Microbial Growth and Nutrition Flashcards

In microbiology, the term growth usually refers to an increase in

A) a microbe's size.
B) the number of microbial cells.
C) the amount of ATP produced.
D) the number and size of microbial cells.
E) the number and size of microbial cells and the amount of ATP produced.

A cell that uses an organic carbon source and obtains energy from light would be called a

A) photoheterotroph.
B) lithoautotroph.
C) photoautotroph.
D) chemoheterotroph.
E) chemoautotroph

A(n) __________ organism is one that requires oxygen for growth

A) anaerobic
B) facultative anaerobic
C) aerotolerant
D) obligate aerobic
E) both aerotolerant and anaerobic

An aquatic microbe that can grow only at the surface of the water is probably which of the following?

A) a phototroph
B) a heterotroph
C) a chemotroph
D) a lithotroph
E) an anaerobe

Which of the following forms of oxygen is detoxified by the enzyme catalase?

A) singlet oxygen
B) hydroxyl radical
C) peroxide anion
D) superoxide radical
E) molecular oxygen

All of the following are used to protect organisms from the toxic by-products of oxygen EXCEPT

A) carotenoids.
B) superoxide dismutase.
C) peroxidase.
D) protease.
E) catalase.

A microbe that grows only at the bottom of a tube of thioglycollate medium is probably a(n)

A) obligate aerobe.
B) facultative anaerobe.
C) aerotolerant anaerobe.
D) microaerophile.
E) obligate anaerobe.

Nitrogen is a growth limiting nutrient for many organisms because

A) it is necessary for the biosynthesis of amino acids.
B) it is required for synthesis of nucleotides.
C) it is required for lipid synthesis.
D) only a small number of bacteria are able to extract it from the atmosphere.
E) only a few microbes can extract it from the atmosphere, but all organisms require it for amino
acid and nucleotide synthesis.

Which of the following growth factors would NOT be required by microbes which do not utilize electron transport chains?

A) heme.
B) selenium.
C) NADH.
D) vitamins.
E) amino acids.

At temperatures higher than the maximum growth temperature for an organism,

A) proteins are permanently denatured.
B) membranes become too fluid for proper function.
C) hydrogen bonds within molecules are broken.
D) hydrogen bonds are broken, and proteins are permanently denatured.
E) hydrogen bonds are broken, proteins are denatured, and membranes become too fluid.

Human pathogens are classified as

A) thermoduric.
B) thermophiles.
C) mesophiles.
D) hyperthermophiles.
E) psychrophiles.

The term barophile refers to which of the following growth requirements?

A) hydrostatic pressure
B) temperature
C) nitrogen source
D) pH
E) osmotic pressure

Which of the following organisms would be most likely to contaminate a jar of pickles?

A) a neutrophile
B) a thermophile
C) an acidophile
D) an obligate anaerobe
E) a mesophile

Organisms that can grow with or without oxygen present are?

A) obligate aerobes.
B) facultative anaerobes.
C) aerotolerant anaerobes.
D) obligate anaerobes.
E) either facultative anaerobes or aerotolerant anaerobes.

A fastidious organism might be grown on which of the following types of media?

A) transport media
B) reducing media
C) enriched media
D) differential media
E) selective media

Obligate anaerobes may be cultured in the laboratory

A) in a reducing medium.
B) in a candle jar.
C) in standard Petri plates.
D) on blood agar plates.
E) on blood agar plates in a candle jar.

Joan wants to discover a microbe capable of degrading an environmental contaminant.
Which of the following refers to the process she should use?

A) cell culture
B) chemostat
C) quorum sensing
D) enrichment culture
E) nitrogen fixation

A microbiologist inoculates a growth medium with 100 bacterial cells/ml. If the generation time of the species is 1 hour, and there is no lag phase, how long will it be before the culture contains more than 10,000 cells/ml?

A) 24 hours
B) 7 hours
C) 2 hours
D) 3 hours
E) 10 hours

An epidemiologist is investigating a new disease and observes what appear to be bacteria inside tissue cells in clinical samples from victims. The scientist wants to try to isolate the bacteria in the lab. What culture conditions are most likely to be successful?

A) culturing on blood agar plates
B) inoculation of EMB plates
C) incubation in a candle jar
D) inoculation of cell cultures
E) inoculation of a minimal medium broth

Which of the following measurement techniques would be useful to quantify a species of bacteria that is difficult to culture?

A) membrane filtration
B) viable plate counts
C) MPN
D) microscopic counts
E) metabolic activity

MacConkey agar plates represent __________ medium.

A) a minimal
B) a selective
C) a differential
D) both a differential and a selective
E) both a minimal and a selective

A Petroff-Hauser counting chamber is

A) a glass slide containing an etched grid for counting microbes directly using a microscope.
B) a device that counts cells as they interrupt an electrical current.
C) a device that measures the amount of light that passes through a culture.
D) an apparatus that traps bacterial cells on a membrane filter where they can be counted.
E) a device used to count numbers of bacterial colonies on a Petri plate.

Another term for the logarithmic growth of bacterial cells is

A) generation time.
B) exponential growth.
C) arithmetic growth.
D) absorbance.
E) binary fission.

A device that removes wastes and adds fresh medium to bacterial cultures in order to prolong the log phase of a culture is called a(n)

A) Coulter counter.
B) cytometer.
C) spectrophotometer.
D) pellicle.
E) chemostat

A specimen of urine is determined to contain 30 bacterial cells per microliter. How many cells would be present in a milliliter?

