You’re watching a television program that is discussing viruses called bacteriophages that can

kill bacteria. Your roommate says “Wow, maybe viruses can be used to kill the bacteria that
infect people! You’re taking the Microbiology course now; what’s the difference between
viruses and bacteria?” Which one of the following would be the most accurate statement to
make?
(A) Viruses do not have mitochondria whereas bacteria do.
(B) Viruses do not have a nucleolus whereas bacteria do.
(C) Viruses do not have ribosomes whereas bacteria do.
(D) Viruses replicate by binary fission whereas bacteria replicate by mitosis.
(E) Viruses are prokaryotic whereas bacteria are eukaryotic.

Bacteria, fungi (yeasts and molds), viruses, and protozoa are important causes of human
disease. Which one of the following microbes contains either DNA or RNA but not both?
(A) Bacteria
(B) Molds
(C) Protozoa
(D) Viruses
(E) Yeasts

Which one of the following contains DNA that is not surrounded by a nuclear membrane?
(A) Bacteria
(B) Molds
(C) Protozoa
(D) Yeasts

The initial step in the process of many bacterial infections is adherence of the organism to
mucous membranes. The bacterial component that mediates adherence is the:
(A) Lipid A
(B) Nucleoid
(C) Peptidoglycan
(D) Pilus
(E) Plasmid

In the Gram stain procedure, bacteria are exposed to 95% alcohol or to an acetone/alcohol
mixture. The purpose of this step is:
(A) To adhere the cells to the slide.
(B) To retain the purple dye within all the bacteria.
(C) To disrupt the outer cell membrane so the purple dye can leave the bacteria.
(D) To facilitate the entry of the purple dye into the gram-negative cells.
(E) To form a complex with the iodine solution.
Of the following bacterial components, which one exhibits the most antigenic variation?
(A) Capsule
(B) Lipid A of endotoxin
(C) Peptidoglycan
(D) Ribosome
(E) Spore

Which one of the following is the most accurate description of the structural differences
between gram-positive bacteria and gramnegative bacteria?
(A) Gram-positive bacteria have a thick peptidoglycan layer whereas gram-negative bacteria
have a thin layer.
(B) Gram-positive bacteria have an outer lipid-rich membrane whereas gram-negative bacteria
do not.
( C) Gram-positive bacteria form a sex pilus that mediates conjugation whereas gram-negative
bacteria do not.
(D) Gram-positive bacteria have plasmids whereas gram-negative bacteria do not.
( E) Gram-positive bacteria have capsules whereas gram-negative bacteria do not.

Several bacteria that form spores are important human pathogens. Which one of the following
is the most accurate statement about bacterial spores?
(A) They are killed by boiling for 15 minutes.
(B) They are produced primarily by gram-negative cocci.
(C) They are formed primarily when the bacterium is exposed to antibiotics.
(D) They are produced by anaerobes only in the presence of oxygen.
(E) They are metabolically inactive yet can survive for years in that inactive state.

Some bacteria are obligate anaerobes. Which one of the following statements best explains this
phenomenon?
(A ) They can produce energy both by fermentation (i.e., glycolysis) and by respiration using the
Krebs cycle and cytochromes.
( B ) They cannot produce their own ATP.
( C ) They do not form spores.
( D ) They lack superoxide dismutase and catalase.
( E ) They do not have a capsule.

The colon is the site of the largest number of normal flora bacteria. Which one of the following
bacteria is found in the greatest number in the colon?
(A ) B acteroides fragilis
( B ) C lostridium perfringens
( C ) Enterococcus faecalis
( D ) E scherichia coli
(E ) L actobacillus species
A 76-year-old woman with a prosthetic (artificial) hip comes to you complaining of fever and
pain in that joint. You are concerned about an infection by Staphylococcus epidermidis . Using
your knowledge of normal flora, the most likely source of this organism is the:
(A ) Dental plaque
( B ) Mouth
( C ) Skin
( D ) Stomach
( E ) Vagina

An outbreak of postsurgical wound infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus has occurred in

the hospital. The infection control team was asked to determine whether the organism could
be carried by one of the operating room personnel. Using your knowledge of normal flora,
which one of the following body sites is the most likely location for this organism?
( A ) Colon
( B ) Gingival crevice
( C ) Mouth
( D ) Nose
( E ) Throat

Hand washing is an important means of interrupting the chain of transmission from one person
to another. Infection by which one of the following bacteria is most likely to be interrupted by
hand washing?
(A ) B orrelia burgdorferi
( B ) Legionella pneumophila
(C ) S taphylococcus aureus
(D ) S treptococcus agalactiae (Group B streptococcus)
(E ) T reponema pallidum

