Flashcards
Microbiology importance, distinction and naming
Cards in this deck (28)
- 1True or false: microbes are the earliest life form?True!
- 2List some environmental conditions that we depend on microbes for.An aerobic atmosphere, carbon and nitrogen cycles, and water and soil quality. They are also the base of every food chain.
- 3List some characteristics of eukaryotic microorganisms. List some types of microorganisms that fall within this category.Membrane-bound nuclei, membrane-bound organelles, and usually larger. These include: algae, protozoa, fungi, and slime moulds.
- 4List some characteristics of prokaryotic microorganisms. Which types of microorganisms fall into this category?DNA not separate from cytoplasm, usually smaller, lack membrane-bound organelles. These include archaea and bacteria.
- 5What can't viruses do without a host?Replicate or produce metabolic energy.
- 6Broadly describe the structure of a virus.Viruses consist of a nucleic acid molecule (DNA or RNA), and a protein 'coat' or capsid.
- 7What determines the specificity of a virus' interactions with its host?The proteins (usually glycoproteins) that constitute its capsid.
- 8What is a prion?A misfolded protein that appears to act in an infectious manner.
- 9What is unique about prion diseases?They manifest as sporadic, genetic, and infectious diseases.
- 10Name two prion diseases that occur in humours.Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease (CJD) and kuru.
- 11Other than disease, name a detrimental effect of microorganisms.Spoilage of crops/food.
- 12What is a mycelium?A mass of branching, interlacing filaments (or 'hyphae') of a fungus.
- 13What is a coenocyte? Why is a mycelium coenocytic?A coenocyte is a multi-nucleated mass of continuous cytoplasm, which is possible in a mycelium as the hyphae exhibit cross walls but these are perforated and allow free passage of nuclei and cytoplasm.
- 14What are mycelial fungi usually known as?Moulds!
- 15If yeasts do not form mycelia, why are they considered to be fungi?Because of their sexual reproductive processes: they produce asexual reproductive structures called conidia).
- 16What are the four groups that fungi can be subdivided into?Zycomycotina (the phytomycetes), ascomycotina (the ascomycetes), basidiomycotina (the basidiomycetes), and deuteromycotina (the imperfect fungi).
- 17Roughly how many microbes does 1 gram of soil contain?10^8.
- 18How many body cells does an average human consist of? How many microbial cells are on or in a human being?Humans consist of 10^13 human cells, but have 10^14 microbial cells living on and in us
- 19Despite not being membrane bound, why is the DNA of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria referred to as the nucleoid?Because it exists in a certain area of the cell.
- 20How do the purple bacteria generate metabolic energy?They convert light energy to metabolic energy in the absence of oxygen.
- 21Some organisms can use alternative electron acceptors to oxygen - such as?NO3-, SO4-, or CO2.
- 22How do consortia provide protection for prokaryotic communities against external agents?Consortia, such as clone communities of up to 10^8 cells, provide physical protection by sheer numbers as a threat is unlikely to be able to physically reach all of them, and also a high cell number virtually assures the presence of a variant of any gene on the chromosome, so genetic variability, natural selection and evolution are all assured within a clone.
- 23What are protozoa?Unicellular, non-photosynthetic protists (protists also include fungi, algae and slime moulds).
- 24If bacteria and archaea are prokaryotes, and fungi, protozoa, and algae are eukaryotes, what are viruses and prions?Akaryotes.
- 25What glycopeptide do bacteria characteristically possess at least one layer of in their cell envelope?Peptidoglycan.
- 26What accounts for the colour difference in Gram negative and Gram positive staining of bacteria?The thickness of the peptidoglycan layer which holds the crystal violet dye.
- 27The most commonly encountered bacteria have one of two shapes - what are these two common shapes?Cocci and bacilli.
- 28What are slime moulds characterised by?The presence, as a stage in their life cycle, of an amoeboid multinucleate mass of cytoplasm (much like a fungal mycelium) called a plasmodium, in which the cytoplasm can flow in all directions (unlike in mycelium where it can only flow through the hyphae).
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- Diploma of Higher Education PAL (Microbiology) Flashcards on Microbiology importance, distinction and naming, created by sophietevans on 05/02/2014.
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