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According to the rules you are "required" to know about pathogen, treatment, symptoms,
diagnosis, and vaccinations. However, it is best to get a well-rounded view of each disease that
might include who came up with the first vaccine for a disease (such as Jenner for smallpox),
anatomical structures of the pathogens, (such as Rickettsias pretty much can't survive without a
host and Smallpox is a very large virus and Giardia is a very small protozoa.) You might also wish
to know the important dates in history for each disease (cholera epidemic for Haiti, etc.).
- Other stuff to study is cell biology, basic epidemiology, and microbial ecology.
- CDC has pretty good information on the diseases, NCBI does too. For general microbiology, I
suggest getting a microbiology textbook.
the fact is, Disease Detectives is about epidemiology, the study of disease, containing them,
setting up controls, etc. Disease Detectives is a very analytical event. Microbe mission is about
microbiology and thus the disease aspect gives the angle that microbes can cause diseases, it
also shows you the affects the microbes have on the body, how you can prevent them, etc. There
is a bit of a crossover, so if you can talk to your coach about it try doing both. To add to this, for
diseases, it's helpful to know which specific microbe causes each disease. For example,
specifically, Bacillus anthracis causes anthrax (I don't know which diseases are on the list this
year, but regardless, the example stands). For microscopes, know the different types of
microscopes and how they are used, as well as the principles of microscopy. Regarding resources,
textbooks are good, but if you can't get one, use a review or outline book and reputable Internet
sites.
Dumb question, but are we dealing with early blight or late blight with the potato blight? Should
we just learn both (sigh)?
I would say late, mainly because that's the type that caused the Irish Potato Famine. It's also
more commonly known. Perhaps it would not be bad to learn both, though.
questions like "match disease with pathogen" or "match mode of transmission with disease" stuff
like that (also for disease detectives) I have also seen very detailed questions about only one
disease, but I don't know how common that is. From my experience, actual disease identification
is only 1-2 stations in a 15 station event, but, it is highly variable. looking for sites that list the
specific pathogen (i.e. HIV for AIDS) it had cell structure, diseases categorization, microbiology,
food production, everyday microbe use, differnt microbes' differences and varieties, and a light
microscope diagram.
oh yeah, and the microscope magnification formula AP Biology material to be a good starting
point, especially the section on parasitic worms. However, the material for Microbes greatly
expands on the AP Bio curriculum. You would need to go both more in depth, as well as breadth.
One such example of a topic not covered enough by AP Bio material are the diseases. The
microbes to study are essentially all the microbes you would find in any textbook. These are:
Bacteria
Fungi
Algae
Protists
Parasitic Worms (helminthes)
Viruses
And to a lesser degree, archaea. As far as macroscopic things, I do not believe that it will be
covered (most of the time) but it is always good to overstudy. Finally, structures of cells are
pretty important. The main thing is matching the microbe with the disease it causes. I've also
seen some symptoms, and some other stuff (like "How is Lyme disease transmitted?") As long as
you know the microbes responsible and have a general knowledge of the diseases, you should be
fine.
I've also had some weird things like what disease can be caused by eating home-grown
tomatoes... It could be referring to botulism, which is commonly a result of eating home-canned
veggies. We had a similar question on yesterday's CLC invitational test.
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The answer to one of our questions was apparently Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, which isn't
technically on the list... I hope they took Kuru, since that's what we wrote, and since they're so
similar anyways. has anyone noticed that potato blight is listed as a fungal disease, but it's
actually a protozoa disease?
Yea, I have found that kind of wierd, but understandable. After all, with oomycetes the line
between fungal classification and protozoan classification is pretty thin, and they were orginally
classified as fungi. Additionally, it has many fungal characteristics. Maybe they'll change it next
year! what you guys are getting at is eutriphication? In eutriphication, excess nitrates and
phosphates lead to increased algae growth, termed algal bloom. Then aerobic bacteria break
down the algae, but being aerobic, they use the oxygen in the water to do it. With little oxygen
left in the water, many of the plants and animals left in the water die off. I read that bacteria can
undergo photosynthesis too.
In what ways is it different from the photosynthesis plants undergo?
