d.
production by bacteria of a human protein such as
ARRIESGADO COLLEGE FOUNDATION, INC.
Bonifacio Street, Tagum City
Name:_____________________ Subject: ___________
PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION IN
MICROBIOLOGY
1st Semester SY 2018-2019
MULTIPLE CHOICE.
1. Which of the following is a scientific name?
a. Mycobacterium tuberculosis b. Tubercle bacillus
2. Which of the following is not a characteristic of
bacteria?
a. are prokaryotic
b. have peptidoglycan cell walls
c. have the same shape
d. grow by binary fission
3. Which of the following is the most important element
of Koch’s germ theory of disease? The animal shows
disease symptoms when
a. the animal has been in contact with a sick animal.
b. the animal has a lowered resistance.
c. a microorganism is observed in the animal.
d. a microorganism is inoculated into the animal.
4. Recombinant DNA is
a. DNA in bacteria.
b. the study of how genes work.
c. the DNA resulting when genes of two different
organisms are mixed.
d. the use of bacteria in the production of foods.
5. Which of the following statements is the best
definition of biogenesis?
a. Nonliving matter gives rise to living organisms.
b. Living cells can only arise from preexisting cells.
c. A vital force is necessary for life.
d. Air is necessary for living organisms.
6. Which of the following is a beneficial activity of
microorganisms?
a. Some microorganisms are used as food for humans. b.
Some microorganisms use carbon dioxide.
c. Some microorganisms provide nitrogen for plant
growth.
d. all of the above
7. It has been said that bacteria are essential for the
existence of life on Earth. Which of the following is the
essential function performed by bacteria?
a. control insect populations
b. directly provide food for humans
c. decompose organic material and recycle elements
d. cause disease
8. Which of the following is an example of
bioremediation?
a. application of oil-degrading bacteria to an oil spill
b. application of bacteria to a crop to prevent frost
damage
c. fixation of gaseous nitrogen into usable nitrogen
interferon
9. Spallanzani’s conclusion about spontaneous
generation was challenged because Lavoisier had just
shown that oxygen was the vital component of air.
Which of the following statements is true?
a. All life requires air.
b. Only disease-causing organisms require air.
c. Some microbes do not require air.
d. Pasteur kept air out of his biogenesis experiments.
10. Which of the following statements about E. coli is
false?
a. E. coli was the first disease-causing bacterium
identified by Koch.
b. E. coli is part of the normal microbiota of humans.
c. E. coli is beneficial in human intestines.
d. A disease-causing strain of E. coli causes bloody
diarrhea.
11. The optimum pH of Thiobacillus bacteria (pH 3,) is
___________ times more acid than blood (pH 7).
a. 4 b. 10 c. 100 d. 10,000
12. The best definition of ATP is that it is
a. a molecule stored for food use.
b. a molecule that supplies energy to do work.
c. a molecule stored for an energy reserve.
d. a molecule used as a source of phosphate.
For Item No. 13-16. Classify each of the molecules on
the left as an acid, base, or salt. The dissociation
products of the molecules are shown to help you.
Use the following information to answer questions 17
and 18. Two culture media were inoculated with four
different bacteria. After incubation, the following results
were obtained:
17. Medium 1 is
a. selective. b. differential. c. both selective and
differential.
18. Medium 2 is
a. selective. b. differential. c. both selective and
differential.
Use the following graph to answer questions 19 and 20.

19. Which of the lines best depicts the log phase of a
thermophile incubated at room temperature?
20. Which of the lines best depicts the log phase of
Listeria monocytogenes growing in a human?
21. Assume you inoculated 100 facultatively anaerobic
cells onto nutrient agar and incubated the plate
aerobically. You then inoculated 100 cells of the same
species onto nutrient agar and incubated the second plate
anaerobically. After incubation for 24 hours, you should
have
a. more colonies on the aerobic plate.
b. more colonies on the anaerobic plate.
c. the same number of colonies on both plates.
22. The term trace elements refers to
a. the elements C,H,O,N,P,S.
b. vitamins.
c. nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur.
d. small mineral requirements.
23. Which one of the following temperatures would most
likely kill a mesophile?
a. −50°C b. 0°C c. 9°C d. 60°C
24. Which of the following is not a characteristic of
biofilms?
a. antibiotic resistance b. hydrogel
c. iron deficiency d. quorum sensing
25. Which of the following types of media would not be
used to culture aerobes?
a. selective media b. reducing media
c. enrichment media d. differential media
26. Most bacteria reproduce by
A) aerial hyphae. B) fragmentation. C) mitosis. D)
binary fission.
27. Figure 6.2 shows a typical bacterial growth curve
with the y-axis indicating the log of the number of
bacteria and the x-axis indicating time in culture. In the
figure, which section (or sections) shows a growth phase
where the number of cells dying equals the number of
cells dividing?
A) a B) b C) c D) d
28. Figure 6.2 shows a typical bacterial growth curve
with the y-axis indicating the log of the number of
bacteria and the x-axis indicating time in culture. In the
figure, which sections of the graph illustrate a
logarithmic change in cell numbers?
A) a and c B) b and d
C) a and b D) c and d
29. Most bacteria grow best at pH
A) 1. B) 5. C) 7. D) 9.
30. Most fungi grow best at pH
A) 1. B) 5. C) 7. D) 9.
31. Consider a culture medium on which only gram-
positive organisms such as Staphylococcus aureus
colonies can grow due to an elevated NaCl level. A
yellow halo surrounds the growth, indicating the
bacterium fermented a sugar in the medium, decreasing
the pH as a result and changing the color of a pH
indicator chemical. This type of medium would be
referred to as a(n)
A) selective medium.
B) differential medium.
C) enrichment culture.
D) selective and differential medium.
32. A culture medium consisting of agar, peptone, and
beef heart is a
A) chemically defined medium. B) complex medium.
C) selective medium. D) differential medium.
33. Which of the following pairs of microbe
classification terms and optimal growth temperatures is
mismatched?
A) psychrotroph — growth at 0°C
B) thermophile — growth at 37°C
C) mesophile — growth at 25°C
D) psychrophile — growth at 15°C
34. During which growth phase will gram-positive
bacteria be most susceptible to penicillin?
A) lag phase B) log phase
C) death phase D) stationary phase
35. Which of the following is the best definition of
generation time?
A) the length of time needed for lag phase
B) the length of time needed for a cell to divide
C) the minimum rate of doubling
D) the duration of log phase
36. Which of the following is NOT a direct method to
measure microbial growth?
A) direct microscopic count
B) standard plate count
C) filtration on a support membrane followed by
incubation on medium
D) metabolic activity
37. Which group of microorganisms is most likely to D) It has 6 electrons orbiting the nucleus.
spoil a freshwater trout preserved with salt?
A) psychrophiles B) facultative halophiles 47. Antacids neutralize acid by the following reaction.
C) anaerobes D) thermophiles Identify the salt in the following equation:

38. Which of the following is an example of a metabolic

activity that could be used to measure microbial growth?
A) standard plate count B) glucose consumption
C) direct microscopic count D) turbidity

39. An experiment began with 4 cells and ended with

128 cells. How many generations did the cells go
through?
A) 64 B) 32 C) 6 D) 5 48. Which of the following statements is FALSE?
A) Water freezes from the top down.
40. Three cells with generation times of 60 minutes are B) Salts readily dissolve in water.
inoculated into a culture medium. How many cells are C) Water molecules are formed by hydrolysis.
there after 5 hours? D) Water is a part of a dehydration synthesis reaction.
A) 900 B) 180 C) 96 D) 32
49. Which of the following is the type of bond holding
in KI?
A) hydrogen bond B) ionic bond C) covalent bond

