Quizzes

Question 1

Quiz 1

If you were working with an organism that caused a disease, but treatment was readily available and effective for that disease, which biosafety level would you use when handling that organism?

a) BSL1
b) BSL2
c) BSL3
d) BSL4

Answer 1

b) BSL2

Question 2

Quiz 1

When thinking about innate physiological traits, what one thing that you use as a microbiologist would provide you with information about these traits for your organism?

a) Medium recipe
b) Culturing conditions
c) Hard work
d) Medium recipe plus the culturing conditions

Answer 2

d) Medium recipe plus the culturing conditions

Question 3

Quiz 1

Accurate determination of microbial growth rates is important for a number of things. List one.

Answer 3

In order to monitor the growth of bacterial infections

Question 4

Quiz 1

Which of the following do you not have to do in BSL1 facility, but do have to do in a BSL4 facility?

a) Wear an isolation suit
b) Laboratory separated from the rest of the facility
c) Decontaminate
d) Use all appropriate care

Answer 4

a) Wear an isolation suit

Question 5

Quiz 1

Which biosafety level requires the movement of material in and out of the facility via a two-sided autoclave?

a) BSL1
b) BSL2
c) BSL3
d) BSL4

Answer 5

d) BSL4

Question 6

Quiz 1

List 3 innate traits that are important to know if you are culturing a microbe.

Answer 6

pH
Salt tolerance
NaCl
Oxygen requirements 
Temperature

Question 7

Quiz 1

In order to properly derive the generation time and growth rate, what type of graphing technique must you use?

Answer 7

Semi-log

Question 8

Quiz 1

When analyzing growth data, you initially plot the data to find which portion of the curve?

Answer 8

Linear

Question 9

Quiz 1

Once you have determined the generation time, how do you calculate the growth rate? Provide the equation.

Answer 9

u=0.693/g

Question 10

Quiz 1

When using a reciprocal plot, how do you determine Ks and the maximum growth rate?

Answer 10

Ks and the max growth rate are determined by the Y and X intercepts of the graph, respectively

Question 11

Quiz 2

You are seeking a set of mutants that are sensitive to low pH. How would you set this mutant screen up?

Answer 11

First, isolate a sample of the organism and let it replicate until you have a sufficient amount of cells.

Then, use the pick and patch method to grow cells at a high, neutral, and low pH.

The mutants will not grow in the plate with the low pH but will on the other two plates.

Question 12

Quiz 2

List three things that you need to consider when designing or adapting a biochemical assay.

Answer 12

• What conditions can be easily changed?
• What characteristic(s) are you attempting to identify? (pH, temperature, NaCl tolerance, etc)
• Does a similar assay already exist?

Question 13

Quiz 2

Define turnover rate

Answer 13

The rate at which cells live and die

Question 14

Quiz 2

Conditional lethal mutations are used to study which of the following genes/proteins?

a) DNA polymerase
b) Arginine biosynthesis
c) Motility
d) None of the above

Answer 14

a) DNA polymerase

Question 15

Quiz 2

Which of the following screen types would be used to find mutations in flagellar biosynthesis?

a) Metabolic
b) Structural
c) Conditional
d) None of the above

Answer 15

b) Structural

Question 16

Quiz 2

If you were studying a thermophile, which of the following parameters might you need to adjust first if you were modifying an assay?

a) pH
b) Temperature
c) Cofactor
d) Substrate concentration

Answer 16

b) Temperature

Question 17

Quiz 2

Which of the following mutagenesis techniques provides you with a genetic tag that will help you isolate the gene you’ve interrupted?

a) UV
b) Chemical
c) Deletion
d) Transposon insertion

Answer 17

d) Transposon insertion

Question 18

Quiz 2

Which of the following is the definition of Ks?

a) The substrate concentration that yields umax
b) The substrate concentration that yields 1/2 umax
c) The minimum substrate concentration required for growth
d) None of the above

Answer 18

b) The substrate concentration that yields 1/2 umax

Question 19

Quiz 3

A cloning site within a plasmid that has multiple cutting sites for restriction endonuclease is known as a ____?

a) lacZ
b) Promoter
c) Multi-cloning site
d) Sites such as this don’t exist

Answer 19

c) Multi-cloning site

Question 20

Quiz 3

Which of the following properties allows you to isolate plasmid DNA easily?