Also, are cyanobacteria bacteria or algae?
I don't do microbes, but cyanobacteria, known as blue-green algae in some circles, are
misnomers - they are not algae but rather bacteria. And yes, they do perform photosynthesis,
but without chloroplasts. Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) are bacteria. Prokaryotes who do
photosynthesis differ from traditional photosynthetic organisms in the actual photosynthesis
process. In Eukaryotic organisms chloroplast are key. The choroplast has all the necessary parts
for photosynthesis (stroma for light independent, granum/thylakoids for light dependent).
However some (and I do stress the word some) bacteria, like Cyanobacteria, have something
similar to the thylakoid located in their cytosol (cytoplasm) and thus they can carry out the
process of photosynthesis because the photosystems are located in the thylakoids.
Keep in mind though that Cyanobacteria are one the few bacteria that can actually carry out
photosynthesis. Most bacteria have no structures that allow them to carryout such a complex
process because, being prokaryotic, they lack the internal organization needed. I've had to use
actual microscopes twice: once at state last year and once at an invitational this year. At state,
we had to answer questions about the type of microscope we were using and the microbes on
the slides. At the invite, we had to prepare a wet mount slide with an "e" and focus on it on all
levels (a classic bio lab, apparently - I'd never done it before, so I felt kind of dumb
>_>).Apparently, the regionals microbe test last year had stuff on microbial origin. Was this the
case for anyone else?
There are questions like that, but they usually just concern the origin of mitochondria and
chloroplasts. Prokaryotes were engulfed by eukaryotes and eventually became incorporated into
the cell.
Well, there are those models with virses too... So no one has had questions that ask the microbial
origin of the nucleus??
**EPIC FACEPALM**What are the differences between an image produced from a dry mount vs. a
wet mount?
Also, when would you want to use a compound vs. stereo light microscope? I don't remember
exactly what it was called, but I know it had something to do with putting antibiotics on cultures
of bacteria without contamination to observe the effects. I didn't actually see the device in
question, but I did see a picture of a similar device when we took the test at home.
Also, using microscopes is fairly common- it is actually considered preferable to finding a picture
of the microbe in question. The only unfortunate thing is how careful you have to be when
observing the slide not to bump it at all. Also, it can be a pain in the neck when the samples are
still alive and swimming around.
I don't think the nucleus even has a microbial origin... Actually it does. It has the most proposed
theories too. The most commonly accepted one is the syntrophic model. What's that? I've never
heard of it before It's the model that hypothesizes that an endosymbiotic relationship between
an Archaea and a bacteria created the eykaryotic cell. It is supported by the fact that archaea
and eukarya have similar genes for proteins and possess kinases and G proteins similar to
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eukaryotic cells What kind of resource are you currently using? I bought Brock's Biology of
Microorganisms (13 e/d) and had been studied with it. Is reading college-level microbiology
textbook is necessary to win all the way up to the national level (assuming the school proceeds
to the national level)?
I bought Burton's Microbiology for the Health Sciences: 9th edition. It is argueably the best most
resourceful book I have in my collection (which is quite small, but that's still saying something). I
call it my shiny book OF DOOM. Too bad one of my teammates kind of ripped a page a few days
ago...
As for online, I found this: http://www.textbookofbacteriology.net/, but I rarely use it. The book
covers just about everything I need (except for the microbial origin and diseases, although it has
quite a few in the back). One of our coaches made us like a combined 300 slide-ish powerpoint
for the diseases. I use wikipedia or anything on Google to look up details and occasionally refer
to a college level biology textbook for specific information.
I think many science olympians overlook the usefulness of Google. Questions which could be
answered easily by a simple Google search are posted all the time. Not saying that yours is, but
some others.. Last year, I relied on Brock for almost everything also. After just two months
practice, I got a second at our regional competition.
However, in order to medal at nationals, you really need to use more than one resource.
Remember, you are going up against the best in the nation, who would probably be using the
very best both online and in print. For the diseases, do we need to know everything about the
disease such as symptoms, causes, prevention, etc. I think you should at least know what the
causative pathogen is and what types of microbe it is (ex. malaria; Plasmodium spp.; fungal
disease).
I've taken a few practice tests that ask a variety of things, like symptoms and causes (or they
give the cause and ask you to identify the disease), but usually nothing as specific as that
Animalia: heterotrophs
Plantae: autotrophs
Fungi: heterotrophs (decomposers)
Protista: both (ex. Euglena can both perform photosynthesis and phagocytize small particles)
Eubacteria: both
Archaea: both
Was about to say that...SciBomb did you mean protozoan disease for malaria (you said fungal I
think). Also, does anyone know what the current system for kingdoms is (I tried looking this up, I
can't figure out how they split up protozoans). As for diseases, I'd agree with the bare minimum
being knowing the microbial cause/organism that causes it. You may want to know gram-positive
vs gram-negative for bacteria, but you may want to know symptoms and causes because a
coordinator could ask that (treatment and prevention too, but most involve either being clean or
anti[insert microbe] drugs). Thanks to anyone who answers my question. Also, does anyone
know what the current system for kingdoms is (I tried looking this up, I can't figure out how they
split up protozoans).
I'm fairly certain that it's Bacteria, Archaea, Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, and Protista. Protozoa go
under Protista along with algae and moulds. First of all, facepalm
Secondly, those kingdoms are correct. But moulds are fungi. Slime moulds are protists, don't get
those two mixed up.
A week ago, our biology teacher saw some slime moulds on our compost tank, and she specified
them as protists. I thought all moulds were fungi, but then I found the slime mould reference in
my shiny book. So now I remember the slime mould thingt's different for all schools. For mine, we
just had to say what kind of organism a disease was(bacterial, viral, etc.). But I have heard other
kids from other schools say that their tests gave symptoms and they had to find out what
disease it was. Given the number of diseases we're responsible for, that's intense.
I'm not sure how much of the resource sheet should be taken up by the diseases. Any help?
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Edit: has anyone seen questions that ask about different growth media on tests? I don't know
about you guys, but at our regionals, it just wanted us to know about which diseases were
caused by which microbes. Go to soinc.org and look at the 2012 handout. If it doesn't open
correctly, look at the 2011 handbook.
Paste it into word and make everything smaller (10 or less). Delete spaces, and useless stuff
(repetition) and anything you might already know.
Change up wording so you can find things easily.
You should include:
Microscopy (formula, types of microscopes, parts of a light microscope)
Bacteria, Fungi, Protists, Animal, Plant, etc.: know if these are Eukaryotes/prokayotes,
heterotrophs/autotrophs, location
Viral, Bacterial, Protozoan/Algal, etc. Diseases list
Food production, Microbiology, fermentation, everyday use of microbes (eg. septic tanks, bread
making, water)
What Cell organelles do: bacteria(prokayote), and animal/plant (eukaryote)
eg. mitochondria, ribosomes, nucleus, nucleolus, cell wall, plasma membrane, etc.
diagrams of cells and light microscope, If possible, practice looking at slides under a microscope
and identify if it has a nucleus or not.
If you want some practice, go to the test exchange on scioly and take a look at some of the tests.
Depending on your location, your test will be either in stations, or no stations. What exactly do I
need to know about the diseases on the list? There are so many diseases, so at my competitions,
you just need to know if it's a bacteria, or virus, or protozoan, etc. If you have your note sheet, it
will be a breeze. Besides what others have posted, color-code your notes sheet. Mine starts with
information on bacteria in brown, then archaea in purple, fungi in blue, protozoa in red, algae in
green, viruses and prions in black, and microscopy in light blue. It's good for quick reference (and
looks kind of awesome). I use 8-point Arial Narrow font and the smallest margins possible, so I
can get plenty of information on the page. For the diseases check the last page (8, if you look
through you will see some posts on it, I even said that on this page...). To summarize if you don't
want to check the last page, the bare minimum is that you absolutely have to know the microbial
cause, the rules also say to know treatment/prevention. I'd say you could put on your sheet or
know other things like symptoms, sizes of the microbes, gram + or - for bacteria, virus type for
viruses/what they do in the body (lytic vs lysogenic), but those are less likely to come up (which
makes it good to put on the sheet for safety).
