• Home
  • Textbooks
  • Brock Biology of Microorganisms
  • Taking the Measure of Microbial Systems

Brock Biology of Microorganisms

Michael T. Madigan; Jennifer Aiyer; Daniel H. Buckley; W. Matthew Sattley; David A. Stahl

Chapter 19

Taking the Measure of Microbial Systems - all with Video Answers

Educators

Section 1

CHAPTER REVIEW

Problem 1

What exactly constitutes an enrichment culture? What should an effective enrichment culture duplicate?

Check back soon!

Problem 2

Describe how an appropriate inoculum can be used to successfully start an enrichment culture.

Check back soon!
02:01

Problem 3

It is thought that every microbe has a fundamental niche and a realized niche. How does a fundamental niche differ from a realized niche?

Parvati Devi
Parvati Devi
Numerade Educator
01:16

Problem 4

What are dyes that stain DNA used for? Is background staining a problem when using such dyes?

Rabeya Zahid
Rabeya Zahid
Numerade Educator

Problem 5

Compare and contrast CARD-FISH and BONCAT-FISH. Why are these methods more suitable than FISH for characterizing very slowly growing microorganisms in the environment?

Check back soon!
01:07

Problem 6

Which method, ARISA or T-RFLP, would provide more detail about microbial community complexity? Why?

Michelle Bandeira
Michelle Bandeira
Numerade Educator
02:52

Problem 7

Why might a microarray be superior to using highthroughput sequencing to quantify both abundant and rare gene sequences in a complex microbial community? What are the limitations of functional microarrays, such as the GeoChip, for analysis of microbial communities?

Hasnat Umar
Hasnat Umar
Numerade Educator
02:40

Problem 8

Give an example of how multi-omics has contributed to a better understanding of microbial food web structure. Why is the use of environmental genomic information alone often insufficient to discover new biochemical properties?

James Kiss
James Kiss
Numerade Educator
00:15

Problem 9

What are the major advantages of radioisotopic methods in the study of microbial ecology? What type of controls (discuss at least two) would you include in a radioisotopic experiment to show ${ }^{14} \mathrm{CO}_2$ incorporation by cyanobacteria or to show ${ }^{14} \mathrm{C}$-glucose incorporation by anaerobic bacteria?

David Collins
David Collins
Numerade Educator
03:10

Problem 10

Will autotrophic organisms contain more or less ${ }^{12} \mathrm{C}$ in their organic compounds than was present in the $\mathrm{CO}_2$ that fed them? Why would SIP using ${ }^{15} \mathrm{NO}_3{ }^{-}$not be useful for identifying bacteria carrying out nitrate respiration?

Ajay Singhal
Ajay Singhal
Numerade Educator

Problem 11

What can MAR-FISH tell you that FISH alone cannot? How might you combine SIP and NanoSIMS to identify novel methane-consuming cells in a natural community?

Check back soon!

Problem 12

How would you use cytometric cell sorting to evaluate genome sequence variation among a population of marine bacteria present in low abundance?

Check back soon!

Problem 13

Design an experiment for measuring the activity of sulfuroxidizing bacteria in soil. If only certain species of the sulfur oxidizers present were metabolically active, how could you tell this? How would you prove that your activity measurement was due to biological activity?

Check back soon!