Karp's Cell and Molecular Biology: Chapter 1: Introduction to the study of Cell and Molecular Biology Flashcards

The individual generally credited with the discovery of cells is:

Robert Hooke.
Anton van Leeuwenhoek.
Rudolph Virchow.
Matthias Schleiden.
Peter the Great.

The original Cell Theory includes all of the following ideas in its three tenets EXCEPT:

organisms can be composed of more than one cell.
cells can arise from non cellular material.
the cell is the structural unit of life.
cells arise by division of preexisting cells.
organisms can be composed of only one cell.

Which of the following individuals did NOT contribute to the Cell Theory or the discovery of cells?

Linus Pauling.
Matthias Schleiden.
Theodor Schwann.
Rudolph Virchow.
Robert Hooke.

Who was the first person to describe living single cells?

Leeuwenhoek
Hooke
Schleiden
Schwann
Virchow

All of the following are fundamental properties of cells EXCEPT:

cells are simple.
cells acquire and use energy.
cells are capable of producing more of themselves.
cells can respond to stimuli.
cell characteristics evolve over generations.

Which of the following statements is FALSE?

Scientists have a clear understanding of the origin of cells.
Evolution of cells continues today.
All cells are surrounded by a membrane.
All living cells are believed to have evolved from a single, common ancestral cell often referred to as the last universal common ancestor.
Evidence indicates that life arose over 3 billion years ago.

Which of the following statements is FALSE?

Living organisms on the Earth's surface acquire and use energy from sunlight.
Animal cells break down molecules of glucose in the process of photosynthesis.
Cells break down large organic molecules and capture energy in a more readily available form, such as ATP.
Macromolecules and organelles are "recycled" regularly within the cell.
Glucose can be released by the liver into the blood.

The first culture of human cells was begun by George and Martha Gey of Johns Hopkins University in 1951. The cells were obtained from a malignant tumor and named ______ cells after the donor, _________.

HeLa, Herbert Lane
HeLa, Henrietta Lacks
Roberts, John Roberts
MaLe, Martin Lewis
HeLa, Helen Lassiter

Cells grown in culture, outside the body are called ________ cells. They have become an essential tool of cell and molecular biologists.

in vivo
live
in vitro
in culturo
vivacious

Virtually all chemical changes that take place in cells require ________, molecules that greatly increase the rate at which a chemical reaction occurs.

DNAs
carbohydrates
proteins
enzymes

Which one of the following structures is the smallest?

a eukaryotic cell
a prokaryotic cell
a protein
a nucleus
a neuron

The atmosphere became rich with oxygen due to the activity of:

eukaryotes.
plants.
bacteria.
cyanobacteria.
multicellular animals.

Which of the following structures is/are found in prokaryotic cells, but NOT found in eukaryotic cells?

cytoskeleton
Golgi complex
cell wall
nucleoid
chromatin

What is a main advantage of small cell size?

Small cells are less likely to burst in dilute environments.
Large cells are more vulnerable to infection.
It takes less energy to construct an organism using small cells.
Small cells have a larger surface area-to-volume ratio across which to take up nutrients and get rid of waste products.
Small cells don't require as many genes.

Induced pluripotent stem cells are an attractive approach to cell replacement therapy because of all the characteristics EXCEPT that:

they can be induced to develop into many different types of tissues.
they can be derived from differentiated cells.
these cells are harvested from live embryos.
they can be studied using techniques already derived from work with embryonic stem cells.
All of these are reasons why induced pluripotent stem cells are attractive to researchers.

The metagenome:

is the collection of microbes that live on or in the human body.
allows study of microbes that cannot be cultured in the laboratory.
describes the community of organisms that comprise a biofilm.
is an important tool for pathologists and physicians.
is used to describe a group of microbes when DNA sequencing is not possible.

Which of the following structures is/are found in eukaryotic cells, but NOT found in prokaryotic cells?

mitochondria
ribosomes
plasma membrane
cytosol
chromosomes

How many prokaryotic species have been grown and studied in the laboratory?

all of them
over half of the known species
about 20% of the known species
less than 1% of the known species
none of them

The plasma membrane of both eukaryotes and prokaryotes functions to:

support the cell wall.
generate energy.
regulate movement of molecules into and out of the cell.
secrete proteins from membrane-bound vesicles.
form biofilms.

The two basic classes of cells are:

plant and animal.
bacteria and eukaryotes.
prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
human and bacteria.
unicellular and multicellular.

