Microbiology Jeopardy

This rigid outer layer, made of peptidoglycan, gives most bacteria their shape and protects against osmotic pressure.

What is the cell wall?

This whip-like appendage rotates like a propeller to move a bacterial cell through liquid.

What is a flagellum?

This small, circular piece of DNA, separate from the main bacterial chromosome, often carries antibiotic resistance genes.

What is a plasmid?

This tough, dormant structure allows certain bacteria, such as Bacillus and Clostridium species, to survive extreme heat and dryness.

What is an endospore?

This gel-like layer outside the cell wall of some bacteria helps them evade phagocytosis by immune cells.

What is a capsule?

This infectious particle consists only of genetic material inside a protein coat and cannot reproduce outside a host cell.

What is a virus?

This protein shell encloses a virus's genetic material.

What is the capsid?

This type of virus infects specifically bacteria.

What is a bacteriophage?

This viral replication cycle immediately produces new virus particles and lyses the host cell.

What is the lytic cycle?

This enzyme, carried by retroviruses like HIV, converts viral RNA into DNA inside the host cell.

What is reverse transcriptase?

This laboratory technique separates a mixed bacterial sample on a plate so individual colonies can be isolated.

What is the streak plate method?

This process uses pressurized steam at high temperature to kill all microorganisms and spores on equipment.

What is autoclaving?

This four-phase pattern of population growth in a closed bacterial culture includes lag, log, stationary, and death phases.

What is the bacterial growth curve?

This term describes an agent that inhibits the growth of microorganisms without necessarily killing them.

What is a bacteriostatic agent?

This temperature range, favored by most human pathogens and matching human body temperature, defines this category of bacteria.

What is the mesophilic range?

This type of white blood cell engulfs and digests pathogens through phagocytosis.

What is a macrophage?

This protein, produced by B cells, binds specifically to an antigen to help neutralize it or mark it for destruction.

What is an antibody?

This type of immunity develops after exposure to a pathogen or vaccine and involves memory cells for a targeted response.

What is adaptive immunity?

This class of white blood cells, including helper and cytotoxic types, coordinates and carries out cell-mediated immunity.

What are T cells?

This excessive, body-wide release of inflammatory signaling proteins can cause severe tissue damage during a serious infection.

What is a cytokine storm?

This rod-shaped bacterium, spread through respiratory droplets, causes tuberculosis.

What is Mycobacterium tuberculosis?

This spiral-shaped bacterium causes Lyme disease and is transmitted by tick bites.

What is Borrelia burgdorferi?

This sexually transmitted bacterium causes gonorrhea.

What is Neisseria gonorrhoeae?

This protozoan parasite, transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes, causes malaria.

What is Plasmodium?

This gram-positive bacterium produces a potent neurotoxin that causes tetanus.

What is Clostridium tetani?

This staining procedure divides most bacteria into two groups, purple and pink, based on cell wall structure.

What is the Gram stain?

This dye, retained by acid-fast organisms like Mycobacterium, resists decolorization with acid alcohol.

What is carbolfuchsin?

This gram-positive cell wall component, a thick layer that retains crystal violet, distinguishes gram-positive from gram-negative bacteria.

What is peptidoglycan?

This lab technique uses a series of biochemical reactions to identify an unknown bacterial species.

What is a biochemical test?

This optical instrument, using two lenses and visible light, is the standard tool for viewing bacteria in a microbiology lab.

What is a compound light microscope?