50. Which of the following is the type of bond between

molecules of water in a beaker of water?
A) hydrogen bond B) covalent bond C) ionic bond

41. In Figure 6.3, which tube shows the expected growth 51. What is the type of bond holding hydrogen and
pattern for a microaerophile? oxygen atoms in the H2O molecule?
A) a B) b C) c D) e A) hydrogen bond B) ionic bond C) covalent bond

42. In Figure 6.3, which tube shows the expected growth 52. Identify the following reaction:
pattern for a facultative anaerobe? Glucose + Fructose → Sucrose + Water
A) a B) b C) c D) d A) reversible reaction
B) exchange reaction
43. The source of nutrients in nutrient agar is C) dehydration synthesis reaction
A) agar. B) gelatin. D) hydrolysis reaction
C) peptone and beef extract. D) peptone and NaCl.
53. Which type of molecule contains the alcohol
44. The following data show growth of two bacteria on glycerol?
different media. A) protein B) carbohydrate
C) DNA D) phospholipids

54) Which type of molecule is composed of (CH2O)

units?
A) nucleic acid B) lipid C) protein D) carbohydrate

The data in Table indicate that S. aureus is a(n) 55) Which type of molecule contains -NH2 groups?
A) mesophile. B) facultative anaerobe. A) nucleic acid B) protein
C) facultative halophile. D) aerobe. C) triglycerides D) carbohydrate

45. Patients with indwelling catheters (long-term tubes 56) Which type of molecule NEVER contains a
inserted into body orifices for drainage, such as through phosphate group?
the urethra and into the urinary bladder) are susceptible A) nucleic acid B) ATP C) triglycerides D) lipid
to infections because
A) injected solutions are contaminated. 57) What is the type of bond between the hydrogen of
B) their immune systems are weakened. one molecule and the nitrogen of another molecule?
C) infections can be transmitted from other people. A) covalent bond B) hydrophobic bond
D) biofilms develop on catheters. C) hydrogen bond D) disulfide bond

46. Which of the following statements about the atom
is FALSE?
A) It has 12 neutrons in its nucleus.
B) It has 6 protons in its nucleus.
C) Its atomic weight is 12.
58) What is the type of bond between carbon, hydrogen,
and oxygen atoms in organic molecules?
A) ionic bond B) hydrogen bond C) covalent bond
60) What is the type of bond between ions in salt?
A) ionic bond B) hydrogen bond C) covalent bond
61) A scientist wants to perform a test that will indicate
whether a nucleic acid sample is composed of RNA or
DNA. Testing for the presence of which of the following
is most appropriate in this situation?
A) guanine B) phosphate C) thymine D) uracil

62) Two antiparallel strands of DNA combine to form a

double helix. The specific interactions that permit this
phenomenon occur by way of ________ bonds between
________.
A) hydrogen; deoxyriboses
B) ionic; phosphate groups
C) hydrogen; nitrogenous bases
D) ionic; deoxyriboses

63) Structurally, ATP is most like which type of

molecule?
A) lipid B) nucleic acid C) protein D) carbohydrate

64) What do genes consist of?

A) proteins B) lipids
C) nucleic acids D) carbohydrates

65) Which molecule is composed of a chain of amino

acids?
A) protein B) lipid C) carbohydrate D) nucleic acid

66) Which are the primary molecules making up plasma

membranes in cells?
A) proteins B) lipids
C) nucleic acids D) carbohydrates

67) The antimicrobial drug imidazole inhibits sterol

synthesis. This would most likely interfere with
A) prokaryotic plasma membranes.
B) eukaryotic plasma membranes.
C) fungal cell walls.
D) bacterial cell walls.

68) In Figure 2.1, which is an alcohol?

A) a B) b C) c D) d

69) Which compound in Figure 2.1 is an ester?

A) a B) b C) c D) d

70) Which compound in Figure 2.1 is an organic acid?

A) a B) b C) c D) d