Prescott's Microbiology
10th Edition
ISBN: 9781259281594
Author: Joanne Willey, Linda Sherwood Adjunt Professor Lecturer, Christopher J. Woolverton Professor
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
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Chapter 4, Problem 5CHI
In the chapter opening case study, we focus on the production of methane by archaea living in the rumens of domesticated ruminant animals. However, there are many other sources of methane besides livestock. These include wild ruminants, the anoxic soils of rice paddies, and deforestation. There is considerable interest in more precisely measuring the output of methane by all these sources, yet current methods have many drawbacks. Some are laborious; some have a high degree of variability; others can only be used in highly controlled environments. In 2011 a group of scientists reported their attempts to correlate methane production with the amount of archaeol in the feces of cattle. They also determined archaeol levels resulting from different feeding regimens. Archaeol is a glycerol diether that can be measured by chemical procedures such as gas chromatography. What assumption did the scientists make when they chose to measure archaeol? Why did they choose to measure a glycerol diether rather than a diglycerol tetraether in their study? Suggest one other application of this method to better understand methane release into the atmosphere.
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Methanopyrus kandleri and Pyrolobus fumarij are bacteria that live near hydrothermal vents under the oceans. Temperatures at these vents can reach well over 100 degrees Celsius.
Both organisms obtain energy from hydrogen but Methanopyrus kandleri grows best at 98 degrees Celsius while Pyrolobus fumarij prefers to reproduce at temperatures above 100 degrees Celsius. These bacteria provide the base of a food web at the bottom of the ocean floor.
What questions could a student ask in order to investigate this difference between the bacteria?
A.
What kind of heat tolerance do other nearby organisms have?
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Does the Methanopyrus kandleri live farther away from the vent than the Pyrolobus fumarij?
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Does Methanopyrus kandleri have a thicker cell wall than Pyrolobus fumarij?
D.
Is one organism better adapted to the environment than the other?
3. (a) Comparing the culture-dependant (e.g., colony forming units count) and DNA-
based (e.g., PCR) bacterial number quantification methods, what are the primary
disadvantages of using culture-dependent methods to quantify bacterial numbers in an
environmental sample? Use no more than three sentences or bullet points to present
your answer succinctly.
In a population of cyanobacteria (Chlorogloeopsis fritschii) in a hot spring in Iceland, some of the bacteria can produce chlorophyll f, while some C. fritschii produce only other types of chlorophylls. Chlorophyll f absorbs light outside of the visible light spectrum, namely near infrared light, allowing the bacteria to absorb light that has not been absorbed or reflected by the water or other organisms. The ability to produce chlorophyll f is heritable, and the bacteria with chlorophyll f can live in low-light environments, such as underneath other organisms, or near the bottom of the light-penetrating zone of the spring. What is the adaptation in this population of C. fritschii living in low-light environments? (Choose one.)
a) the ability to produce chlorophyll f
b) the ability to produce any type of chlorophyll
c) the ability to tolerate the high temperatures of the hot spring
d) the ability to survive and reproduce
Chapter 4 Solutions
Prescott's Microbiology
Ch. 4.1 - Retrieve, Infer, Apply 1. Which cell shapes are...Ch. 4.1 - Retrieve, Infer, Apply 2. Archaea was first...Ch. 4.2 - MICRO INQUIRY How is pseudomurein similar to...Ch. 4.2 - Retrieve, Infer, Apply 1. Identify three features...Ch. 4.2 - Retrieve, Infer, Apply 2. Both bacteria and...Ch. 4.3 - Thus far, homologues of intermediate filaments...Ch. 4.3 - Retrieve, Infer, Apply 2. Archaea are often...Ch. 4.4 - Prob. 1RIACh. 4.4 - Retrieve, Infer, Apply 2. What observations about...Ch. 4.4 - Retrieve, Infer, Apply 3. List three aspects of...
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