Which process produces a gaseous product that can be used as fuel to provide heat or
power for a wastewater treatment plant?
A) trickling filter secondary wastewater treatment
B) aerobic secondary wastewater treatment
C) anaerobic secondary wastewater treatment
D) primary wastewater treatment
Which of the following are NOT vectors important in disease transmission?
A) fomites
B) insects
C) ticks
D) rodents
With regards to mode of disease transmission, respiratory pathogens are generally
________, and intestinal pathogens are generally spread by contaminated ________.
A) spread by direct contact / vectors
B) spread by indirect contact / carriers
C) more transmissible / needles
D) airborne / food or water
The insect symbiont Wolbachia can be used to suppress disease transmission by
mosquitoes because
A) Wolbachia supplies essential nutrients to the mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus.
B) only Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes can transmit viral diseases such as dengue
fever.
C) Wolbachia infections can spread rapidly through a mosquito population, killing all
the mosquitoes.
D) Wolbachia-infected male mosquitoes sterilize uninfected female mosquitoes.
Latex bead agglutination tests are
A) rapid and reliable tests used for the detection of certain bacteria as well as certain
serum antibodies.
B) inferior tests used in developing countries not having facilities for more reliable
assays.
C) an integral part of the EIA test procedure.
D) too expensive for routine use.
Which bacterium shows a characteristic green sheen when grown on eosin-methylene
blue (EMB) agar?
A) Escherichia coli
B) Salmonella enterica
C) Staphylococcus aureus
D) Streptococcus pyogenes
A “point mutation” refers to mutations involving
A) a base-pair substitution.
B) the gain of a base pair (microinsertion).
C) the deletion of a base pair (microdeletion).
D) a substitution, deletion, or addition of one base-pair.
What is the function of bactoprenol?
A) It is a hydrophobic alcohol that transports peptidoglycan precursors across the
cytoplasmic membrane.
B) It is responsible for forming the peptide cross-links between muramic acid residues
in adjacent glycan chains.
C) It triggers the recruitment of FtsZ and the initiation of the divisome.
D) It supplies the energy necessary for transpeptidation to occur.
Microbial species have a core genome and a pan genome. What is the difference
between the two?
A) The core genome consists of all the nucleic acid polymerases and translation
enzymes, while the pan genome consists of all the biosynthetic pathways.
B) The core genome is the set of genes within the mitochondria, while the pan genome
is the set of genes in the nucleus of a species.
C) The core genome is a set of genes shared by all members of a species, while the pan
genome includes the core genes as well as genes that are not shared by all members.
D) The core genome is the set of genes introduced by horizontal gene transfer, while the
pan genome is the set of genes that is not transferred horizontally.
People with aggamaglobulinemia do not make protective antibodies and suffer from
recurrent, life threatening viral infections, but can develop normal immune responses to
bacteria.
Which genus would you MOST likely find in the photic layer of the oceans due to its
abundance and aerobic chemoorganotroph phenotype?
A) Acetobacter
B) Nitrosomonas
C) Paracoccus
D) Pelagibacter
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is very difficult to stain because of the
A) presence of ribosomes in the cytoplasm.
B) location of the DNA within the cell.
C) large amounts of a waxy lipid present in its cell wall.
D) lack of a cell wall.
The primary metal sulfides emitted from the black smokers are ________ sulfides.
A) copper
B) iron
C) magnesium
D) zinc
Reductive dechlorination is important in the breakdown of chlorinated xenobiotics
because
A) anoxic conditions develop rapidly in polluted habitats.
B) oxygen is not present in most soils.
C) aerobic breakdown of xenobiotics is not possible.
D) only cometabolism occurs aerobically.
Which of the following reactions is classified as a heterofermentation?
A) hexose 2 lactate + 2 H+
B) HCOOH H2 + CO2
C) glucose lactate + ethanol + CO2 + H+
D) fructose 3 acetate + 3 H+
Which of the following types of microscopy could be used to visualize the layers of the
cell membrane and the cell wall?
A) phase-contrast microscopy
B) transmission electron microscopy
C) bright-field microscopy
D) confocal microscopy
The two-stage thymic selection process for selecting self-tolerant, antigen-reactive T
cells results in
A) allelic exclusion.
B) clonal deletion.
C) complementarity-determining regions.
D) somatic hypermutation.
Attenuation occurs in a laboratory, because
A) nonvirulent or weakly virulent mutants grow faster in vitro in laboratory media.
B) pathogens lose virulence with age.
C) patients are generally treated with drugs that induce attenuation.
D) None of the answers are correct.
Dimers of IgA are present in
A) breast milk colostrum.
B) saliva.
C) tears.
D) breast milk colostrum, saliva, and tears.
A cell that allows the complete replication cycle of a virus to take place is said to be a
A) permissive host.
B) viral cell.
C) dead cell.
D) lytic cell.
The codon on the ________ matches with the anticodon on the ________ to direct the
addition of the correct amino acid to the growing polypeptide chain.
A) mRNA / tRNA
B) tRNA / mRNA
C) DNA / mRNA
D) tRNA / rRNA
Some of the largest naturally occurring plasmids occur in the
A) methanogens.
B) genus Thermoplasma.
C) extreme halophiles.
D) genus Picrophilus.
After the first exposure to an antigen, a ________ stimulates growth and multiplication
of antigen-reaction cells.
A) secondary innate immune response
B) primary adaptive immune response
C) phagocytic immune response
D) hyperactive cytotoxic response
The function of the DNA polymerase is to catalyze
A) the addition of deoxynucleotides.
B) the formation of RNA primers.
C) the addition of ribonucleotides.
D) hydrogen bonding between complementary base pairs.
The human gastrointestinal tract includes all of the following EXCEPT the
A) small intestine.
B) stomach.
C) large intestine.
D) epiglottis.
The emergence of new microbial species because of geographic isolation is called
________ speciation.
A) allopatric
B) biogeochemical
C) biogeological
D) isolatory
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A) Fimbriae are generally shorter and more numerous than flagella.
B) Fimbriae enable cells to stick to surfaces.
C) Pili serve as receptors and facilitate genetic exchange between prokaryotic cells.
D) Fibriae are usually shorter than flagella and enable cells to adhere to surfaces,
whereas pili are involved in genetic exchange.
Which group of Eukarya has complicated the phylogenetics of the domain by first
being thought of as ancient to the more recent view of them being highly derived
eukaryotes?
A) dinoflagellates
B) fungi
C) hydrogenosome-containing eukaryotes
D) stramenopiles
Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) are found on which of the following cells?
A) macrophages
B) bacteria
C) neutrophils
D) macrophages and neutrophils
Microbial sterilization is used to
A) decrease the possibility of contaminants growing in a culture.
B) kill bacteria but not necessarily viruses or other microbes.
C) kill all microbes in or on objects.
D) clean a work area.