Deck 20: Eukaryotic Diversity

Question 1

Slime molds were first classified with fungi but have been reclassified as protozoa based on:

A) color and cellular size
B) reproduction rates
C) morphology and movement structures
D) hyphae structure and colony formation
E) chloroplast structure and general shape

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Protist is a classification term encompassing all EXCEPT for which of the following?

A) paramecia
B) diatoms
C) dinoflagellates
D) fungi
E) amebas

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Yarrowia lipolytica is a dimorphic yeast; this means that it can:

A) be single-cellular or form a mycelia
B) form linear or branching hyphae
C) undergo mitosis or meiosis
D) have one or two flagella
E) form aerial or surface mycelium

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The clade Opisthokonta was definitively determined by:

A) short sequence insertion studies of elongation factor 1 $\alpha$ gene
B) sequence variance of ribosomal RNA genes
C) genomic sequence and homology studies of DNA polymerase
D) flagellar movement and structural studies
E) morphological and environmental comparison studies

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT a common trait shared by most mycelium-forming fungi?

A) absorptive nutrition
B) hyphae production
C) multinucleated cells
D) chitinous cell walls
E) budding reproduction

Question 6

All protists share which trait?

A) the presence of cilia on the cell membrane
B) a nuclear membrane around the cell DNA
C) the presence of mitochondria
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 7

The fungus Neocallomastix sp. is found in animal rumens and directly helps with:

A) methanogenesis
B) digestion of tough plant material
C) nutrient absorption through the intestinal wall
D) fermentation processes
E) preventing ulcer formation

Question 8

Which organisms are considered the possible "missing link" in the evolution from microbial eukaryotes to multicellular animals due to shared genes?

A) metazoa
B) slime molds
C) eumycota
D) choanoflagellata
E) microsporidia

Question 9

The term "mycology" would best be applied to which organism(s) listed below?

A) stromatolites
B) protozoa
C) cyanobacteria
D) slime molds
E) baker's yeast

Question 10

Tinea pedis, the fungi that causes athlete's foot, has male and female mycelium tips that can fuse and ultimately form ascospores. Which phyla do they belong in?

A) Chytridiomycota
B) Zygomycota
C) Ascomycota
D) Basidiomycota
E) Sporomycota

Question 11

The suffix "-mycota" refers to which taxa of eukaryotes?

A) plants
B) animals
C) protists
D) fungi
E) amebas

Question 12

Which of the following would NOT be classified in the clade Opisthokonta?

A) Saccharomyces cerevisiae
B) Felis catus
C) Homo sapiens
D) Trypanosoma brucei
E) Canis lupus

Question 13

Which of the following could be classified in the clade Opisthokonta?

A) microsporidia
B) land plants
C) diatoms
D) slime molds
E) brown algae

Question 14

Which of the following is the taxa containing organisms with paired cilia or flagella and a complex outer covering called a cortex?

A) Alveolata
B) Zygomycota
C) Viridiplantae
D) Heterokonta
E) Euglenozoa

Question 15

A newly discovered eukaryotic cell that is a parasitic flagellate, lacking mitochondria and Golgi organelles, would best fit which of the following taxa?

A) Opisthokonta
B) Metamonada
C) Amoebozoa
D) Eumycota
E) Viridiplantae

Question 16

In the organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which of the following induces alternation of generations from a haploid to a diploid cell?

A) a 10-degree decrease in optimum growth temperature
B) glucose abundance
C) starvation stress
D) nitrogen deprivation
E) a pH change toward acidic conditions

Question 17

Which of the following could be classified in the clade Viridiplantae?

A) primary endosymbiont algae
B) animals
C) true fungi
D) microsporidia
E) amebas

Question 18

Of the choices listed below, which domain has the LEAST diversity in terms of metabolism?

A) Archaea
B) Eukarya
C) Bacteria
D) Monera
E) Prokarya

Question 19

In which taxa can the food-grade mushrooms of morels and truffles be found?

A) Lichens
B) Zygomycota
C) Chytridiomycota
D) Basidiomycota
E) Ascomycota

Question 20

Based on microscopy work of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which of the examples listed was placed into the Eukaryotic classification of Algae?

