis is constructed before experimentation D) The final step is to communicate results

A) Data collection follows accepting or rejecting a hypothesis

Which of the following structural components is not common to both triglycerides and phospholipids? A) Phosphate groups B) Fatty acid tails C) Glycerol

A) Phosphate groups

ATP is a molecule containing the nitrogenous base ______, ribose, and three phosphates.

Adenine

____ is a polysaccharide found in seaweed that is used to make solid culture media.

Agar

_______ are the building blocks of proteins and they exist in _____ different naturally occurring forms.

Amino acids; 20

The type of photosynthesis that does not produce oxygen is _______ photosynthesis.

Anoxygenic

Who developed a large collection of single-lens microscopes that he used to view microbes?

Antoine van Leeuwenhoek

Six of the major groups studied by microbiologists.

Archaea, Viruses, Bacteria, Fungi, Protozoa, Helminths

Which of the following is not true regarding viruses? A) Viruses are acellular B) Viruses are eukaryotic C) Viruses are nonliving D) Viruses are smaller than most bacteria

B) Viruses are eukaryotic

Researchers suggest avoiding the term "prokaryote" to describe which two cell types?

Bacteria and archaea

Which of the following processes refers to the decomposition of toxic pollutants by microbes?

Bioremediation

Which represents the scientific use of the term "theory"? A) A possible outcome that can be falsified B) An educated guess based upon logic and years of experience C) A principle that has been tested and not disproved over many years

C) A principle that has been tested and not disproved over many years

The realization that microorganisms are ubiquitous, and that some can cause infection, led to the development of the

Germ theory of disease

__________ is the most common and universally important hexose.

Glucose

Triglycerides are composed of

Glycerol and fatty acids

The outer coating of polysaccharides found on some bacteria that functions in the attachment to other cells is called the

Glycocalyx

In aqueous solutions, the charged ____ of phospholipids are attracted to the water phase, and the nonpolar _____ are repelled. This property causes lipids to naturally assume single and double layers.

Heads; Tails

A 6-carbon sugar such as glucose and fructose is called a _______.

Hexose

What are 6 carbon sugars called?

Hexoses

Which two physicians recognized that humans could transfer infection to each other, leading Joseph Lister to develop his aseptic techniques?

Holmes, Semmelweis

In double stranded DNA, the polynucleotide chains are linked by _____ bonds between the nitrogenous bases.

Hydrogen

Phospholipids have a _____ charged head and a _____ uncharged tail.

Hydrophilic; Hydrophobic

A disease caused by a microorganism is termed a(n) _______ disease.

Infectious

Who established the four postulates to verify the germ theory and developed many of the laboratory techniques still used in microbiology labs today?

Koch

_________, a complex of carbohydrate and lipid in gram-negative bacterial cell walls, can cause fever and shock in the host.

Lipopolysaccharides

Most ____ are made up of monomers linked into polymers

Macromolecules

________ is the specific study of microscopic organisms, including bacteria, archaea, fungi, protozoa, helminths, and viruses.

Microbiology

Organisms that are only visible with the aid of magnification are

Microscopic

All macromolecules except lipids are formed by polymerization, or joining of repeating subunits called _______.

Monomers

Polymers are composed of repeating subunits called ________.

Monomers

A _______ is the simple sugar building block for carbohydrates consisting of 3 to 7 carbon atoms.

Monosaccharide

The principle of evolution states that living things change gradually over time through

Natural selection

Outside of their hosts, viruses are composed of _____ and ______.

Nucleic acid, Protein

The monomer (subunit) consisting of a phosphate, sugar, and base from which all nucleic acids are built is the ______.

Nucleotide

A(n) _______ is any small, membrane-bound component found inside of an eukaryotic cell.

Organelle

The oxygen in the earth's atmosphere was generated by

Oxygenic photosynthesizing microbes

Who contributed a great deal to our understanding of microbial processes in wine and beer formation?

Pasteur

A(n) ______ is the term used to refer to any disease-causing microorganism.

Pathogen

Xylose is a _____, which specifically means it is a 5-carbon sugar.

Pentose

Put the terms protein, peptide, and polypeptide in order from smallest to largest.

Peptide, Polypeptide, Protein

________ provides the main source of structural support to the bacterial cell wall.

Peptidoglycan

The backbone of DNA is a chain of alternating _____ and _____ molecules.

Phosphate; Sugar

_____ bilayer formation is significant in membrane formation and contributes to the selective permeability and fluid nature of membranes.

Phospholipid

Cell membranes are made of lipid bilayers composed of _______ which are oriented with their polar heads facing away from the center of the membrane and their nonpolar tails facing toward the center of the membrane.

Phospholipids

Due to their charged, hydrophilic heads and hydrophobic, nonpolar tails _____________ can assemble into layers.

