Deck 17: The Microorganisms: Viruses, Bacteria, and Protists

Question 1

Which of the following is not caused by an emerging virus?

A) acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)
B) chickenpox
C) bird flu
D) ebola
E) severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)

Answer 1

B
Explanation: The herpes virus that causes chickenpox has, unfortunately, caused widespread illness for many years.

Question 2

Which of the following statements is incorrect for all viruses?

A) Viruses have an inner core of nucleic acid.
B) Viruses have a protein capsid.
C) Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites.
D) Viruses have envelopes.
E) Viral genomes may consist of either DNA or RNA.

Answer 2

D
Explanation: Some viruses have envelopes, but many do not.

Question 3

Animal viruses which have an envelope enter cells by

A) injecting their nucleic acid into the cell's cytoplasm.
B) fusing with the plasma membrane.
C) endocytosis.
D) plasmolysis.
E) either fusing with the plasma membrane or endocytosis.

Answer 3

E
Explanation: Once an enveloped animal virus attaches to a receptor on the surface of an appropriate host cell, it may gain entry either by fusion with the plasma membrane or by endocytosis.

Question 4

A chain of spherical bacterial cells is called a ___________.

A) streptococcus
B) staphylococcus
C) streptobacillus
D) diplococcus
E) streptospirillum

Question 5

Retroviruses _____________.

A) contain DNA
B) contain reverse transcriptase
C) produce RNA from DNA
D) only invade plants
E) produce protein directly from DNA

Question 6

Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) damages and kills susceptible citrus trees around the world. It can by spread by grafting of infected plants; and by aphids, insects with piercing mouthparts that they use to suck fluid from plants. Which of the following would not limit the spread of CTV?

A) use of insecticides to control the aphids
B) destruction of infected plants
C) production of transgenic citrus lines using genes from resistant plants
D) quarantine of fields with infected plants
E) application of antibiotic drugs to citrus plants

Question 7

A virus is specific to a particular type of host cell because

A) only certain hosts enter the environment inhabited by the virus.
B) not every virus contains metabolic machinery which can replace that of the host cell.
C) a glycoprotein spike or a portion of the capsid adheres to a receptor on the surface of a compatible host cell.
D) a host cell must be malfunctioning, or a virus cannot infect it.
E) the genome of the virus must be similar to that of its potential host.

Question 8

Your task as a researcher is to develop a new drug to prevent retrovirus infections in newly exposed individuals. Which of the means listed is likely to be the most effective?

A) blocking enzyme action
B) destroying the viral genome
C) dissolving the capsid
D) preventing conjugation
E) disrupting the viral envelope

Question 9

Which means of genetic recombination in bacteria often makes use of pili?

A) transformation
B) transduction
C) conjugation
D) both transformation and transduction
E) translocation

Question 10

Viroids and prions are alike in that both are infectious ________.

A) cell types
B) proteins
C) molecules
D) DNA
E) RNA

Question 11

In the infamous anthrax attacks of 2001, several letters were received at the offices of two U.S. senators and various news media outlets. The letters contained dry granular or powdery material. Seventeen people who came into contact with the material from the letters suffered anthrax infections; five more died of anthrax. How could dried-out material cause anthrax?

A) Anthrax bacteria are acellular infectious particles. When they came into contact with living hosts, they entered the hosts' cells, took over their metabolic machinery, and caused them to produce more bacteria.
B) Anthrax bacteria can form endospores under harsh environmental conditions. The material in the letters contained endospores of anthrax bacteria, which germinated and grew in the more favorable environment of the victim's bodies.
C) Anthrax bacteria can form endospores in order to reproduce. A few active bacteria in the letters started to produce enormous numbers of endospores upon contact with the anthrax victims.
D) Anthrax endospores are highly motile by flagella. When the endospores came into contact with human hosts, they swarmed into the bodies of their victims.
E) None of the choices are correct.

Question 12

The genetic material of a bacterium can include ________.

A) a circular chromosome
B) plasmids
C) latent bacteriophage DNA
D) a circular chromosome plus plasmids
E) a circular chromosome, plasmids, and latent bacteriophage DNA

Question 13

Which means of genetic recombination in bacteria requires direct contact between donor and recipient cells?

A) transformation
B) transduction
C) conjugation
D) binary fission
E) both transduction and conjugation

Question 14

Colchicine is a drug that blocks formation of the mitotic spindle apparatus. What would you expect if you applied colchicine to a petri dish of bacteria?

A) The bacteria would be unable to divide, because they could not form the spindle apparatus for mitosis.
B) The bacteria would continue to divide, because they carry out mitosis without a spindle apparatus.
C) The bacteria would continue to divide, because they carry out binary fission, which does not require a spindle apparatus.
D) The bacteria would be unable to divide, because they would be unable to form new cell wall partitions.
E) The bacteria would increase their rate of mitosis, so the number of cells would rapidly increase.

Question 15

Which of the following statements regarding bacterial endospores is false?

A) Endospores can survive in extremely harsh environments.
B) Within an endospore is a copy of the bacterial chromosome.
C) An endospore contains a small amount of cytoplasm material.
D) Endospores can survive for very long periods of time.
E) Endospores are reproductive structures.

Question 16

Cyanobacteria are important producers as ________.

A) photoautotrophs
B) saprotrophs
C) chemoautotrophs
D) saproautotrophs
E) photoheterotrophs

Question 17

Cell-like structures that may have resulted from macromolecular self-assembly are referred to as ________.

A) prokaryotes
B) protocells
C) protoypes
D) archaea
E) protists

Question 18

Why don't new biological macromolecules form abiotically from nonliving matter on the Earth today?

A) The special environmental conditions that are required do not exist.
B) There are not enough of the various elements needed.
C) There is not enough available energy.
D) There is no need for biological macromolecules.
E) Biological macromolecules do arise abiotically, but are quickly consumed by organisms.

Question 19

A researcher infects a bacterium with a bacteriophage and notices that the infection does not immediately bring about the destruction of the host cell. Instead, the phage genetic material is copied whenever the host reproduces. Which viral replication cycle is described here?

A) integration cycle
B) lysogenic cycle
C) biosynthetic cycle
D) lytic cycle
E) emergence cycle

Question 20

Which is the correct order of events in the lytic cycle of a bacteriophage?

A) attachment - penetration - biosynthesis - maturation - release
B) integration - penetration - biosynthesis - maturation - release
C) attachment - integration - biosynthesis - maturation - release
D) attachment - biosynthesis - maturation - release
E) penetration - attachment - biosynthesis - release - maturation

Question 21

One group of protozoans which are non-motile, produce spores, and have disease-causing species is the ________.

A) foraminiferans
B) trypanosomes
C) sporozoans
D) amoeboids
E) radiolarians

Question 22

You take a large sample of soil and put it all into individual pots. You then divide the pots into two groups: In the first group, every pot of soil has been sterilized, and thus contains no bacteria. In the other group, none of the pots of soil has been sterilized. You plant soybean seeds in all the pots. What would you expect to see as the seeds sprout and grow?

A) The plants growing in the sterile soil are bigger because they have not been exposed to any bacteria.
B) The plants growing in the non-sterile soil are bigger because have mutualistic associations with nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
C) The plants growing in the sterile soil are bigger because they do not have to compete with nitrogen-fixing bacteria in order to obtain usable nitrogen.
D) The plants growing in the non-sterile soil are bigger because saprotrophic bacteria produce nutrients for them.
E) There is no difference in size between the plants growing in the sterile soil and those in the non-sterile soil.

Question 23

Which archaea use a pigment related to the rhodopsin in our eyes to absorb solar energy and pump chloride ions?

A) methanogens
B) halophiles
C) thermoacidophiles
D) alkaliphiles
E) psychrophiles

Question 24

Penicillin is an antibiotic drug that interferes with cell wall synthesis in bacteria, eventually resulting in cell death. What effect would you predict if you applied penicillin to archaea?

A) The archaea would die due to the weakening of their cell walls.
B) The archaea would not be affected, since they do not contain peptidoglycan.
C) The archaea would not be affected, since none of the archaea have cell walls.
D) The archaea would die due to their inability to synthesize protein for their cell walls.
E) None of the choices are correct.

Question 25

Without bacteria in the environment

A) adequate amounts of carbon would not be available to living organisms.
B) plants would not be able to grow due to lack of nitrogen.
C) bioremediation would have limited use as a tool to clean up pollutants.
D) there would be a shortage of decomposer organisms.
E) All of the choices are correct.

Question 26

In which type of environment would you be most likely to find methanogenic archaea?

A) hot, acidic
B) high salt concentration
C) anaerobic
D) aerobic
E) dry

Question 27

Support for the endosymbiotic hypothesis is provided by all of the following except

A) double membranes around mitochondria and chloroplasts.
B) mitochondria and chloroplasts have their own genomes.
C) mitochondria and chloroplasts can synthesize proteins.
D) mitochondria and chloroplast ribosomes are encoded by genes that are very similar to bacterial ribosome genes.
E) mitochondria and chloroplasts contribute to different metabolic processes in the eukaryotic cell.

Question 28

Which statement about slime molds and water molds is incorrect?

A) Both are eukaryotes.
B) Both have flagellated cells at some time in their life cycles.
C) Both form spores.
D) Both are chemoheterotrophs.
E) Both are fungi.

Question 29

Bacteria that secrete digestive enzymes into their surroundings in order to decompose nonliving organic matter are called ________.

A) chemoautotrophs
B) symbiotes
C) saprotrophs
D) parasites
E) photoautotrophs

Question 30

Which of the following is not a similarity that protozoans have to animals?

A) Protozoans are chemoheterotrophs.
B) Most protozoans have some form of locomotion.
C) Protozoans are eukaryotes.
D) Protozoans were once classified as animals.
E) Protozoans are able to photosynthesize.

Question 31

Which statement about bacteria is incorrect?

A) All bacteria are pathogenic to humans.
B) Bacteria are prokaryotes.
C) Most bacteria are chemoheterotrophs.
D) Bacterial cells reproduce by binary fission.
E) A bacterial cell has one chromosome.

Question 32

Which of these is mismatched?

A) malaria-protozoan
B) AIDS-virus
C) kuru-prion
D) tetanus-bacterium
E) food poisoning-archaea

Question 33

A viroid is a naked, infectious _____ molecule.

A) protein
B) DNA
C) RNA
D) fatty acid
E) enzyme

Question 34

Which similarity is not shared between algae and plants?

A) Algae are eukaryotes.
B) Algae are photoautotrophs.
C) Algae are producers.
D) Algae were once classified as plants.
E) Most algae have some form of locomotion.

Question 35

What evidence supports the idea that archaea are more closely related to eukaryotes rather than to bacteria?

A) Archaea and eukaryotes initiate transcription in the same fashion.
B) Archaea and eukaryotes both have cell walls with peptidoglycan.
C) Archaea and eukaryotes share some ribosomal proteins and have similar types of tRNA.
D) Archaea and eukaryotes initiate transcription in the same fashion, share some ribosomal proteins, and have similar types of tRNA.
E) None of the choices support a close relationship between eukaryotes and archaea.

Question 36

As a result of drinking contaminated water, a patient contracts amoebic dysentery. Would an antibiotic drug that inhibits peptidoglycan synthesis be beneficial in treating the amoeba infection?

A) Yes, because it would weaken the cell walls of the amoebas and cause them to die.
B) No, because amoeba are not bacteria and do not have peptidoglycan.
C) Yes, because antibiotics are always beneficial in treating infectious diseases.
D) No, because the cell walls of the amoeba that causes dysentery contains calcium carbonate, not peptidoglycan.
E) Yes, because the amoeba would not be able to reproduce.

Question 37

Algae are commonly grouped by their type of ________.

A) motility
B) sexual reproduction
C) pigment
D) habitat
E) feeding

Question 38

The _____ of a virus is enclosed by a _____ capsid.