a) Negative charge
b) Supercoiling
c) Thermal melting point
d) Length

Answer 20

b) Supercoiling

Question 21

Quiz 3

Why would you treat a vector with alkaline phosphatase?

a) Prevent self ligation
b) To cut the vector
c) It inserts the DNA
d) Seal the nicks

Answer 21

a) Prevent self ligation

Question 22

Quiz 3

Which of the following statements define a transcriptional fusion?

a) A fusion using a fully functional reporter to determine promoter function
b) A fusion that follows protein synthesis
c) Neither description is valid

Answer 22

a) A fusion using a fully functional reporter to determine promoter function

Question 23

Quiz 3

Most but not all restriction endonuclease cut sites have a DNA sequence that is a ____?

a) Direct repeat
b) Palindrome
c) Random sequence
d) None of these

Answer 23

b) Palindrome

Question 24

Quiz 3

What is the recommended ration of insert to vector for optimal ligation efficiency?

a) 1:2
b) 1:1
c) 3:1
d) 1:3

Answer 24

c) 3:1

Question 25

Quiz 3 Electroporation uses an electrical field to form a ____ to allow the DNA into the cell.

Answer 25

pore

Question 26

Quiz 3 There are two enzymes commonly used to join two DNA molecules. What are they?

Answer 26

ligase topoisomerase

Question 27

Quiz 3 List 2 DNA modification enzymes or types of DNA modification enzymes.

Answer 27

exonuclease III restriction enzymes

Question 28

Quiz 3 Describe the process of sizing a DNA or protein molecule.

Answer 28

1) Use a restriction enzyme to cut the DNA 2) Use PCR to amplify sample 3) Run sample in an agarose gel using electrophoresis; the larger and heavier DNA molecules will run farther down the gel, and the smaller and lighter ones will be at the top 4) Create a standard curve

Question 29

Quiz 4 Immunoprecipitation experiments are used to test which of the following interactions? a) DNA-DNA b) DNA-RNA c) protein-protein d) lipid-DNA

Answer 29

c) protein-protein

Question 30

Quiz 4 Antibody based affinity purification protocols require you to have an ____ specific to your target molecule

Answer 30

antibody

Question 31

Quiz 4 Which of the following types of PCR would be used to insert an epitope into a protein that would allow you to purify it quickly via affinity maturation? a) Site-directed mutagenesis b) General PCR c) Insertional site-directed mutagenesis d) Quantitative PCR

Answer 31

c) Insertional site-directed mutagenesis

Question 32

Quiz 4 Which of the following is/are required for constructing a western blot? a) Primary antibody b) Secondary antibody to bind and decide the primary antibody c) Method to detect binding of the secondary antibody d) All of the above e) None of the above

Answer 32

d) All of the above

Question 33

Quiz 4 Reverse transcriptase PCR is used to detect the presence of a/an ____.

Answer 33

RNA transcript

Question 34

Quiz 4 Multi-plex PCR allows you to ____ the presence of specific bacteria in environmental samples without culturing them.

Answer 34

detect

Question 35

Quiz 4 With regard to multi-plex PCR, you use ____ genes to show the presence of your target organism and its relatives

Answer 35

housekeeping

Question 36

Quiz 4 When targeting pathogens such as Vibrio species, which of the following types of genes are best to use and identify the presence of pathogenic organisms? a) Essential genes b) Toxin genes c) Porins d) Metabolic

Answer 36

b) Toxin genes

Question 37

Quiz 4 What is the difference between a hypothesis and objective?

Answer 37

A hypothesis is when you are trying to gather new data, and therefore new information. A hypothesis is typically used by a basic or theoretical scientist An objective is when the goal is to obtain a specific product. Usually used by an applied scientist

Question 38

Quiz 4 You have recently cloned and sequenced a gene that you suspect responses to a specific environmental cue. However, you do not have a mutant strain for this gene. But you realize that you could use reverse transcriptase PCR to determine if it does respond to the cue. What would you do to set this experiment up?

Answer 38

1) Reverse transcription 2) Primer preparation 3) Set up negative and positive control 4) Run reverse transcriptase PCR