Microbiology Exam July 2021 – Resit February 2022

Name ____________________________

Number __________________________

1.) Which of the following is a producer of antibiotics? (1pt)

a) Paramecium caudatum
b) Amoeba proteus
c) Streptomyces griseus
d) Saccharomyces cerevisiae
e) Mycobacterium tuberculosis

What is a typical habitat of that organism? (1pts)

Does that organism which you‘ve picked above posses an endoplasmic reticulum? Explain your
answer (2pts)

2.) Design and explain an enrichment strategy for Pseudomonas fluorescens. Indicate where to take a
sample from, which kind of media to choose (= what do you know about the type of metabolism) and
which steps to use for selection and identification (4 pts)

3.) The type of division seen in E. Coli is called (1pt)

a) budding
b) cytokinesis
 c) fertilization
d) binary fission
e) meiosis.

4.) Radiation can be used for microbial growth control.

a) Please mention at least two processes/techniques which work with radiation and give an example of
substances/materials that are typically treated with each method (2pts)

b) Explain the damaging effects which the types of radiation have on cells (3pts)

5.) Acetic acid bacteria produce acetic acid as end product when growing on glucose or ethanol. Even
though they don’t oxidize their substrate completely they are not considered fermenters. Explain!
(3pts)

6.). Which of the following statements on a slime layer are not correct? (4pts)

a) A slime layer is made up by extracellular polysaccharides or glycoproteins.

b) The slime layer allows for adherences to surfaces but is also often used as a reservoir for water
or nutrients.
c) In gram-negative bacteria the slime layer is made up by the so called lipopolysaccharide layer.
 d) Bacteria embedded in a slime layer often are less susceptible towards antibiotics or
disinfectants.
e) Slime layers are typical for members of Bacteria but absent in members of the domain
Archaea.

Please mention an organism which forms a slime layer and describe how it benefits from having such
a structure:

7.) Design an enrichment strategy for an endospore-forming bacterium that fixes nitrogen and uses
cellulose for its carbon source. Suggest and explain where to take the starting material from, which
selective steps to take and what crucial chemicals must or must not be present in the enrichment
medium (5 pts).

8.) Describe the major two mechanisms by which T4 phage can take over control over the gene
expression within their their host cell? (2pts)
What is a host to T4 phages? ( 1pt)

9.) Which of the following statements on growth in a batch culture are correct? (4pts)

a) The lag phase is usually shorter in gram-negative than in gram positive bacteria.
b) During the lag phase bacteria have a rather long generation time but are metabolically active.
c) No change in turbidity is observed during the lag phase
d) In the lag phase bacteria have a very short generation time which reflects their metabolically
active state.
e) Log phase is a term describing the phase in which the generation time is the shortest.

Please correct incorrect statements:

10.) The following two statements are incorrect. Explain why and correct them: (4 pts)

a) Damaged flagella are repaired by adding new copies of alpha and beta tubulin to the top of the
structure.

b) Flagella consist mainly of polysaccharides to protect the cell from desiccation.

11.) Vegetation including phytoplankton is considered a carbon sink. What does the term refer to and
how do they act as carbon sink. Discuss! ( 3pts)
12.) Which of these reactions does in the eukaryotic cell occur in the Matrix of mitochondria? (1pt)

a) Glycolysis (Embden-Meyerhoff-Parnas Pathway)

b) Entner-Douderoff Pathway
c) Citric Acid Cycle
d) Calvin Cycle
e) Electron Transport Chain

13.) The term prophage (pick 1 answer, 2pts)

a) Refers to phage immediately before assembly of the virion and destruction of the cell.
b) Is a phage which only consists of proteins but not of nucleic acids; for animal cells this is
called a prion.
c) Is a phage which infects different species of prokaryotes instead of being restricted to just one
host species.
d) Refers to the lysogenic bacterial cell
e) Is a phage that remains in the host cell e.g.integrated into the host chromosome without
destroying it.

Mention a phage that can exist as a prophage (1 pt)

14.) “Since oxygen can penetrate only poorly into the endospore, most endospores switch to a
fermentative metabolism.“ Is this statement correct or not correct? Explain your answer shortly!
(3 pts)

15.) Lichens are (pick 1 answer, 2pts)

a) a form of slime mold which form out the crust of semidesert areas.
b) filamentous algae which occur in shallow sea
c) cyanobacteria which perform aerobic photosynthesis increasing biomatter
d) a microbial community consisting of a photobiont and a mycobiont
e) genetically modified yeasts which can be used for bioremediation.

