Question 1

The catabolism of glucose is central to the overall hydrolysis of polysaccharides in an environment. Compare and contrast the analogous catabolism of polyaromatic compounds found in nature.

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Question 2

Describe the Entner-Doudoroff (ED) pathway. What are the advantages to microorganisms that display the ED pathway?

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Question 3

Escherichia coli degrades human waste in the colon using mixed-acid fermentation. Why is this a factor of concern in some medical procedures, such as colonoscopy?

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Question 4

Soils and waters become contaminated with industrial aromatic compounds and efforts are made to use bacteria to clean up these areas. Describe the experiment and finding from phenanthrene metabolism in the Antarctic.

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Question 5

What metabolic pathway does Mycobacterium tuberculosis use that allows it to grow slowly inside macrophages? What led to this discovery, and what practical application can further analysis of this pathway have?

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Question 6

What is mixed-acid fermentation? Provide examples of industrial uses of its products.

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Question 7

The flavor and other properties of cheeses derive from the type of fermenting microorganisms used. How do the "eyes" and the characteristic flavor of Swiss cheese originate?

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Question 8

Why is magnesium an essential nutrient for all living cells?

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Question 9

In the pentose phosphate shunt (PPS), sugars exchange short carbohydrate moieties to form carbohydrates with varying chain lengths. What metabolic mechanisms allow these exchanges to occur? What are the metabolic advantages of the PPS pathway?

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Question 10

Hans Krebs's strategy to determine the biochemical intermediates involved in aerobic respiration was to use substrate molecules of varying lengths. What led Krebs to take this approach?

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Question 11

Treponema pallidum, the causative agent of syphilis, was shown to be lacking a TCA cycle. Explain the significance of this finding.

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Question 12

What is the phosphotransferase system (PTS) and why is the advantage for a microbial cell to have a PTS?

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Question 13

All nucleotide triphosphates carry energy. Provide examples of reactions that are driven by the release of energy from GTP, CTP, and TTP.

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Question 14

Define the human metagenome. Describe an example to demonstrate the importance of the metagenome.

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Question 15

What is substrate-level phosphorylation? Provide two examples from bacterial metabolism.

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Question 16

How does the efficiency of energy capture by ATP formation in bacterial tricarboxylic acid cycle compare with that of mitochondria?

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Question 17

Describe the diagnostic use of sorbitol MacConkey agar to test for the presence of E. coli O157:H7.

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Quiz 13: Energetics and Catabolism