A) amebas
B) yeast
C) diatoms
D) paramecia
E) slime molds

Question 21

Amebas that have filopodial movement structures can be found in which categories?

A) trypanosomes and metamonads
B) diatoms and algae
C) dinoflagellates and apicomplexans
D) cellular and plasmodial slime molds
E) radiolarians and foraminiferans

Question 22

The ciliate Paramecium multimicronucleatum beats its cilia in coordinated waves to:

A) distract and fool predators
B) move forward and acquire food
C) attach to immobile structures for filter feeding
D) deliver toxins to enemies
E) accumulate minerals for shell synthesis

Question 23

An example of unicellular green algae would be found in which of the following genera?

A) Penicillium
B) Saccharomyces
C) Spirogyra
D) Aspergillus
E) Chlamydomonas

Question 24

Enterocytozoon bieneusi is an organism classified as a microsporidia; this organism is of clinical importance because it:

A) causes severe allergic reactions in some people
B) causes trypanosomiasis
C) causes ringworm infections
D) is an opportunistic pathogen in immunocompromised individuals
E) infects catheters by producing biofilms

Question 25

Based on the criteria given in the table below, where should this newly discovered organism be placed?

A) brown algae/kelps
B) Foraminiferans
C) diatoms
D) Amebas
E) Microsporidia

Question 26

Which of the following statements regarding pseudopods is NOT true?

A) Pseudopods are also called "false feet".
B) Amoebozoa have lobe-shaped pseudopods.
C) Lamellar pseudopods of amebas are similar to those generated by human leukocytes.
D) Needlelike pseudopods are thin extensions reinforced by actin polymers.
E) The tip of a pseudopod contains a gel of polymerized actin beneath its cell membrane.

Question 27

Which of the following is the signal for the slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum to switch from a unicellular existence to an aggregate slug formation?

A) bacterial cell wall components (e.g., LPS, teichoic acids)
B) cyclic AMP
C) high glucose concentrations
D) increased light and warmth
E) actin polymerization

Question 28

Rhodophyta, or red algae, appear red due to:

A) chlorophyll a
B) chlorophyll b
C) phycocyanin
D) phycoerythrin
E) Rubisco

Question 29

Based on the criteria given in the table below, where should this newly discovered organism be placed?

A) Ascomycota
B) Zygomycota
C) Basidiomycota
D) Chytridiomycota
E) Microsporidia

Question 30

Glomeromycota are obligate mutualists of plants:

A) that form fruiting bodies, such as basidiomycetes
B) and are considered pathogenic to more than 90% of all land plants
C) that form arbuscular mycorrhizae, in which the fungal filaments penetrate plant cell walls and the cytoplasmic membrane to establish symbiosis
D) that receive sugars from plants and provide ammonium and phosphate to plants
E) that form periarbuscular space within the fungi's own cell wall

Question 31

Heterokont is a grouping of organisms based on which of the following structural characteristics?

A) They all inhabit the same ecological niche.
B) They all rely exclusively on photosynthesis for metabolism.
C) They all have or have had pairs of flagella of different shapes and lengths.
D) They all have a bipartite shell called a frustule.
E) They all move with similar locomotive structures.

Question 32

Alexandrium and Karenia are representative of flagellate, pigmented marine phototrophs responsible for the toxic red tide blooms. These organisms fit in the category of:

A) slime molds
B) yeast
C) diatoms
D) apicomplexan
E) dinoflagellates

Question 33

Which of the following algae reproduce by opposite mating filaments forming a cytoplasmic conjugate bridge to fuse cellular material?

A) filamentous green algae
B) sheet-forming green algae
C) unicellular green algae
D) diatoms
E) lichens

Question 34

Fuligo septica is a type of plasmodial slime mold that can be seen as a yellow mass growing on decaying wood. Which of the following statements best describes this organism?