I also wouldn't depend too much on the notesheet since the event can be run in timed stations
and even as a normal test you don't want to have to spend time searching your notesheet (but
lol I use like arial 4 font, turn a chart into a picture and make it smaller and some shrunken
pictures, but my partner and another person who did it at regionals for me apparently fit even
more info into it).
The rules say that questions like dichotomous keys, metric conversions, bacterial growth curves
can be asked (and don't forget microbes usefulness in medicine). There are also some live
specimens to know, and you are in div c so spores and cysts, gram + and -, bacterial shapes may
be asked about. In general, you should read through the rules as thoroughly as possible, it
actually mentions most things you need to research and isn't as bad (ok opinion w/e) as some
other events. But the above posts do say lots of other things to do, definitely practice and study
well. Really it depends on how the test maker wants to structure the test, and he/she sometimes
can interpret the rules to basically mean that they can ask whatever they want (again it won't be
like that for everything). If you have any questions on the rules/in general, ask ahead. Every
single test i've taken so far have pictures on it (like name this pathogen, name this disease, etc.)
I would recommend memorizing the pictures of the diseases on disease list, or putting them on
the notesheet, thought that might take too much space. Do we need to know the actual microbe
that causes the diseases or just the category (virus, bacteria, etc)?? It depends, for me I had to
for a couple of tests that asked it, but I put them on my sheet (I also memorized all the diseases,
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but I put them on my sheet just in case, though I think the one thing I didn't memorize was sizes
and something else). So, an example was I think they asked what causes like botulism or
something (easy, clostridium botulinum). thanks for reminding me to study the plant diseases
just took a practice test, and came across some questions that my partner and I were not sure of,
and we aren't sure of the answer key either.
1) Cells that are stained with methylene blue should use which microscope?
Bright field.
2) What microscope do you use to view cells that have not been stained?
Phase Contrast.
3) Which microscope do you use to view wetmount slides?
Phase Contrast.
4) Which microscope do you use to view flagella?
Dark field. #1 is right, because methylene blue is used as a structural stain and not a gram stain.
#2 is actually differential-interference, for specifically live and unstained specimens.
#3 I'm not sure about this one... :?
#4 I would say phase contrast because it allows for better contrast of fine details, but I guess
dark field might work. Not too sure though. Yea, #1 is definitely right.
I thought phase-contrast was definitely used sometimes for viewing live, unstained organisms? Is
there some word bank for this or was it free response?
Number 3 I am not sure myself, but I think it would be a light microscope, wouldn't it (I think I
made some in class for bio last year).
For flagella I am not sure, that is such a vague question and can't you use quite a few
microscopes for it? I thought you could use a flagellar stain when viewing under a light
microscope if you wanted to. In fact, I thought normally you would use like a TEM or differential
interference or something.
For #2, I think either phase-contrast or differential-interference is correct. The point is, they're
both contrast microscopes (though they work differently, obviously, and a DI is often superior).
The contrast is needed for something that is alive and unstained because it normally doesn't
have good enough contrast by itself.
For wet mount slides, I don't think there's a single microscope you have to use. A bright field
microscope is probably the best, but I've used wet mount slides with dissection microscopes
before. And for flagella, I think any contrast microscope would be best. You could definitely use
electron microscopes to look at them more closely, too. You still have to thicken them somehow
to make them large enough to be visible easily Also, I graded/proctored a div b test over the
weekend. It wasn't so bad (though for you people wondering about diseases, you had to know
your pictures of things like prions/malaria/schistosomiasa). They also asked something about
genetic disorder that prevents malaria (easy question, though). I think the only question nobody
really got was when they showed a pic of eurkary/prokary cells where they pointed to the
nucleus and asked the difference. I was wondering, on the test someone put endosymbiosis and
someone else put enveloping, and the people I was grading with said they wouldn't accept it
since the answer key said phagocytosis/engulf (I forgot to check some of the questions, I know
phagocytosis refers to more of the cellular process, would you ever be able to count it). I do
remember the question referring to a picture showing a chloroplast being phagocytized by a cell.