A) nucleic acid; protein
B) membrane; protein
C) nucleic acid; membrane
D) protein; nucleic acid
E) RNA; DNA

Question 39

Some species of pathogenic bacteria are able to attack specific tissues in the human body because of

A) adhesion factors.
B) bioremediaton factors.
C) flagella.
D) conjugation pili.
E) cilia.

Question 40

Archaea

A) have plasma membranes but lack cell walls.
B) have plasma membranes and most have cell walls.
C) lack plasma membranes but most have cell walls.
D) have neither plasma membranes nor cell walls.
E) have double plasma membranes and no cell walls.

Question 41

African sleeping sickness is caused by a

A) trypanosome.
B) sporozoan.
C) prion.
D) bacterium.
E) virus.

Question 42

Some bacteria carry out a metabolic process known as fermentation, and

A) consume acids.
B) produce acids.
C) produce oxygen.
D) consume oxygen.
E) consume both acids and oxygen.

Question 43

Pathogens are disease-causing ________.

A) bacteria only
B) viruses only
C) protists only
D) viroids only
E) microbes

Question 44

Which of these is mismatched?

A) cilia-bacteria
B) flagella-bacteria
C) flagella-slime molds
D) flagella-water molds
E) pseudopods-amoebas

Question 45

Which of the following are acellular?

A) prions
B) protozoans
C) archaea
D) algae
E) bacteria

Question 46

What is the main structural difference between a virus and a viroid?

A) viroids do not have a capsid covering
B) viruses do not have a capsid covering
C) viroids contain DNA while viruses do not
D) Viruses contain RNA while viroids do not
E) there is no structural difference between the two

Question 47

Which of these does not belong in any Domain of life?

A) protozoans
B) algae
C) viruses
D) archaea
E) bacteria

Question 48

Which species are representatives of the green algae?

A) Diatoms, Volvox, and Spirogyra
B) Coralline algae, Volvox, and Spirogyra
C) Chlamydomonas, Volvox, and Spirogyra
D) Chlamydomonas, Volvox, and Coralline
E) Diatoms, Chlamydomonas, and Volvox,

Question 49

Protists can be

A) unicellular only.
B) unicellular or colonial, but not multicellular.
C) colonial only.
D) colonial or multicellular, but not unicellular.
E) unicellular, colonial, or multicellular.

Question 50

What evidence helps supports the endosymbiosis theory?

A) a single membrane around the nucleus within a cell
B) a double membrane surrounding the nucleus within a cell
C) a single membrane surrounding the mitochondria
D) a single membrane surrounding the chloroplast
E) a double membrane surrounding the mitochnodria and chloroplast

Question 51

Which of the following contains no photosynthetic organisms?

A) protists
B) bacteria
C) archaea
D) zooflagellates
E) prokaryotes

Question 52

Which of these is mismatched?

A) Paramecium-ciliate
B) Chlamydomonas-green alga
C) Plasmodium-sporozoan
D) Giardia-zooflagellate
E) Salmonella-amoeba

Question 53

Which sporozoan characteristic is most consistent with a parasitic lifestyle?

A) lack of motility
B) chemoheterotrophism
C) unicellular
D) lack of light-absorbing pigment
E) eukaryotic

Question 54

Which group of organisms are viroids, instead of viruses, most likely to parasitize?

A) plants
B) bacteria
C) fish
D) fungi
E) cattle

Question 55

Which of the following groups has at least some members with cell walls?

A) protists only
B) bacteria only
C) archaea only
D) prokaryotes only
E) protists, bacteria, and archaea

Question 56

Which of the following is not a characteristic of Paramecium?

A) macronucleus produce mRNA and directs metabolic functions
B) motile with cilia
C) micronucleus functions in reproduction
D) engulfs prey with pseudopods
E) chemoheterotrophic

Question 57

Which of these occurs during the bacteriophage lysogenic cycle but not the lytic cycle?

A) attachment
B) penetration
C) integration
D) biosynthesis
E) maturation