General Flash Cards

Question 1

What is evolution?

Answer 1

The process of change over time that results in new varieties and species of organisms.

Question 2

What is phylogeny?

Answer 2

Evolutionary relationships between organisms.

Question 3

What are cardinal temperatures?

Answer 3

The minimum, optimum and maximum temperatures at which organism grows.

Question 4

What happens at minimum cardinal temperature?

Answer 4

Membrane gelling occurs so that transport processes slow and therefore no growth can occur.

Question 5

What happens at maximum cardinal temperature?

Answer 5

Protein denaturation occurs, along with the collapse of the cytoplasmic membrane and thermal lysis.

Question 6

Name the four temperature classes.

Answer 6

Psychrophile
Mesophile
Thermophile
Hyperthermophile

Question 7

What is the temperature range of a psychrophile?

Answer 7

4C, low

Question 8

What is the temperature range of a mesophile?

Answer 8

39C, mid-range

Question 9

What is the temperature range of a thermophile?

Answer 9

60C, high

Question 10

What is the temperature range of a hyperthermophile?

Answer 10

88C-106C, very high

Question 11

What is an acidophile?

Answer 11

A microbe that requires a pH of less than 6 to survive, can be obligate.

Question 12

What is an alkaliphile?

Answer 12

A microbe that requires a pH of more than 9 to survive.

Question 13

What is a halophile?

Answer 13

A microbe that requires a high osmolarity.

Question 14

What is an extreme halophile?

Answer 14

A microbe that requires a high level of NaCl.

Question 15

What is a halotolerant?

Answer 15

A microbe that tolerates some increase in osmolarity.

Question 16

What is a osmophile?

Answer 16

A microbe that requires an environment very high in sugar.

Question 17

What is a xerophile?

Answer 17

A microbe that can tolerate a very dry environment.

Question 18

What is haloarchaea?

Answer 18

A microbe that can tolerate a hyper saline environment.

Question 19

What is an extremophile?

Answer 19

An extremophile is an organism that has the ability to thrive in extreme environments such as hydrothermal vents.

Question 20

Name the toxic oxygen forms.

Answer 20

Singlet oxygen
Superoxide anion
Hydrogen Peroxide
Hydroxyl Radical

Question 21

What is a facultative organism?

Answer 21

A microbe that can live with/without oxygen.

Question 22

What is an aerotolerant anaerobe?

Answer 22

A microbe that can tolerate oxygen and grow in its presence even though they cannot use it.

Question 23

What is a microaerophile?

Answer 23

A microbe that can use oxygen only when it is present at levels reduced from that in the air.

Question 24

What are the enzymes microbes use to remove toxic oxygen species?

Answer 24

Catalse
Peroxidase
Superoxide dismutase
Superoxide reductase

Question 25

What are the ways in which Rachael cells have adapted to high temperatures?

Answer 25

• Heat tolerant folds (critical amino acid substitutions).
• Resistance to unfolding in aqueous cytoplasm due to increased number of ionic bonds between basic and acidic amino acids.
• Better protein stabilisation of proteins due to solute production.