16.) Which of the following statements on aquatic environments are correct? (2 pts)

a) Even though E.coli can be isolated from water sources, water is not its natural habitat. Instead
it ends up in water as a contaminant.
b) Photosynthetic organisms use up traces of oxygen and keep the lower parts of the lake anoxic.
c) The lake sediments are made up by anaerobic organisms which have either an organotrophic
or a lithotrophic metabolism.
d) The upper layer of a lake is mainly colonized by microaerophilic organisms which ferment
plant debris.
e) Hyphomicrobium is commonly found in salt lakes and salt evaporation ponds, its special
morphology, the stalk, helps it to adhere to salt crystals.

Explain your answers ( 2 pts)

17.) Inclusion bodies e.g. consisting of Polyhydroxybutyrate serve for ……( 1pt)

Typically, such inclusion bodies are formed when carbon is present in excess, but nitrogen and/or
phosphorus are limited. Why is this? Explain. ( 3 pts)

18.) Saccharomyces cerevisiae can be used in both, brewing and wine making. Which kind of material
and hence sugars dominate in the start material in both processes? Which steps are required to allow S.
Cerevisiae to perform its fermentation in either process? Compare and discuss ( 4 pts)
19.) What are the major differences between taking up glucose by group translocation compared to
taking it up by facilitated diffusion? Mention and explain! (4pts)

20.) Which of the following organisms will produce small-acid soluble proteins (2 pts)

A) Streptococcus pneumoniae
B) Bacillus megaterium
C) Escherichia coli
D) Amoebas proteus
E) Streptomycin griseus

Explain your answer shortly.

21.) In organisms which have a knock-out for the production of small-acid soluble proteins a high
number of DNA damage can be observed. Explain this phenomenon based on what you know about
the role of these proteins. Which kind of damage do you expect to prevail? Explain. ( 4pts)
22.) An organism which is chemoorganotroph is typically also (pick 1 answer, 1pt)

a) Phototroph
b) Heterotoph
c) Autotroph
d) Psychrophile
e) Thermophile

Explain your answer shortly (2pts)

23.) For a single-stranded RNA virus with positive polarity synthesis of which of the following has the
highest priority (= is synthesized early during the viral multiplication cycle) (4pts)

a) Capsid-protein
b) Glycoprotein
c) Membrane Lipids
d) RNA-polymerase (Replicase)
e) DNA-polymerase

Explain your answer shortly.

24.) If designing an enrichment medium for the diazotrophic Azotobacter vinelandii peptone needs to
be omitted from the enrichment medium which you inoculate with soil. Why is this? Explain. (4pts)
25.) A recently published paper suggested the reclassification of nematodes based on analysis of the
mitochondrial cytochrom c. If this molecule is so useful why is it that bacterial and archael
pylogenetic analysis usually is done with another molecule? Which one? Explain ( 3pt)

26.) Match the following descriptions with the best answer. ( 3pts)

_____ Division in one plane; cocci arranged in pairs

_____ Division in one plane; cocci arranged in chains
_____ Division in one plane; rods completely separate after division
_____ A comma shaped bacterium.
_____ A thin, flexible spiral with tight coils
_____ A thick, rigid spiral

a) bacillus
 b) spirochete
c) spirillum
d) vibrio
e) streptococcus
f) staphylococcus
g) diplococcus
h) appendaged bacterium
i) sheated bacterium

27.) Which of the following statements on bacterial DNA are NOT correct? (2pts)

a) In most procaryotes, the nucleoid contains up to 10 linear chromosomes

b) The nucleoid is not bounded by a membrane, but it is sometimes found to be associated with
the plasma membrane
c) Histones do package the bacterial chromosome so that the rather long molecules fit into a tine
cell.
d) In addition to the chromosome, many bacteria contain plasmids; plasmids are usually small,
closed circular DNA molecules
e) Plasmids are highly essential for the prokaryotic cell – their deletion leads to the death of the
cell.

28.) The fermentation of Sauerkraut not only helps to better the taste of cabbage (or at least some say
that’s what it does…), it also protects the vegetable against spoilage by other microorganisms. How is
this achieved? Explain. (3pts)

29.) Addition of nitrogen-containing fertilizers can affect gas exchange processes in the soil (4pts)

a) resulting in release of NO and N2O which are greenhouse gasses.

b) causing methane gas to be consumed.
 c) causing methane gas to be produced.
d) causing antibiotic production in bacteria which leads to antibiotic resistance.
e) assimilation of NO3 by the plants

Why is this?

30s.) This is a gram-staining of bacterial cells (5pts)

a) Members of which familie(s) are most likely seen?

Explain!

b) What accounts for the “lollipop” structure seen in some cells?

c) What Is the most important contribution of these organisms to the carbon cycle?