Mini Exam 1

Question 1

Microbe/microorganisms are…

Answer 1

Organisms too small to see without a microscope

Question 2

Convert between meters, millimeters, and micrometers

Answer 2

1 meter = 1,000 millimeters = 1,000,000 micrometers
To go from a larger unit to smaller (ex: m to mm) multiply by 1000
To go from a smaller unit to larger (ex: mm to m) divide by 1000

Question 3

Explain microbial ecology?

Answer 3

Decomposition of organic waste and dead organisms; ex: composting

Question 4

Explain sewage treatment

Answer 4

Microbes remove harmful waste and microbes

Question 5

Explain Bioremediation

Answer 5

Clean up chemical/oil/waste spills

Question 6

Explain Mutualism

Answer 6

Microbes fight off infectious diseases or help digest food

Question 7

Explain Biotechnology

Answer 7

Produce….
- food; ex: wine, beer, bread, vinegar
- industrial/chemical products; ex: acetone, ethanol, vitamins
- recombinant DNA; ex: generate GMOs, develop medicine and gene therapy, basic research

Question 8

Explain Phage therapy

Answer 8

treat bacterial infections with phages (viruses that infect bacteria)

Question 9

Explain Food spoilage/poisoning

Answer 9

Microbes decompose the food and/or their enzymes

Question 10

Explain Biofilm

Answer 10

Slimy or solid aggregation of bacteria and its secreted material; ex: film on unbrushed teeth

Question 11

Explain Pathogen, virulent

Answer 11

Pathogen: microbes that cause INFECTIOUS disease, virulent (harm) , causes harm to host while reproducing

Question 12

Explain Infectious diseases/EID

Answer 12

Emerging infectious diseases (EID): diseases with increasing incidence
- political unrest
- societal influence; anti-vaxxers :/
- climate change; vector-borne diseases like Covid
- spread via modern transport
- high population levels
- interaction with animals; less land for them we live closer

Question 13

Explain Spontaneous generation

Answer 13

Theory that life could arise from non-living matter

Question 14

Francesco Redi

Answer 14

Late 1600s; Disproved spontaneous generation by doing an experiment with raw meat
- controlled experiment showing maggots don’t arise in meat without flies
- open container = formation of maggots on meat
- cork sealed = no maggots
- gauze covered = no maggots
- meat still eventually rotted as microbes grew on the meat

Question 15

Experimental Model

Answer 15

A representative system (organism) used to test a hypothesis

Question 16

Robert Hooke, cells

Answer 16

1665; first to observe dead cells with a microscope
- named cells the small compartments seen in cork
- wrote Micrographia

Question 17

Antoine van Leeuwenhoek, animalcules

Answer 17

1670-1720s; first to describe LIVING cells he called “animalcules”

Question 18

Broth

Answer 18

Liquid that has the nutrients for the growth of microbes

Question 19

Louis Pasteur, swan-necked flask, fermentation, pasteurization

Answer 19

1861; settled spontaneous generation debate using broth and swan necked flask after noticing heating broth kills bacteria
- heat + sit out = no bacteria
- heat + remove neck and sit = bacteria
- heat + sideways tilt and sit = bacteria
- religion AND science liked this bc “only god gives life” and all that good shit

Question 20

Aseptic technique

Answer 20

Limited contamination from air and environment

Question 21

Germ theory of disease

Answer 21

Microbes cause disease, not punishment or bad air

Question 22

Lab 1

Question 23

E.coli & Shigella

Answer 23

E.coli
- gram negative bacillus bacterium
- abundant in healthy gut, UTI if in bladder
- pathogenic strains: shiga toxin producing E.coli (STEC)
- common model organism: molecular and phage genetics, recomb. DNA, protein expression

Shigella
- genus expressing Shiga toxin, causes dysentery, food borne illness with bloody diarrhea

Question 24

Listeria

Answer 24

• gram positive bacillus bacterium
• pathogenic; food-borne illness, listeriosis (20-30% fatality, 1600 illnesses and 260 deaths in USA annually, can cause meningitis and sepsis)
• temperature dependent flagella; RT present, 37C not
• intracelular; spread cell to cell
• can grow at 0C (refrigeration)