Study Goals Final Exam Week 12

Question 1

Bacteria and Archaea are (mostly) unicellular and prokaryotic – what does that mean?

Answer 1

-They lack a membrane-bound nucleus
-Have or are only one cell

Question 2

Even though Bacteria and Archaea are prokaryotic, they are different from each other on the
molecular level – what do these differences suggest about the relationship between
Archaea and Eukarya?

Answer 2

Indicates that Archaea & Eukarya have a single common ancestor and are very closely related

Question 3

What is genetic variation through gene transfer?

Answer 3

-Process where prokaryotes can acquire diverse traits that wouldn’t be available in binary fission cell division
-Transfer occurs in 3 ways: Transformation, Transduction, Conjugation

Question 4

Transformation in Genetic Variation through Gene Transfer

Answer 4

when bacteria or archaea naturally take up DNA from the environment that has been released by cell lysis or secreted

Question 5

Transduction in Genetic Variation through Gene Transfer

Answer 5

when viruses pick up DNA from one prokaryotic cell & transfer it to another cell

Question 6

Conjugation in Genetic Variation through Gene Transfer

Answer 6

when genetic information is transferred by direct cell-to-cell contact

Question 7

Metabolic diversity – explain what this means in a general way in terms of how
Bacteria and Archaea obtain chemical energy to make ATP and how they obtain
carbon-containing molecules for building the cell

Answer 7

-3 ways to obtain chemical energy to make ATP: Phototrophs, Chemoorganotrophs, & Chemolithotrophs
-2 ways to obtains carbon-containing molecules: Autotrophs & Heterotrophs

Question 8

Phototrophs

Answer 8

use light energy to excite electrons. ATP is produced by photophosphorylation

Question 9

Chemoorganotrophs

Answer 9

oxidize organic molecules with high potential energy such as sugars

Question 10

Chemolithotrophs

Answer 10

oxidize inorganic molecules with high potential energy such as ammonia(NH3)

Question 11

Autotrophs

Answer 11

synthesize their own compounds from simple starting materials such as CO2 and methane

Question 12

Heterotrophs

Answer 12

absorb ready-to-use organic compounds called building-block compounds

Question 13

What is the Germ Theory of Disease?

Answer 13

infectious diseases are caused by specific microbes in the body such as bacteria, archaea, & viruses (think Biological Theory of Evolution)

Question 14

How did Koch’s postulates enable us to determine
whether certain bacteria were pathogens?

Answer 14

-Must be found in all cases of disease but absent in healthy individuals
-Must be isolated from diseased host and grown naturally
-Should cause disease when introduced to healthy organism
-Re-isolated from the experimental infected host and shown as same original organism