Microbiology Comprehensive vocab for final

Question 1

A complex of nucleic acids and proteins, primarily histones, in the cell nucleus that stains readily with basic dyes and condenses to form chromosomes during cell division.

Answer 1

Chromatin

Question 2

A membrane-enclosed structure within a cell, such as a mitochondrion, vacuole, or chloroplast, that preforms a specific function.

Answer 2

Organelle

Question 3

A mucopolysaccharide outer shell enveloping certain bacteria

Answer 3

Capsule

Question 4

An organism of microscopic or submicroscopic size, especially a bacterium or protozoan

Answer 4

Microorganism

Question 5

An RNA molecule with catalytic activity

Answer 5

Ribozyme

Question 6

Any substance NEEDED for microbial growth

Answer 6

Nutrient

Question 7

Culture media that distinguishes between groups of microorganisms based on differences within their growth and metabolic products.

Answer 7

Differential Media

Question 8

Dyes that are anionic or have negatively charged groups such as carbozyls

Answer 8

Acid Dyes

Question 9

Organic compounds that must be supplied in the diet for growth because they cannot be synthesized

Answer 9

Growth Factor

Question 10

The characteristic movement of a cell along a chemical concentration gradient either towards or away from the chemical stimulus

Answer 10

Chemotaxis

Question 11

The hypothesis that mitochondria and chloroplasts arose from bacterial endosymbionts of ancestral eukaryotic cells

Answer 11

Endosymbiotic Hypothesis

Question 12

The lense of a microscope that first receives light rays from the object and forms the image

Answer 12

Objective Lense

Question 13

The process in which a cell takes up solutes or particles by enclosing them in vesicles pinced off from its plasma membrane

Answer 13

Endocytosis

Question 14

The process in which the internal and external structures of cells and organisms are preserved and fixed in position

Answer 14

Fixation

Question 15

A series of chemical reactions that occurs as part of the dark reactions of photosynthesis, in which carbon is broken down away from gaseous carbon dioxide and fixed as organic carbon in compounds that are ultimately used to make sugars and starch as food.

Answer 15

Calvin Cycle

Question 16

An organism that requires a salty environment.

Answer 16

Halophile

Question 17

The rotating enzyme complex that couples ATP production to the flow of hydrogen ions.

Answer 17

ATP Synthase

Question 18

A series of chemical reactions that occurs as part of the dark reactions of photosynthesis, in which carbon is broken away from gaseous carbon dioxide and fixed as organic carbon in compounds that are ultimately used to make sugars and starch as food.

Answer 18

Calvin Cycle

Question 19

Inhibiting the growth and reproduction of bacteria.

Answer 19

Bacteriostatic

Question 20

An organism, such as a bacterium, that can live in the absence of atmospheric oxygen.

Answer 20

Anaerobe

Question 21

The plateau of the growth curve after the exponential growth, during which cell number remains constant.

Answer 21

Stationary Phase

Question 22

The material or substance on which an enzyme acts.

Answer 22

Substrate

Question 23

A substance that causes or accelerates a chemical reaction without itself being affected.

Answer 23

Catalyst

Question 24

Making something free of germs as by sterilizing.

Answer 24

Sanitation

Question 25

The spontaneous formation of a complex structre from its component molecules without the aid of special enzymes or factors.

Answer 25

Self-Assembly

Question 26

The amount of energy that must be put into a system in order to cause a chemical process to occur.

Answer 26

Activation Enerby

Question 27

A substance that inhibits the growth and reproduction of disease-causing microorganisms

Answer 27

Antiseptic

Question 28

An ATP-generating metabolic process that occurs in nearly all living cells in which glucose is converted in a series of steps to pyruvic acid.

Answer 28

Glycolysis

Question 29

A mode of gene transfer in procaryotes in which a piece of free DNA is taken up by a cell and integrated into its genome

Answer 29

Transformation

Question 30

A polymerase that catalyzes the synthesis of RNA from a DNA template

Answer 30

RNA Polymerase

Question 31

An enzyme that joins two DNA fragments together through the formation of a new phosphodiester bond.

Answer 31

DNA Ligase

Question 32

Class of RNA molecules that transport amino acids to ribosomes for incorporation into a polypeptide undergoing synthesis

Answer 32

tRNA

Question 33

The newly synthesized DNA strand that is oriented away from the replication fork and is made in small fragments that are later joined together

Answer 33

Lagging Strand

Question 34

The process by which the genetic message carried by mRNA directs the synthesis of polypeptides with the aid of ribosomes and other cell constituents.

Answer 34

Translation

Question 35

The RNA that is the structural and catalytic part of a ribosome.

Answer 35

rRNA

Question 36

A mechanism for the regulation of transcription of some bacterial operons by aminoacyl-tRNA's

Answer 36

Attenuation

Question 37

The segment of DNA to which the repressor protein binds; it controls the expression of the genes adjacent to it.

Answer 37

Operator

Question 38

A permanent, heritable change in the genetic material

Answer 38

Genetic Mutation

Question 39

The typical form of an organism, strain, Gene, or characteristic as it occurs in nature.

Answer 39

Wild Type

Question 40

A short, labled nucleic acid segment complementary in base to part of another nucleif acid, which is used to identify or isolate the particular nucleic acid from a mixture through its ability to bind specifically with the target nucleic acid.

Answer 40

Probe

Question 41

Enzymes produced by host cells that cleave virus DNA at specific points and thus protect the cell from virus infection; they are used in carrying out genetic engineering.

Answer 41

Restriction Enzyme

Question 42

To make identical copies of a DNA sequence.

Answer 42

Cloning

Question 43

The protein Shell that surrounds a virus particle.

Answer 43

Capsid

Question 44

The process by which an antigen selects the best-fitting B-Cell receptor, activating the B-cell, resulting in the synthesis of antibody and clonal expansion.

Answer 44

Clonal Selection Mechanism

Question 45

of viruses with RNA genomes that carry the enzyme reverse transcriptase and form a DNA copy of their genome during their life cycle.

Answer 45

Retrovirus

Question 46

Of or relating to an immune response by the body against one of its own cells or tissues.

Answer 46

Autoimmune Response

Question 47

Any of several regulatory proteins, such as the interleukins and lyphokines, that are released by cells of the immune system and act as intercellular mediators in the generation of an immune response

Answer 47

Cytokines

Question 48

An infectious agent consisting only of protein.

Answer 48

Prion

Question 49

An area of the antigen molecule that stimulates the production of, and combines with, specific antibodies; also known as the antigenitc determinant site

Answer 49

Antigen Binding Site

Question 50

A group of plasma proteins that plays a major role in an animal's defensive immune response.

Answer 50

Receptor Proteins.

Question 51

A gene whos activity is associated with the conversion of normal cells to cancer cells.

Answer 51

Oncogene

Question 52

A foreign (non-self) substance to which lymphocytes respond.

Answer 52

Antigen

Question 53

A double-Strand nucleic acid that is formed from a single-stranded viral genome and used to synthesize new copies of the genome.

Answer 53

Replicative Form

Question 54

A complete virus particle that represents the extracellular phase of the virus life cycle.

Answer 54

Virion

Question 55

A clear, often round patch of lysed cells in an otherwise opaque layer of a bacteria or cell culture.

Answer 55

Plaque