Also, is there any specifics on growth rates (on the test I think they showed a bacterial growth
curve and they said during the log phase it would go 2-20-200-2000, it makes sense, but can
someone remind me to why it was like that). I know it would be better if I had actually looked
through the test instead of just skimming it, but I had to answer questions and organize some
tests.
Well, I took a look at some of the types of agar (differential, selective, enriched, etc.) and a few of
the specific types, like MacConkey agar which only allows for the growth of Gram neg. bacteria.
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Actually, don't you guys think that for the flagella, one would want to use a SEM instead because
it provides details about the surface? I'm not sure a TEM would be able to get that since the
flagella are so dang thin.
themachine_ wrote:
Also, is there any specifics on growth rates (on the test I think they showed a bacterial growth
curve and they said during the log phase it would go 2-20-200-2000, it makes sense, but can
someone remind me to why it was like that).?
I think the growth calculation is (number of cells to begin with) x 2^(number of generatios times
elapsed), so it'd be like 2-4-8-16-32-... the 2-20-200-2000 thing doesn't make sense, it would
mean that the population increases by an exponential values of 10 (meaning that each division
yields 10 cells).
Also, I was wondering if we should go over stuff about exoenzymes produced by microbes like
coagulase and kinases.
Any identification to worry about? First, for the flagella, you can google helicobacter pylori for
me, then tell me whether we don't use the TEM for viewing it ;) (that is the main reason TEM
came to my mind first, I also have taken a look at stains and knew of the flagellar one, so I
figured you could use a bright-field as well).
For the microbial growth, I also had the same logic, but the answer key for some odd reason said
that that was the answer (the test didn't look too bad, but some of the questions had really
annoyed me, I decided not to argue with the teachers since I figured it wasn't worth it, but I know
that for some of the events the questions were meh). I hope I didn't misread the question or
something.
I honestly don't know how in depth we have to get for the cell bio aspect of the event, especially
for exoenzymes. I have a feeling my answer to a lot of these types of questions would be to just
study away (like for the agar plates, I did actually take a look at things the MacConkey agar as
well, along with how there are so many types for different microbes/diseases).
From past experience, we are almost assured ID. It will be between using microscopes (too bad
we won't ever get a live SEM setup :cry: ) to ID live specimens/stains or doing picture IDs (more
popular especially for regionals since it is comparatively harder to set up a live microscope
station, but some possibilities are: cell parts, disease pics, useful
microbes/penicillin/bread/yogurt, bacterial shapes, dichotomous keys, harmful microbes/algal
blooms, you know all the classics). I am just hoping the test makers don't start deciding to get
down to highly specific species for all sorts of things (suppose I will get to studying that or
something...)
1) What can be said about polio, tetanus, and malaria regarding mitochondria?
I said that the microbes damage the organelle; am I the only one who thinks this question is
really vague?
2) What is the difference between the lenses of a light microscope and electron microscope?
I said light microscopes have 2 reflective lenses, and EM have a beam of electrons focused on
electrostatic + electromagnetic lenses.
3) How can neither prokaryotes nor eukaryotes affect prokaryotic food fermentation.
My expression when I read this: O.O
4) Describe how a common human fungal disease could be directly linked with the production of
a libation using another organism from the fungus kingdom.
1) This question is vague. I think they basically want you to say that polio and tetanus doesn't
have one, but malaria (really should be plasmodium IMO) does since viruses/bacteria have none
of those fancy organelles we call mitochondira, but malaria is a protozoan which of course has
one.
2) This sounds correct.
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3) This one was weird. I think it was like prokaryotes always ferment/anaerobic fermentation
always occurs. Therefore no matter what prokaryotes or eukaryotes do it cannot be affected (yea
I said it was weird...I can't think up the exact answer).
4) You have to know what libation is and your disease list. Libation is basically ritual wine, so
basically yeast. They basically want you to know that yeast can also cause a fungal infection like
(for all intents and purposes) athlete's foot I believe. Kind of odd question to ask, but not too bad.
Edit: Actually, I believe a light microscope uses a refractive lens (you know objective/ocular). If
you know optics you would know it is a convex or converging lens as it takes an image and
focuses it (but that is for another question). It's like a big, sealed, and incubated tube of pond
water, mud, and a few extra nutrients. It promotes the growth of a variety of different microbes
because it has an oxygen gradient and a nutrient gradient (usually sulfur).
I like to think of it as similar to thioglycollate broth. I have literally never heard of a Winogradsky
column. Will they ask stuff about specific diseases, like "what are the symptoms of botulism?" or
will it be general stuff that's easier to memorize/ put on notes, like "what type of microbe causes
botulism?" Summarizing it they can ask really whatever they want. Also, make sure you have the
correct disease list (a person I know didn't realize they didn't have this year's from the national
website until a day before the competition). Definitely know the microbial cause, the rules also
say treatment and prevention. You may want to also know pics of the disease, gram neg/pos for
bacteria, what it spreads through (animal, inhalation, etc), genus/species, etc (I have seen those
asked on tests). I sometimes use info on the diseases to infer on questions about microbes I can't
remember (especially worms). Some of the questions seem wrong (do archaea have membrane
bound organelles, a question asks how bacteria and archaea are similar; I thought it was that
they both have DNA just because it seemed so easy, but the question says that archaea has
membrane bound organelles and bacteria do not).
Edit: Some other question seem weird. They gave a true false on whether viruses evolved before
cells (I said true, but they said false, is there any reason behind this; I thought it go either way
and we don't know yet, there was no or obviously).
What is the shape of helicobacter pylori. I thought from memory and the name it would be
helical, but the answers say it is a spirillum, what!?
This is just something I am unsure of. I have found that sometimes things have you label cells. I
see a green blob and I can never tell whether it is a peroxisome or a storage vacuole.
btw, if you haven't studied it I would recommend studying random info like magnitosomes,
random species, viroids, etc. Some of the questions seem wrong (do archaea have membrane
bound organelles, a question asks how bacteria and archaea are similar; I thought it was that
they both have DNA just because it seemed so easy, but the question says that archaea has
membrane bound organelles and bacteria do not).
Archaea don't have membrane-bound organelles.The best answer would be that they're both
prokaryotes. (Wait, is the question how they're different? The answer given is a difference, not a
similarity.)
themachine_ wrote:
They gave a true false on whether viruses evolved before cells (I said true, but they said false, is
there any reason behind this; I thought it go either way and we don't know yet, there was no or
obviously).
What is the shape of helicobacter pylori. I thought from memory and the name it would be
helical, but the answers say it is a spirillum, what!?
This is just something I am unsure of. I have found that sometimes things have you label cells. I
see a green blob and I can never tell whether it is a peroxisome or a storage vacuole.
I think viruses came first because they are supposed to have evolved from plasmids, which
would have occurred long before the first cells formed. Helicobacter pylori is spiral-shaped, but
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its shape is officially bacillus (specifically curved bacillus). I'm not sure about peroxisomes versus
vacuoles, but I think the latter are larger and not always circular. You would think that cells came
first, since viruses are dependent on cells to reproduce. That's true, but viruses might not have
become parasitic until after cells evolved. As far as I know, there are a few hypotheses but no
definitive answer yet. But it makes sense that something as simple as a virus would evolve
before something more complex like a cell. One of the answers said they both had DNA (which is
definitely true). For virus evolution, there is multiple theories I think they are:
they came from cells
cells came from viruses
both originally existed, it is just that cells evolved further
(this is why the question made no sense to me). Also, thanks about checking on the shape.
How can neither prokaryotes nor eukaryotes affect prokaryote food fermentation? The only thing
I can think of is the role of a virus in food fermentation (since they're neither prokaryotes nor
eukaryotes, being acellular). That would make me think of bacteriophages infecting bacteria in
food... but that's a poorly written question. Do they mean how organisms that are neither
eukaryotes nor prokaryotes affect prokaryotes that ferment food or how neither type can affect
fermentation? That doesn't even make sense.
