Prokaryotes

Question 1

What is the oldest fossil evidence of life called?

Answer 1

Stromatolites

Question 2

What are the 3 prokaryote cell shapes?

Answer 2

• Spherical cocci
• Rod-shaped bacilli
• spiral-shaped cells

Question 3

If spherical cocci are part of a chain, what are they referred to as?

Answer 3

Streptococcus

Question 4

If spiral-shaped cells are short & rigid, what are they referred to as?

Answer 4

Spiralla

Question 5

If spiral-shaped cells are long & flexible, what are they referred to as?

Answer 5

Spirochaetes

Question 6

Function of the cell wall?

Answer 6

Provides physical protection

Question 7

Function of the sticky capsule?

Answer 7

Enables them to adhere to surfaces or other individuals within a colony. Hair-like fimbriae also helps adhesion

Question 8

Function of the flagella?

Answer 8

Enables movement in response to chemical or physical stimuli

Question 9

How to prokaryotes reproduce?

Answer 9

Binary fission

Question 10

Describe binary fission

Answer 10

1-cell elongates & DNA is replicated

• Cell wall & plasma membrane begin to divide
• Cross-wall forms completely around divided DNA
• Cells separate

Question 11

What are endospores?

Answer 11

Tough, dormant survival capsules formed by gram-positive bacteria under harsh environmental conditions

Question 12

What are photoautotrophs?

Answer 12

Photosynthetic prokaryotes, plants & algae

Question 13

What are chemoautotrophs?

Answer 13

_

Question 14

What are photoheterotrophs?

Answer 14

_

Question 15

What are chemoheterotrophs?

Answer 15

-

Question 16

What are biofilms?

Answer 16

Complex colonies formed when prokaryotes attack to surfaces

Question 17

How can biofilms be problematic?

Answer 17

When they form on implanted medical devices, eg. Catheters, replacement joints

Question 18

How can biofilms be beneficial?

Answer 18

Plant protection, bioremediation, wastewater treatment

Question 19

What is bioremediation?

Answer 19

The use of organisms to remove pollutants from soil, air or water

Question 20

What is a cladogram?

Answer 20

A tree showing relatedness based on shared characteristic traits

Question 21

What do you use phylogenetic trees for?

Answer 21

To look at evolutionary relationships between species

Question 22

What technique can be used to arrange sequences of DNA, RNA or proteins to identify regions of similarity that maybe a consequence of relationships between sequences?

Answer 22

Sequence alignment

Question 23

What are the 2 domains of prokaryotes?

Answer 23

Bacteria & archaea

Question 24

What are the differences between bacteria & archaea?

Answer 24

• Some RNA sequences unique to domain
• Differences in RNA polymerases
• Bacteria rarely have introns, whereas archaea have introns in some genes
• Unlike bacteria, archaea do not have peptidoglycan in their cell
• Archaea have histones associated with DNA in some species, whereas they are absent in bacteria

Question 25

What 5 groups are bacteria separated into?

Answer 25

• Proteobacteria
• Actinobacteria
• Cyanobacteria
• Chlamydiae
• Spirochaetes

Question 26

What is proteobactena responsible for?

Answer 26

• Fixing nitrogen

- Atmospheric gas to ammonia that plants can use

Question 27

What is actinobacteria useful for?

Answer 27

Antibiotics are produced by species in this genus

Question 28

What is Cyanobacteria?

Answer 28

Oxyphototrophic bacteria - the only organisms in which oxygenic photosynthesis has evolved