Nitrogen fixation is:

conversion of nitrogen-containing organic molecules into nitrogen gas.
storage of nitrogen gas within a cell vacuole.
production of ammonia and other compounds from nitrogen gas.
possible in all living cells.
a process that allows visualization of cells with a microscope.

Which one of the following organisms is NOT considered a model organism?

a human, Homo sapiens
a mouse, Mus musculus
a budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae
a bacterium, Escherichia coli
a fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster

Begun in 2009, the first human trials using embryonic stem cells were used:

to regenerate cardiac muscle cells in patients who had suffered heart attacks.
in patients with Crohn's disease.
to treat teratomas.
in patients with debilitating spinal cord injuries.
to treat leukemias and lymphomas.

Members of the Archaea:

are prokaryotes.
are more closely related to eukaryotes than to bacteria.
are often found in extreme environments.
sometimes produce methane gas.
All of these are true of Archaeans.

Adult stem cells:

are pluripotent.
are only found in the bone marrow.
are capable of developing into two or more cell types.
are harvested from an embryo.
are both only found in the bone marrow and are capable of developing into two or more cell types.

Which of the following does NOT account for the small size of cells?

the rate of diffusion
the surface area/volume ratio
the number of mRNAs that can be produced by the nucleus
the distance from the cell interior to the cell surface
the length/surface area ratio

What characteristics distinguish prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells?

Eukaryotes have membrane-bound organelles; prokaryotes do not.
Prokaryotes have relatively little DNA; eukaryotes generally have much more.
Eukaryotic chromosomes are linear; prokaryotic chromosomes are circular.
Prokaryotic DNA is naked or nearly naked; eukaryotic DNA is usually heavily associated with protein.
All of these are correct.

Bacteria will often pass a piece of DNA from a donor bacterial cell to a recipient bacterial cell presumably through a structure called a pilus. What is this process called?

confirmation
transduction
transformation
conjugation
fission

Bacteria often live in complex, multi-species communities, like the layer of plaque that grows on your teeth; such a community is called a(n) _________.

biotome
microtome
biofilm
anatome
disneyfilm

The collection of bacteria that live on and within the human body are being isolated, identified and characterized; they are referred to as the human ______. It has been demonstrated that these organisms differ based upon the age, diet, geography, and state of health of the human from which they were obtained.

macrobiome
metagenome
minibiome
microbiome
homobiome

The genetic material within a virus is in the form of:

double-stranded DNA.
double-stranded RNA.
single-stranded DNA.
single-stranded RNA.
The genetic material within a virus may be any of these.

Which of the following statements is TRUE, according to the endosymbiotic theory?

Mitochondria and chloroplasts developed from organisms that were once free-living.
Photosynthetic algae evolved from plants.
Bacterial flagella have the same evolutionary origin as eukaryotic flagella.
Bacteria were engulfed by larger cells and became the nucleus of those cells.
None of the choices are correct.

New viruses may be assembled:

on chemical growth media.
only in living cells.
in an incubator.
in darkness or in light.
in pure cultures in the lab.

Which of the following statements CANNOT be used to describe a viral infection?

The virus may insert its genetic material into the DNA of the host.
The virus may direct production and assembly of new viruses within the host cell and cause it to lyse.
The virus divides within the host cell forming two new viruses that also divide within the host cell; those two viruses divide to form four viruses within the host cell.
The virus may disrupt the control of the growth and division of the host cell, leading to the growth of a tumor.
The virus inserts its genetic material into the host cell DNA, where it lies dormant, but the viral DNA may be activated by a stimulus and begin production of new viruses that lyse the cell.

A provirus:

infects bacterial cells.
caused the influenza epidemic of 1918.
is viral DNA integrated into host DNA.
was the first virus discovered by Wendell Stanley at the Rockefeller Institute.
is composed of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein capsid.

Bacteriophages are attractive tools to use in combating bacterial infections because:

many bacteria are resistant to our antibiotics.
they can provide immunity by inserting their DNA into human cells.
they have a narrow host range.
they mutate only if pathogens also alter their genetic virulence.

The three domains of living organisms originally described by Carl Woese are:

plants, animals, and bacteria.
prokaryotes, eukaryotes, and archaebacteria.
aquatic, terrestrial, and airborne.
archaebacteria, eubacteria, and urkaryotes.
bacteria, viruses, and eukaryotes.

What major feature distinguishes the theoretical first eukaryotic common ancestor (FECA) from prokaryotes?

DNA
closed internal compartments
plasma membrane
ribosomes
heterotrophy

Carl Woese’s evolutionary studies that led him to propose the three domain taxonomic system compared nucleotide sequences present in:

the nuclei of eukaryotic cells.
the chloroplasts of cyanobacteria.
DNA polymerase genes.
thermophiles.
16S rRNA genes.

Currently, the three groups of living organisms are considered to be:

animals, plants, and bacteria.
archaebacteria, eubacteria, and eukaryotes.
animals, eubacteria, and archaebacteria.
plants, eubacteria, and archaebacteria.
bacteria, eubacteria, and eukaryotes.

Which of the following statements about viruses is FALSE?

All viruses are obligatory intracellular parasites.
All viruses are obligatory intercellular parasites.
Viruses occur in a wide variety of very different shapes, sizes and constructions.
A viral host may be a plant, an animal or a bacterial cell.
Viral genetic material can be either RNA or DNA.

Usually, a virus infects a cell and arrests the normal synthetic activities of the host, redirecting the cell to use its available materials to manufacture viral nucleic acids and proteins, which assemble into new viruses. Ultimately, the infected cell ruptures and releases a new generation of viral particles that can infect neighboring cells. This type of infection is called a(n) _________ infection.

lytic
proviral
eluctable
virulent
avirulent

Volvox and its relatives evolved from:

primitive plants.
Euglena.
unicellular green algae.
eukaryotic cells.
primitive fungi.

What is the best criterion to use when attempting to distinguish a colony of cells from a multicellular organism?

If an organism exhibits cellular differentiation, it is considered to be multicellular.
If an organism exhibits cellular differentiation, it is considered to be colonial.
If an organism exhibits distinct cell types, it is considered to be colonial.
If an organism can only exist as a group of cells and replicates and develops as a group, then it is considered to be multicellular.
If an organism can exist as a group of cells, but occasionally separate into single cells, it is considered to be multicellular.

Why do Dictyostelium cells organize themselves into a stalk that grows a long stalk?

to obtain new food
to form eggs
to synthesize new proteins
to make ATP more efficiently
to distribute spores

What cells in Volvox are involved in reproductive function?

gonidia
conidia
egg cells
volvinia
gonifers

When the “embryos” of Volvox first develop, their cells are oriented with their flagella on the inside. When, later in development, the embryo needs to get its flagella on the outside of the sphere, it does so by splitting open and turning itself inside out. What is this process called?

reversal
reversion
exteriorization
inversion
reorientation

What is the name of the three-dimensional patterned substrate that provides the shape and structure of an artificial tissue?

a framework
a manifold
a scaffold
a model
a mold

Which of the following is a strategy being used to create cell-based replacement organs?

tissue engineering using a scaffold
reliance on the ability of cells to self-assemble into three-dimensional aggregates called organoids
increasing cell division with growth factors
attaching cells with cell adhesion molecules in a test tube
tissue engineering using a scaffold and reliance on the ability of cells to self-assemble into three-dimensional aggregates called organoids

When producing a graft made of tissue-engineered material, how can one avoid making a graft that is likely to be rejected by the recipient of the graft because of an immune response?

treating the graft with acid before placing it in the recipient
using cells from the recipient, rather than an unrelated stranger
culturing cells for a number of months before placing them in the recipient
inserting the recipient’s antigens into the cell membranes of the cells to be implanted
place new lipids in the membranes of the cells to be implanted

What is the problem with some of the artificial polymers that are used for scaffolds in tissue engineering?

The artificial polymers can cause the cells to shrink.
Cells stick too tightly to the artificial polymers in the scaffold
Cells often do not adhere to the artificial polymers.
Cells will immediately start to digest the artificial polymers.
Cells divide too quickly in the presence of the artificial polymers.

Why is a porous scaffold more effective in tissue engineering?

A porous scaffold has more surface area for cell adhesion.
Cells inside a porous scaffold to get nutrients and oxygen they need to survive.
Porous scaffolds are more slippery.
Porous scaffolds are more malleable and easy to mold into the proper shape.
A porous scaffold has more surface area for cell adhesion and makes it easier for cells inside the scaffold to get nutrients and oxygen they need to survive.

What methods can be used to extrude fibers in a particular pattern to form a mesh?

electrospinning
using an electric field to force a polymer solution through a small orifice
using a gas to create bubbles and holes inside the matrix material, creating a foam-like scaffold
building the scaffolds directly using high-resolution, three-dimensional printers
All of the methods described are used to form a mesh.