Oh, and themachine_, those are the three hypotheses. Something else to keep in mind is the
debate over whether viruses are living, which could affect which came first. you are right,it is
about bacteriophage affecting bacteria. That was a pretty poorly worded question..... That was a
poorly worded question. To me it sounded like a rhetorical question. Maybe, unless they kill the
cell , fermentation happens in the cytoplasm and prokaryotes and eukaryotes can't affect the
process. It doesn't sound like they were asking about viruses, then you could assume other
abiotic organisms like viroids, prions, etc (though those don't really affect fermentation). Was it
really about a bacteriophage?
There are many debates that could be discussed (anything involving the origin and classification
of life is debated, but I am only worried about what to do when getting a non-short answer
question format for that). I am more worried about cell bio, random pic/ID questions, or
organelle/microbe anatomy questions. I am still curious where one would find a Winogradsky
column in their research (I guess I need to get even more in depth in my research). different
phylums of parasitic worms or bacteria. To be quite frank, I doubt you are really going to need to
know the specific phylums for things, after all this is NOT an ID event. At the top of the rules
you'll notice there are some possible specimens (Algae, Baker's yeast, Ciliates, Amoeba, etc) and
that those should be the ONLY specimens. Thus if it was a phylum question pertaining to one of
those... then perhaps it is an applicable question. otherwise, I think you can just role out those
questions and focus more on what's in the rulesThe rules don't say that only those specimens
can be asked about (or that they should be the only ones to be asked about). It says that those
are possible live specimens. A coordinator, if they wanted to make the test really hard, could ask
about different taxonomies of microbes since there is no part of the rules denying that. Also,
questions could give high quality pictures it says some questions could revolve around that (ie.
show a pic of a streptococcus, bacillus...). You almost definitely won't have to do any real ID
(though, I almost always see questions relating to pictures), but knowing all the different phyla
and whatnot about every microbe helps you prepare for microbe questions (though, you should
obviously focus on everything and not just that). I think what you were saying was that despite
the fact a test maker could make an insanely hard test if they wanted to, the rules outline the
whole event enough so that most stick by what it says. But that's my interpretation (hopefully I
am not misunderstanding).
I googled the both of them and put them on my sheet (well, I am trying to memorize all the
things about them, but for now I have a chart saying nematodes, cestodes, etc and another
saying proteobacteria, spirillum, etc...I know some of them, but I am just trying to make sure I
know them/will try to get rid of it soon). I generally look at the first page or two, or I look in a
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textbook. Does anyone know which kingdoms are currently in use for the classification of
microbes? I've been looking at a lot of different sites and a lot of the information is either
outdated or doesn't match other sites. There have been kingdom questions in the past, which is
why I ask my SO coach lent me this really nice biology textbook, except it was printed in 1999, so
a few classification things were different.
The system currently in use is the six kingdon and three domain system, with the six kingdoms
being archaebacteria, eubacteria, protista, fungi, plantae, and animalia. Archaebacteria belong to
the domain Archaea, eubacteria belong to domain Bacteria, and the rest belong to domain
Eukarya.
The old five kingdom system groups archaebacteria and eubacteria together as kingdom
monera, and that's not correct. If you see something about monera, you probably want to avoid
that site. The differences between archaebacteria and eubacteria may be topics on tests, and the
differences are quite significant. For example, eubacteria cells have cell walls with peptidoglycan
and archaebacteria cells have cell walls without peptidoglycan. There's a section on matching
characteristics to the three domains. One characteristic is about membrane lipids - if they have
unbranched or branched hydrocarbons. There's another about if the domains have histones or
introns. (Some of them are easier, though, such as if they have peptidoglycan in their cell walls
or not.)
Beyond a weird form of serial dilutions that tripped up even my event coach, I'd say those are
some of the hardest questions I've had. Most of my tests have been really easy. at my regional
tournament there was a question on the test asking why you could not view flagellum using UV
microscopy. I figured it was because the flagellum is too small to effectively pick up the
fluorescent dye, and thus cannot be viewed. However, I'm not sure if this is correct. Can
somebody give me a more "scientific" answer?
Also, what is the chemical basis for negative staining? The chemical basis for staining in general?
