Deck 1: A Brief History of Microbiology

Question 1

Which of the following statements about algae is FALSE?

A) the group includes seaweeds and kelps.
B) they are photosynthetic organisms.
C) they provide most of the oxygen on Earth.
D) they are important in the degradation of dead plants and animals.
E) they are a source of food for aquatic and marine animals.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following questions largely stimulated the research of microbes during what is known as the Golden Age of Microbiology?

A) What causes disease?
B) How do genes work?
C) Is spontaneous generation of microbes possible?
D) How are microbes related?
E) What causes disease, and is spontaneous generation of microbes possible?

Answer 2

E

Question 3

According to Kluyver and van Niel, which of the following are true of basic biochemical reactions?

A) They are shared by all living things.
B) There are an unlimited number of them.
C) They primarily involve the transfer of electrons and ions.
D) Basic biochemical reactions shared by all living things primarily involve transfer of electrons and hydrogen ions.
E) They primarily involve transfers of chemical groups.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of the following scientists provided evidence in favor of the concept of spontaneous generation?

A) Pasteur
B) Needham
C) Redi
D) Buchner
E) Spallanzani

Question 5

Semmelweis advocated handwashing as a method of preventing which of the following diseases?

A) cholera
B) puerperal fever
C) smallpox
D) anthrax
E) syphilis

Question 6

Microbes that can live in the presence or absence of oxygen are called

A) anaerobes.
B) facultative anaerobes.
C) obligate parasites.
D) archaea.
E) prokaryotes.

Question 7

What scientist first hypothesized that gene sequences could provide new insights into evolutionary relationships between organisms such as microbes?

A) Woese
B) Avery
C) Ehrlich
D) Kluyver
E) Pauling

Question 8

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of viruses?

A) they are visible with a light microscope.
B) they are acellular.
C) they are composed of genetic material and protein.
D) they are smaller than prokaryotic cells.
E) they are obligatory parasites.

Question 9

The microbial production of alcohol from sugar is known as

A) fermentation.
B) pasteurization.
C) metabolism.
D) abiogenesis.
E) antisepsis.

Question 10

The microbial activity of __________ is responsible for the production of various foods.

A) archaea
B) bacteria
C) fungi
D) protozoa
E) both fungi and bacteria

Question 11

Work by __________ laid the foundations of the field of environmental microbiology.

A) Redi and Spallanzani
B) Koch and Pasteur
C) Beijerinck and Winogradsky
D) Lister and Semmelweis
E) Pauling and Woese

Question 12

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek was the first person in history to

A) use a magnifying glass.
B) develop a taxonomic system.
C) view protozoa and bacteria.
D) disprove spontaneous generation.
E) prove the germ theory.

Question 13

The first true vaccine protected against disease caused by a __________ pathogen.

A) bacterial
B) protozoal
C) fungal
D) viral
E) archaeal

Question 14

The study of the body's defenses against pathogens is called

A) etiology.
B) immunology.
C) chemotherapy.
D) molecular biology.
E) epidemiology.

Question 15

Which of the following individuals pioneered the use of chemicals to reduce the incidence of infections during surgery?

A) Nightingale
B) Snow
C) Ehrlich
D) Lister
E) Semmelweis

Question 16

The microbes commonly known as __________ are single-celled eukaryotes that are generally motile.

A) archaea
B) bacteria
C) fungi
D) protozoa
E) viruses

Question 17

Paul Ehrlich used chemotherapy to treat

A) cholera.
B) cancer.
C) anthrax.
D) smallpox.
E) syphilis.

Question 18

All of the following individuals were involved in improving public health in the 19th century EXCEPT

A) Snow.
B) Spallanzani.
C) Nightingale.
D) Semmelweis.
E) Lister.

Question 19

Which of the following statements concerning Koch's postulates is false?