Phospholipids

________ are a class of lipids containing fatty acids, glycerol, and phosphate and serve as the major structural component of cell membranes.

Phospholipids

Which process uses the sun's energy to produce organic compounds from carbon dioxide?

Photosynthesis

________ is the biochemical process that uses the sun's to produce organic material from carbon dioxide.

Photosynthesis

The scheme that represents the natural relatedness between groups of living beings is called their ______.

Phylogeny

A ______ is any type of macromolecule made up of a chain of repeating subunits called monomers.

Polymer

The term _____ is becoming less acceptable because it implies an artificial relationship between bacteria and archaea.

Prokaryote

Chains of amino acids comprise

Proteins

In living systems, the predominant organic molecules are ________, which are largely responsible for the structure, behavior, and unique qualities of a cell.

Proteins

Some proteins can assume a level of _______ structure in which two or more polypeptides assemble to form a larger, multiunit protein.

Quaternary

___ is the molecule that represents a copy of DNA's instructions, and this information is translated into protein.

RNA

Tuberculosis is an older disease but its prevalence has been increasing in recent years; therefore, this disease is sometimes referred to as a(n) ___________ disease.

Reemerging

Solid fats are usually which of the following types of fats?

Saturated

For the organism Staphylococcus aureus, aureus represents the _____ level of classification.

Species

Which of the following are ringed compounds that are commonly found in the cell membranes of animals and fungi?

Steroids

Polysaccharides contribute to or serve as

Structural support, Energy stores, Protection, Nutrient stores

______ is a disaccharide that is common table or cane sugar.

Sucrose

Nomenclature, classification, and identification are the three primary concerns of _______.

Taxonomy

Which event helped make people aware of the ubiquity and (some) characteristics of microorganisms?

The development of the microscope

What is biotechnology?

The use of microbes or their products for commercial or industrial purposes

What is meant when microorganisms are described as "ubiquitous"?

They are nearly everywhere

In DNA, adenine always base pairs with ____, and cytosine always base pairs with _____.

Thymine; Guanine

All bacteria are microorganisms, but not all eukaryotes are microorganisms.

True

Eukaryotic organisms can be single-celled or multicellular.

True

Evolution occurs as organisms within a population adapt to their environment.

True

Lister first promoted the use of disinfecting agents prior to surgery.

True

_________ fats have hydrocarbon chains with at least one double bond.

Unsaturated

Which of the following types of microorganisms does not appear on the tree of life?

Viruses

A(n) _____ is a water repellent compound that is classified as an ester that contains a long chain alcohol and a saturated fatty acid.

Wax

Encodes the order and type of amino acids in a given protein

mRNA

The germ theory of disease stated that

microorganisms could cause infection and disease

What are the components of a nucleotide?

pentose sugar, phosphate group, nitrogenous base

Is a structural component of the ribosome

rRNA

Carries amino acids to the ribosome during protein synthesis

tRNA

Which of the following statements is incorrect regarding the appearance of organisms in earth's history? A) The first living organisms were single-celled B) Archaea and bacteria appeared on the earth around the same time C) Humans preceded most reptiles and insects on the earth D) Bacteria preceded mammals on earth

C) Humans preceded most reptiles and insects on the earth

The long chains of a fatty acids are made up of which two elements?

Carbon and hydrogen

The term 'carbohydrate' refers to the fact that most compounds in this class are combinations of which element and which molecule?

Carbon and water

What is the fundamental unit of life?

Cell

______ is a long, fibrous polymer composed of glucose found in plants and algae.

Cellulose

Which scientist provided evidence of the presence of endospores?

Cohn

The complete set of genetic information for a cell is carried in a molecule called

DNA

The hereditary materials in viruses is _____.

DNA or RNA but not both

The backbone of DNA is a polymer of alternating _______ and _______.

Deoxyribose; Phosphate

A ________ is a combination of two monosaccharides.

Disaccharide

The three major taxonomic groups Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya, are termed _______.

Domains

DNA has a structure that is called a(n) ________.

Double helix

Genetic _______ is a method of deliberately modifying the genetic structure of an organism to create novel products.

Engineering

A protein biocatalyst for chemical reactions in a cell is a(n) _______.

Enzyme

For the organism Escherichia coli, what is the genus name?

Escherichia

Cells that contain a nucleus and a number of other membrane-bound organelles are called _______.

Eukaryotes

The cells of which microorganisms contain organelles?

Eukaryotes

Which cell type is generally larger in size?

Eukaryotic cells

A sterile environment is free of actively growing cells and microorganisms, but may contain viruses or dormant life forms such as endospores.

False

Viruses are not included in the major groups of microbes because they are nonliving agents.

False

Recombinant DNA technology involves the transfer of _____ from one organism to another.

Genetic material

The ____ theory of disease, first proposed in the 1800's, stated that microorganisms could cause infection and illness.

Germ