A) 3
B) 300
C) 30,000
D) 3,000
E) 30 million

Which of the following is NOT a direct method for measuring the number of microbes in a sample?

A) viable plate counts
B) turbidity
C) Coulter counter
D) MPN
E) membrane filtration

During which growth phase are bacteria more susceptible to antimicrobial drugs?

A) lag phase
B) log phase
C) stationary phase
D) death phase
E) the susceptibility is the same for all phases

The use of salt and sugar in preserving various types of foods is an application of which of the following concepts?

A) nitrogen fixation
B) osmotic pressure
C) pH
D) hydrostatic pressure
E) quorum sensing

A clinical sample labeled as "sputum" was collected from

A) the skin.
B) the blood.
C) the central nervous system.
D) a piece of tissue.
E) the lungs.

The method of obtaining isolated cultures that utilizes surface area to dilute specimens is called

A) the pour-plate technique.
B) serial dilution.
C) the streak-plate technique.
D) transport media.
E) enrichment culturing.

__________ are complex communities of various types of microbes that adhere to surfaces.

A) Aggregates
B) Colonies
C) Isolates
D) Biofilms
E) Media

A colony-forming unit is the number of cells

A) in a colony.
B) that produces one colony.
C) in a particular specimen.
D) that is in exponential phase in a culture.
E) that can be placed on a Petri plate.

All of the following ingredients might be found in complex media EXCEPT

A) hydrogen peroxide.
B) yeast extract.
C) blood.
D) soy extract.
E) milk proteins.

Sodium thioglycollate is associated with which of the following types of media?

A) transport media
B) differential media
C) complex media
D) reducing media
E) selective media

Which of the following quantification techniques can distinguish living cells from dead cells in a culture?

A) microscopic counts
B) dry weight
C) metabolic activity
D) a Coulter counter
E) turbidity

During the __________ of growth, new cells are being produced at the same rate as other
cells are dying.

A) lag phase
B) log phase
C) death phase
D) stationary phase
E) intermediate phase

During the __________ of growth, cells are dying faster than new cells are being produced.

A) death phase
B) lag phase
C) log phase
D) stationary phase
E) longitudinal phase

When cells are metabolically active but not dividing, they are in the

A) stationary phase.
B) log phase.
C) lag phase.
D) death phase.
E) exponential phase.

Metabolic activity is at maximum level in the __________ of growth.

A) lag phase
B) log phase
C) death phase
D) stationary phase
E) intermediate phase

Cells are rapidly growing and dividing during the __________ of growth.

A) death phase
B) lag phase
C) log phase
D) stationary phase
E) indeterminate phase

An organism that tolerates high __________ is called a halophile.

A) hydrostatic pressure
B) salt concentrations
C) pH
D) carbon dioxide levels
E) oxygen levels

A capnophile is a microorganism that thrives in conditions of high __________.

A) carbon dioxide levels
B) hydrostatic pressure
C) oxygen levels
D) pH
E) salt concentration

A microorganism found living under conditions of high __________ is a barophile.

A) pH values
B) oxygen concentrations
C) hydrostatic pressure
D) carbon dioxide levels
E) salt concentrations

Microaerophiles are microbes that grow best at low

A) carbon dioxide levels.
B) pH values.
C) hydrostatic pressure.
D) oxygen levels.
E) salt concentrations.

An acidophile thrives under conditions of low

A) carbon dioxide levels.
B) salt concentrations.
C) oxygen levels.
D) hydrostatic pressure.
E) pH.

Obligate anaerobes have enzymes such as superoxide dismutase to protect them from the damaging effects of oxygen.

Nitrogen fixation is a process that occurs in all bacteria.

Thermoduric mesophiles are often responsible for spoilage of improperly canned foods.

An obligate halophile will burst if placed in freshwater.

The only effective way to store bacterial cultures for short periods of time is to arrest their metabolism by freezing.

Quorum sensing is a process by which bacteria respond to the density of other bacteria in their environment.

An obligate anaerobe can be cultured in a candle jar.

Agar is a useful compound in the microbiology lab because it is an excellent nutrient for bacteria.

A selective medium can be formulated either by including inhibitory chemical substances or by leaving out a single crucial nutrient.

In spectrophotometry, 40% light transmission is the same thing as 60% absorbance of light.

The conversion of nitrogen gas to ammonia is called nitrogen __________.

Organisms that require organic sources of carbon and energy are called __________.

The __________ radical is formed during the incomplete reduction of O2 during electron transport in aerobes.

The __________ growth temperature is the temperature at which an organism exhibits the highest growth rate.

Bacteria that thrive at human body temperatures are classified as __________.

Alkalinophiles can survive in water up to pH __________. (Be sure your answer is a numeral.)

Cells that are exposed to hypertonic environments will exhibit __________.

A(n) __________ is a sample of microorganisms introduced into a growth medium.

A pure culture is composed of cells that arise from a single __________.

A gelling agent derived from algae that is useful for creating solid growth media is called __________.

A sample placed into fresh medium is typically initially in the __________ phase of microbial growth.

A growth curve plots the __________ of organisms in a growing population over time.

Flow __________ is a method of counting cells that have been stained or tagged with fluorescent dyes.

A film of cells at the surface of a broth is called a(n) __________.

A(n) __________ can measure changes in the turbidity of a bacterial culture.