A) produces a fruiting body in which individual cells remain unicellular
B) produces no fruiting bodies and no spore formations
C) produces a fruiting body in which individual cells become a multinucleated single-cell
D) produces fruiting bodies within a calcified shell structure
E) produces no fruiting bodies and spores that move using pseudopodia

Question 35

In 2007, the Centers for Disease Control received reports from public health authorities and ophthalmologists in 37 states and Puerto Rico identifying 221 people with Acanthamoeba keratinitis. Which other infectious agent is this disease most closely related to in terms of phylogeny?

A) Dictyostelium discoideum
B) Toxoplasma gondii
C) Leishmania major
D) Legionella pneumophila
E) Giardia lamblia

Question 36

Amoeboid movement is controlled by:

A) cytoplasmic streaming into the extending pseudopodia
B) paired flagella formations extending off of the cell membrane
C) cilia structures surrounding the cell
D) regulation of osmotic and gas vacuoles within the cytoplasm
E) barophilic pumps within the cell membrane

Question 37

Which of the following is the clade that is home to the deadly poison-producing mushrooms called Amanita or "destroying angel"?

A) Basidiomycota
B) Ascomycota
C) Oomyctes
D) Zygomycota
E) yeasts

Question 38

The slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum disperses spores from its fruiting body by which means?

A) water currents
B) interacting with passing animals
C) air currents
D) gravity
E) ballistic force

Question 39

A major group of marine phytoplankton that is essential to the marine food chain includes:

A) microsporidia
B) dinoflagellates
C) apicomplexan
D) metamonads
E) yeasts

Question 40

Phytoplankton refers to:

A) heterotrophic algae and bacteria present in aquatic and marine environments
B) mixotrophic algae and amebas present in aquatic environments
C) photosynthetic algae and bacteria present in aquatic and marine environments
D) heterotrophic algae, bacteria, and protists present in aquatic, marine, and terrestrial environments
E) photosynthetic algae and plants present in aquatic, marine, and terrestrial environments

Question 41

You have isolated a novel fungus and are now growing it under laboratory conditions on two separate media. The first medium is a simple glucose broth and the second is a more complex broth containing pectin and starch. Will this fungus differ in its ability to acquire nutrients from the two media? Why or why not? Will this media difference affect the fungal growth?

Question 42

Leishmania major infection is most problematic in:

A) Central and South America
B) South America, Africa, the Middle East, and southern Europe
C) sub-Saharan Africa
D) Eastern Europe and Central Asia
E) It is endemic throughout most of the world.

Question 43

Schizogony refers to which life-cycle stage in Plasmodium falciparum?

A) mitotic reproduction and zygote development into spore-like form for transmission to next host; found in mosquito stage
B) mitotic reproduction to achieve large population within host; found in liver stage and RBC stage
C) meiotic reproduction to produce gametes; found in RBC stage
D) mitotic reproduction and zygote development into spore-like form for transmission to next host; found in RBC stage
E) meiotic reproduction to produce gametes; found in mosquito stage

Question 44

Why is the phylogeny data in the Eukarya domain overall harder to obtain than phylogeny evidence in either the Bacteria or Archaea domains? How has this affected Eukarya classification?

Question 45

Giardia lamblia is an infectious problem in day-care centers because it is a(n):

A) intestinal pathogen passed via fecal-oral transmission
B) aerosol pathogen passed via sneezing and coughing
C) mucosal pathogen passed via mucus contamination
D) skin pathogen passed via direct skin contact
E) blood-borne pathogen passed via contact with an open wound

Question 46

Why would an organism benefit from undergoing more than one endosymbiontic event throughout evolution? Give an example to support your argument.

Question 47

A patient who presents at the hospital office with symptoms of Chagas disease, i.e., an irregular heartbeat, inflamed/enlarged heart (cardiomyopathy), and congestive heart failure, could be infected with which of the following parasites?

A) Trypanosoma brucei
B) Leishmania major
C) Trypanosoma cruzi
D) Giardia lamblia
E) Plasmodium falciparum

Question 48

Why are sponges, jellyfish, worms, reptiles, humans, yeast, and microsporidia placed in the same eukaryotic clade?

Question 49

The Zygomycota taxon includes a group of insect parasites with nonmotile gametes that must grow toward each other to fuse and form a zygote. Explain why this taxon is classified under the larger taxa of Opisthokonta (whose classification involves flagellated reproductive cells).

Question 50

New and emerging drug therapy targets for Plasmodium falciparum include:

A) spore-release inhibitors
B) chloroplast inhibitors
C) conjugation inhibitors
D) hemoglobin protease inhibitors
E) cilia inhibitors

Question 51

Leishmania major causes a skin infection that can then disseminate to internal organs and is transmitted to a human host by:

A) drinking contaminated water
B) eating undercooked meat harboring the organism
C) skin contact with someone carrying the disease
D) bite from infected sand flies
E) sexual transmission

Question 52

The Amanita, or "destroying angel" mushroom, produces one of the world's most deadly poisons called alpha-amanitin. What is the target of this poison and how does it affect a eukaryotic host cell and a prokaryotic host cell?

Question 53

Pneumocystis jirovecii is an organism that causes pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) in HIV/AIDS and other immunocompromised patient populations. Originally, Pneumocystis jirovecii was classified as protozoa but has been reclassified as fungi. Based on your knowledge of eukaryotic classification history, describe some characteristics that may have caused the initial classification and then the reclassification.

Question 54

Kelps (brown algae) are organisms that have four membranes surrounding their chloroplasts. What does this mean and where did each of the membranes come from?

Question 55

Dinophysis acuminata, a dinoflagellate, is an example of a secondary endosymbiont. Explain what is meant by that designation.

Question 56

Plasmodium falciparum is a(n) __________ and is transmitted to the human host by the bite of a __________.

A) Apicomplexan; mosquito
B) Trypanosome; tsetse fly
C) Apicomplexan; reduviid bug
D) Trypanosome; mosquito
E) Apicomplexan; sand fly

Question 57

What are nanoeukaryotes and how has their discovery changed our biological understanding?

Question 58

A kinetoplast is a specialized bundle of DNA found where in the cell?

A) within a fruiting body
B) attached to microtubules
C) inside large mitochondria
D) in the pseudopodia cytoplasm
E) inside a large chloroplast

Question 59

The Apicomplexans have gone through extensive evolutionary reduction, losing their endosymbiotic chloroplast to:

A) allow only for phototrophic dark reactions
B) produce low-levels of ATP as backup metabolism
C) fix carbon dioxide only
D) absorb blue/green light only
E) complete one step of fatty acid metabolism

Question 60

Trypanosomes are a group of organisms that share which of the following characteristics?

A) free-living aquatic parasites, round cell, no flagellum
B) intestinal parasites, shelled cell structure with pseudopodia
C) opportunistic parasites, multicellular with paired flagellum and unique chloroplast
D) obligate parasites, elongated cell with single flagellum and unique kinetoplast
E) anaerobic parasites, single cellular structure with cilia

Question 61

What is the life cycle of Plasmodium and how does that life cycle cause Plasmodium to be categorized as an apicomplexan?

Question 62

Organisms categorized as Metamonad are considered to be highly degenerative parasites. What does this mean and why did they evolve this way?

Question 63

Compare and contrast the life cycles of the Chytridiomycota clade of fungi with the Zygomycota clade.

Question 64

Compare and contrast the two major groups of shelled amebas: radiolarians and foraminiferans.

Question 65

The Rhodophyta algae Porphyra is known to colonize aquatic environments deeper than the Chlorophyta algae Spirogyra; why is this and what advantages does Porphyra have by claiming this niche?

Question 66

The microarray analysis of Trypanosoma brucei gene expression demonstrated that two genes encoding cell-surface proteins PAD1 and PAD2 are expressed only in the differentiation-positive strain. Explain why PAD1 and PAD2 are important in Trypanosoma brucei infection.

Question 67

Give one reason why geologists could look at foraminiferans to determine potential sites for oil drilling.

Question 68

Amoeba proteus is a large freshwater ameba that moves using lobed-shaped pseudopodia. Describe the mechanism by which this pseudopodia structure moves this ameba using cytoplasmic streaming.

Question 69

Describe how the life cycle of the slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum is dependent upon prokaryotic organisms.

Question 70

Why is the coral endosymbioant, zooxanthellae, an important indicator of ocean health during global warming?