A) Koch's postulates cannot be used to demonstrate the cause of all diseases.
B) A suspected pathogen must be able to be grown in the laboratory.
C) All of Koch's postulates must be satisfied before an organism can be proven to cause a particular disease.
D) Koch's postulates involve the experimental infection of susceptible hosts.
E) A suspected pathogen must be found in the majority of individuals with a particular disease.

Question 20

Which of the following statements about fungi is FALSE?

A) fungi are eukaryotes.
B) molds form hyphae.
C) fungi have a cell wall.
D) fungi are photosynthetic.
E) yeasts are unicellular.

Question 21

Put the following events in the history of microbiology in order, from the earliest to the latest: I. Leeuwenhoek observes microbes using a microscope.
II) Pasteur disproves spontaneous generation.
III) Woese discovers the archaea.
IV) Fracastoro proposes that "germs" cause disease.
V) Ehrlich discovers the first "magic bullet."

A) III, IV, I, II, V
B) V, IV, I, III, II
C) IV, I, V, II, III
D) III, V, II, IV, I
E) IV, I, II, V, III

Question 22

Which of the following was NOT an aspect of Pasteur's experiments to disprove spontaneous generation?

A) The necks of the flasks he used were bent into an S-shape.
B) He boiled the infusions to kill any microbes present.
C) The flasks were incubated for very long periods of time.
D) The flasks were free of microbes until they were opened.
E) The flasks he used were sealed with corks.

Question 23

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an example of which of the following types of microbes?

A) fungus
B) protozoan
C) prokaryote
D) alga
E) virus

Question 24

Inserting a gene from the hepatitis B virus into yeast so that the yeast produces a viral protein is an example of

A) etiology.
B) genetic engineering.
C) immunology.
D) microbial genetics.
E) gene therapy.

Question 25

The term __________ refers to an infection acquired in a health care setting.

A) abiogenesis
B) bioremediation
C) spontaneous generation
D) nosocomial
E) archaea

Question 26

All of the following were involved in developing the germ theory of disease EXCEPT

A) Koch.
B) Pauling.
C) Fracastoro.
D) Snow.
E) Pasteur.

Question 27

Which of the following scientists was the first to develop a taxonomic system for classifying organisms?

A) Linnaeus
B) Needham
C) Leeuwenhoek
D) Lister
E) Pasteur

Question 28

Microorganisms characterized by the absence of a nucleus are called

A) fungi.
B) pathogens.
C) eukaryotes.
D) prokaryotes.
E) viruses.

Question 29

The term __________ literally means "produces disease."

A) prokaryote
B) pathogen
C) nosocomial
D) facultative anaerobe
E) animalcule

Question 30

Which of the following is an incorrect pairing?

A) protozoa: multicellular
B) fungi: cell walls
C) algae: aquatic and marine habitats
D) prokaryotes: no nuclei
E) viruses: acellular parasites

Question 31

Proteins that promote chemical reactions in the cell are called

A) spores.
B) enzymes.
C) genes.
D) protozoa.
E) flagella.

Question 32

The term that literally means "against putrefaction" is

A) antisepsis.
B) prokaryote.
C) chemotherapy.
D) recombinant technology.
E) nosocomial.

Question 33

John Snow's research during a cholera outbreak in London laid the foundation for which of the following branches of microbiology?

A) infection control
B) epidemiology
C) immunology
D) both infection control and epidemiology
E) infection control, epidemiology, and immunology

Question 34

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of protozoa?

A) most exhibit asexual reproduction.
B) they are single-celled organisms.
C) they are eukaryotic organisms.
D) they are the microbes most similar to plants.
E) they frequently possess cilia or flagella.

Question 35

The work of Lister, Nightingale, and Semmelweis all contributed to controlling infectious disease by

A) developing techniques for isolating pathogens.
B) developing methods for reducing nosocomial infections.
C) identifying the sources of infectious agents.
D) determining the taxonomic relationships among microbes.
E) developing vaccines.

Question 36

Robert Koch was involved in research on all of the following topics EXCEPT

A) the cause of anthrax.
B) the cause of fermentation.
C) development of a method to prove the cause of an infectious disease.
D) the cause of tuberculosis.
E) techniques for isolating microbes in the laboratory.

