🎯 Prokaryotes

TARGETS

20. Microorganisms are ubiquitous and live in diverse and dynamic ecosystems.  􏰀 List two keystone bacterial guilds in these environments: oligotrophic ocean, marshland soil,
and agricultural field (or others)
􏰀 Describe an extreme environment where microbes can survive under conditions that humans
cannot.		 􏰀 Explain what adaptations have occurred in psychrophiles/thermophiles/halophiles, etc., that permit them to exist in their optimal environmental growth conditions.
􏰀 List the main characteristics of microbes that might be present in a given ecosystem, e.g., the animal gastrointestinal tract, the anaerobic mud layer at the pond bottom, etc.
􏰀 Speculate on what characteristics would be useful for a microbe to survive a move through interplanetary space.
􏰀 Discuss how metagenomics can be a tool to study microbes in situ and/or in extreme environments.
21. Most bacteria in nature live in biofilm communities. 􏰀 Give an example of a beneficial and a detrimental biofilm.
􏰀 List the stages of biofilm formation and maturation.		 􏰀 Compare and contrast cell structure and function in a biofilm with pelagic cells.
􏰀 Explain how and why biofilm development may differ in different environments.
􏰀 Predict conditions that would favor biofilm formation and where they might be found.
􏰀 Identify the stages of biofilm development that are more susceptible to destruction.
􏰀 Describe differential gene expression in a biofilm.
􏰀 Develop a drug to prevent biofilm formation.
􏰀 Explain the role of biofilms in chronic diseases/infections.

 

8. Bacteria and Archaea have specialized structures (e.g., flagella, endospores, and pili) that often confer critical capabilities.  􏰀 Diagram the structure of a bacterial flagellum.
􏰀 State the function of pili and fimbriae.
􏰀 List the features of endospores that allow them to survive extreme conditions over long periods
of time.		 􏰀 Compare and contrast the structure of cell membranes and cell walls in Bacteria and Archaea.
􏰀 Explain how specialized structures (e.g., pili/fimbriae, capsules, lipopolysaccharides, spores, or
flagella) enable a microbe to survive in a given environment.
􏰀 Predict how losing the ability to make a specialized structure (e.g., pili/fimbriae, capsules, lipopolysaccharides, spores, or flagella) might affect survival.
􏰀 Compare and contrast the different cellular transport processes (e.g., facilitated diffusion, ion driven transport/simple transport, ABC transporter, group translocation, etc.) with regard to the proteins involved and the energy source used.

 

11. Bacteria and Archaea exhibit extensive, and often unique, metabolic diversity (e.g., nitrogen fixation, methane production, anoxygenic photosynthesis).  􏰀 List two differences between substrate-level phosphorylation and oxidative phosphorylation.
􏰀 Describe how aerobic respiration (or fermentation) differs from anaerobic respiration.
􏰀 State the difference between oxygenic and anoxygenic photophosphorylation.
􏰀 Given an energy source and a carbon source, determine the metabolic lifestyle of an organism (e.g., chemoheterotroph, chemolithoautotroph, photoheterotroph, or photoautotroph).		 􏰀 Given energy demands and available substrates, predict which metabolic pathways a cell could use.
􏰀 Given the major components of an electron transport chain, put them in order and explain how it could generate a proton motive force for the cell.
􏰀 Design a mechanism that would allow a bacterium to protect its nitrogenase from oxygen.
􏰀 Analyze the symbiotic relationship that some N2-fixing bacteria have with plants. Identify what the bacteria contribute and what the plant contributes.
􏰀 Describe the process of methanogenesis in terms of electron transport and energy generation.
12. The interactions of microorganisms among themselves and with their environment are determined by their metabolic abilities (e.g., quorum sensing, oxygen consumption, nitrogen transformations).  􏰀 Provide two examples of how microbial metabolism alters the surrounding physical environment.
􏰀 Define quorum sensing.		 􏰀 Give an example of and explain how microbial metabolism is important to a relevant societal issue (e.g., health and disease, bioremediation, agriculture, etc.).
􏰀 Give an example of how quorum sensing is advantageous to bacterial cells in a given environment.
􏰀 Give an example where the waste product of one microorganism serves as an important substrate for another organism (e.g., ammonia-oxidizing bacteria or ammonia-oxidizing archaea and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, hydrogen producers and methanogens, sulfide oxidizers and sulfate reducers, etc.).

 

16. Although the central dogma is universal in all cells, the processes of replication, transcription, and translation differ in Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryotes.  􏰀 State two characteristics of the universal genetic code.
􏰀 State the average size of genes and genomes in a bacterium vs. a human.		 􏰀 Explain how chromosome structure differs in Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryotes (e.g., histones and circular/linear chromosomes).
􏰀 Compare and contrast DNA replication in Bacteria, Archaea and Eukaryotes.
􏰀 Explain how the organization of genes in an operon affects transcription in Bacteria, compared to a single gene.
􏰀 Explain the role of mRNA processing in Eukaryotes.
􏰀 List the similarities and differences in transcription initiation and termination between Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryotes.
􏰀 List the similarities and differences in translation initiation between Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryotes.
􏰀 Present an argument, using the processes of transcription and translation, to explain the evolution of the three branches of cells: Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryotes.