Chapter 27 Prokaryotes and the Origins of Metabolic Diversity
Objectives
| Structural,
Functional, and Genetic Adaptations Contribute to Prokaryotic Success |
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| 1. | Explain why it might be said that the history of life on Earth is one long “age of prokaryotes.” | ||
| 2. | Explain why prokaryotes are unable to grow in very salty or sugary foods, such as cured meats or jam. | ||
| 3. | State the function(s) of
each of the following prokaryotic features: a. capsule b. fimbria c. sex pilus d. nucleoid e. plasmid f. endospore |
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| 4. | Describe how prokaryotes carry out cellular respiration when they lack compartmentalized organelles such as mitochondria. | ||
| 5. | List the three domains of life. | ||
| 6. | Describe the structure, composition, and functions of prokaryotic cell walls. | ||
| 7. | Distinguish the structure and staining properties of gram-positive bacteria from those of gram-negative bacteria. | ||
| 8. | Explain why disease-causing gram-negative bacterial species are generally more deadly than disease-causing gram-positive bacteria. | ||
| 9. | Explain how the organization of prokaryotic genomes differs from that of eukaryotic genomes. | ||
| 10. | Describe the evidence of parallel adaptive evolution found in Lenski’s experiments on E. coli. | ||
| Nutritional and Metabolic Diversity | |||
| 11. | Distinguish, with prokaryotic examples, among photoautotrophs, chemoautotrophs, photoheterotrophs, and chemoheterotrophs. | ||
| 12. | Distinguish among obligate aerobes, facultative anaerobes, and obligate anaerobes. | ||
| 13. | Explain the importance of nitrogen fixation to life on Earth. | ||
| 14. | Describe the specializations for nitrogen fixation in the cyanobacterium Anabaena. | ||
| A Survey of Prokaryotic Diversity | |||
| 15. | Explain why new assays for prokaryotic diversity that do not require researchers to culture microbes have been so fruitful. | ||
| 16. | Explain why some archaea are known as extremophiles. Describe the distinguishing features of methanogens, extreme halophiles, and extreme thermophiles. | ||
| The Ecological Impact of Prokaryotes | |||
| 17. | In general terms, describe the role of chemoheterotrophic and autotrophic prokaryotes in the cycling of chemical elements between the biological and chemical components of ecosystems. | ||
| 18. | Describe the mutualistic interaction between humans and Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. | ||
| 19. | Distinguish among mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. Provide an example of a prokaryote partner in each type of symbiosis. | ||
| 20. | Distinguish between exotoxins and endotoxins and give an example of each. | ||
| 21. | Describe the evidence that suggests that the dangerous E. coli strain O157:H7 arose through horizontal gene transfer. | ||
| 22. | Define bioremediation. Describe two examples of bioremediation involving prokaryotes. | ||