Question 37

Who discovered penicillin?

A) Fleming
B) Ehrlich
C) Kitasato
D) Pasteur
E) Domagk

Question 38

Which of the following is NOT an observation Pasteur made concerning the fermentation of grape juice?

A) yeast can grow with or without oxygen.
B) bacteria produce acid in grape juice.
C) pasteurization kills yeast to prevent spoilage of grape juice.
D) yeast cells can grow and reproduce in grape juice.
E) yeast can grow in sealed or open flasks of grape juice.

Question 39

The study of the causation of disease is known as

A) epidemiology.
B) immunology.
C) biotechnology.
D) etiology.
E) chemotherapy.

Question 40

What was the first disease proven to be bacterial in origin?

A) yellow fever
B) cholera
C) anthrax
D) malaria
E) tuberculosis

Question 41

Christian Gram devised a staining technique that divides all bacteria into two groups.

Question 42

Lazzaro Spallanzani was the first scientist to provide evidence disproving the spontaneous generation of microorganisms.

Question 43

Walter Reed proved that a virus causes yellow fever in humans.

Question 44

A cell that contains a nucleus is called a(n) __________ cell.

Question 45

The taxonomic scheme developed by Linnaeus remains largely unchanged in modern biology.

Question 46

Microbes that cause infectious disease are called __________.

Question 47

Microbes that move by means of cilia are __________.

Question 48

Koch's postulates can be used only to prove the causes of infectious diseases.

Question 49

The study of the occurrence, distribution, and spread of disease is known as

A) biotechnology.
B) epidemiology.
C) molecular biology.
D) serology.
E) biochemistry.

Question 50

The term for the use of microorganisms to restore damaged environments is

A) epidemiology.
B) bioremediation.
C) chemotherapy.
D) serology.
E) ecology.

Question 51

A(n) __________ organism makes its own food using solar energy.

Question 52

Bacteria that can live without oxygen are termed __________.

Question 53

The term __________ means the study of the blood components that fight infection.

A) antisepsis
B) chemotherapy
C) etiology
D) serology
E) bioremediation

Question 54

Gene therapy is a modern approach to preventing infectious disease.

Question 55

Robert Koch developed a vaccine to prevent anthrax after identifying the causative agent.

Question 56

Fermentation can occur in the absence of living cells.

Question 57

An asexual method of reproduction associated with yeasts is __________.

Question 58

A(n) __________ is a potential explanation for a set of observations made by a scientist studying a phenomenon.

Question 59

Joseph Lister reduced the incidence of wound infections in health care settings by using chlorinated lime water.

Question 60

The production of human blood-clotting factor by E. coli is an example of bioremediation.

Question 61

Explain how the discipline of biochemistry grew out of the science of microbiology.

Question 62

Compare and contrast the three types of eukaryotic microbes.

Question 63

Explain why there was such a long period of time between the era of Leeuwenhoek's work and the beginnings of the Golden Age of Microbiology.

Question 64

Use the basic steps of the scientific method to describe Pasteur's experiments to investigate spontaneous generation.

Question 65

Ignaz Semmelweis demonstrated the importance of __________ as a means of preventing disease transmission.

Question 66

Biotechnology can be said to have ancient roots. Explain.

Question 67

A(n) __________ is a mass of cells that are descended from a single cell through successive cell divisions.

Question 68

The use of chemicals to treat diseases such as bacterial infections is called __________.

Question 69

Organisms such as bacteria that can convert atmospheric nitrogen into nitrate are often studied in __________ microbiology.

Question 70

The first true vaccine provided protection from disease caused by a(n) __________.

Question 71

Robert Koch discovered the cause of __________, a disease of animals that can be spread to humans.

Question 72

The __________ of an organism is all the chemical reactions that take place in the organism.

Question 73

A term synonymous with immunization, __________ is derived from the Latin name of the cowpox virus.