Vertical transmission is the transmission of organisms from mother to fetus or newborn child.
Infection by which one of the following bacteria is most likely to be transmitted vertically?
(A ) C hlamydia trachomatis
( B ) C lostridium tetani
( C ) H aemophilus influenzae
(D ) S higella dysenteriae
(E ) S treptococcus pneumonia

Which one of the following sets of properties of exotoxins and endotoxins is correctly matched?
( A ) Exotoxins—polypeptides; endotoxins—lipopolysaccharide
( B ) Exotoxins—weakly antigenic; endotoxins—highly antigenic
( C ) Exotoxins—produced only by gram-negative bacteria; endotoxins— produced only by
gram-positive bacteria
( D ) Exotoxins—weakly toxic per microgram; endotoxins—highly toxic per microgram
( E ) Exotoxins—toxoid vaccines are ineffective; endotoxins— toxoid vaccines are effective
Regarding sterilization and disinfection, which one of the following is the most accurate
statement?
(A) 70% alcohol is a better antiseptic than iodine, so 70% alcohol should be used to disinfect the
skin prior to drawing a blood
culture rather than iodine.
(B) Disinfectants kill both bacterial cells and bacterial spores.
(C) During sterilization by autoclaving, the temperature must be raised above boiling in order
to kill bacterial spores.
( D) Transmission of milk-borne diseases can be prevented by pasteurization. which kills both
bacterial cells and spores.
(E) Ultraviolet light used in the operating room to disinfect the room kills bacteria primarily by
causing oxidation of lipids in the cell membrane.

Which one of the following chemicals is used to sterilize heatsensitive materials, such as
surgical instruments, in the hospital?
(A) Benzalkonium chloride
(B) Cresol (Lysol)
(C) Ethylene oxide
(D) Thimerosal
(E) Tincture of iodine

The proteins on the external surface of viruses serve several important functions. Regarding
these proteins, which one of the following statements is most accurate?
(A) They are the antigens against which neutralizing antibodies are formed.
(B) They are the polymerases that synthesize viral messenger RNA.
(C) They are the proteases that degrade cellular proteins leading to cell death.
(D) They are the proteins that initiate viral transcription.
(E) Change in conformation of these proteins can result in prionmediated diseases such as
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Regarding the tegument, which one of the following is most accurate?

(A) It uncoats the virion within the phagocytic vesicle.
(B) It mediates the binding of the virion to the cell surface
(C) It guides the viral core from the cytoplasm to the nucleus.
(D) It is the site at which new virions bud from the surface of the infected cell.
(E) It is the location of proteins in the virion that act as viral transcription factors.

Many viruses are highly specific regarding the type of cells they infect. Of the following, which
one is the most important determinant of this specificity?
(A) The matrix protein
(B) The polymerase in the virion
(C) The protease protein
(D) The surface glycoprotein
(E) The viral mRNA
 Your summer research project is to study the viruses that cause upper respiratory tract
infections. You have isolated a virus from a patient’s throat and find that its genome is RNA.
Furthermore you find that the genome is the complement of viral mRNA within the infected
cell. Of the following, which one is the MOST appropriate conclusion you could draw?
(A) The genome RNA is infectious.
(B) The genome RNA is segmented.
(C) The virion contains a polymerase.
(D) The virion has a lipoprotein envelope.
(E) A single-stranded DNA is synthesized during replication.

The purified genome of certain viruses can enter a cell and elicit the production of progeny
viruses (i.e., the genome is infectious). Regarding these viruses, which one of the following
statements is most accurate?
(A) Their genome RNA has positive polarity.
(B) Their genome RNA is double-stranded.
(C) They have a polymerase in the virion.
(D) They have a segmented genome.
(E) They require tegument proteins in order to be infectious.

Regarding viral replication, which one of the following is most accurate?

(A) The cytopathic effect typically occurs during the eclipse period.
(B) The early proteins are typically enzymes, whereas the late proteins are typically capsid
proteins.
(C) The assembly of a nonenveloped virus typically occurs as the virion buds from the cell
membrane.
(D) Influenza viruses synthesize their mRNA using host cell-encoded RNA-dependent RNA
polymerase.
(E) Retroviruses (e.g., HIV) synthesize their mRNA using an enzyme in the virion called reverse
transcriptase.

Regarding the viral growth cycle, which one of the following is most accurate?
(A) During the lysogenic phase, the typical result is the production of hundreds of progeny
virions.
(B) Hepatitis B virus has an RNA polymerase in the virion that is required to synthesize
messenger RNA from the positive strand of the viral DNA.
(C) Herpesviruses have an RNA-dependent DNA polymerase in the virion.
(D) Lysogenic conversion is the process by which bacteria acquire new genes due to
transduction by a lysogenic bacteriophage.
(E) Smallpox virus translates its genome into a single polypeptide, which is then cleaved into
structural and nonstructural proteins.