(I know for general staining you use a class-specific dye, and the dye particles will bond with the
specific compound to qualify/quantify its presence...) I do know the Gram-staining. During the
colorization step, the crystal violet solution is absorbed by both Gram-positive and Gramnegative bacteria. But the difference is that since Gram-positive bacteria have a thicker
peptidoglycan layer than Gram-negative, they retain the crystal violet even through the
decolorization step (where acetone is applied). In the decolorization step, the acetone not only
removes the crystal violet from the Gram-negative bacteria (due to their thinner peptidoglycan
layer) but it also dissolves the lipopolysaccharide layer. So, when safranin is applied, the LPSdevoid Gram-negative bacteria absorb the safranin while the Gram-positive bacteria don't, hence
the Gram-negative bacteria appear red while the Gram-positive bacteria appear blue. negative
staining uses some chemical (wikipedia says nigrosin, need to check that) to act as a darker
background for better contrast in light microscopy, making it much easier to view a sample (as
stains do). It is used for electron microscopy (transmission specifically) to act as a better way for
electrons to pass through and become scattered, making better images. What do you mean by
the chemical basis for staining? Gram stains act as a nice example Chemical basis meaning like
"the dye particles bond with this/react with this". I guess the molecular basis would be a more
apt way to describe it... it involves how stains form ions in water, and these ions bond to cell
parts (class specific aspect) since the ions will be differently charged and attract to oppositely
charged particles if it comes out of solution. They are also able to get into cells since they are
small particles that can be diffused, and the cell membrane is porous. The reason it changes
color is because as you change chemical composition the type of light that can be
absorbed/reflected by atoms change (hopefully that answers your question/is comprehensible).
Though, that may be slightly generalized and not explain all stains. Oxidation numbers, atomic
structure, bonding, all that determines the color. If on a test they asked for the microbial cause of
potato blight, would protist be the answer or fungus since that's what it says on the nats
website? The cause is not fungal (it is caused by the fungal-like oomycete, but that doesn't make
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it fungal). Has someone already asked for confirmation on this/knows the answer? Have they
even asked about plant diseases?
Also, would how deep would they go on parasitic worm questions? Would they start asking about
their anatomy, cell processes, and different types or are more basic questions more likely?
Does anyone know any sources for hands-on/real world problems with microbiology (so far I think
there is one on test tubes, staining, microscopes, growth, probably some other ones).
Last question, does anyone have tips on IDing an archae? They pretty much look like bacteria to
me On the Microbe mission disease list for 2012, potato blight is classified under fungal diseases.
the tests are way more likely to ask about what you said (anatomy, cell processes, basic
questions etc.) but since this event is pretty broad, some questions about plant diseases and
worms are mixed in there. I recommend finding some sample tests (I think that some are one this
website) to see what types of questions are on there. Alrighty, well State is in 3 weeks for me,
and I'm currently debating on buying a textbook to help me study. I know people have mentioned
Burton's and Brock. However, the Brock textbook seems to be much more expensive. I just want
a book that is worth the money; should I even bother buying a textbook then? If your team is
likely going to nationals, then you should buy the Brock textbook. If not, then Burton's should
cover the stuff you need to know in three weeks. You will probably need to supplement the
Burton's textbook with Google though.
we actually had a lot of disease stuff (ex. match this picture with pathogen, name the disease) or
guy walks into hospital, has ____(symptoms) and identify disease. Suppose it varies from state to
state. The state test wasn't bad, from what I know...there was one question that said a bacterium
was 46 microns long...fail.
There were diseases, but not that much, as far as I can tell. There was stuff like what MRSA
stands for, the causative agent of malaria, I think it was, and prevention for tetanus, oh, and a
delicious chart detailing about 5 different diseases (by detailing, I mean like
virus/bact/fungus/etc, whether it had a vaccine or not, and prevention and stuff.). I believe there
was also microscopy and determining FOV, and also something about lichens?
Does anyone know the formula for calculating field of view? My partner and I completely made
up answers to that part of the test :oops: (And we still got first at regionals... :P )
My final note sheet had a box of info on each microbe, some stuff on food production, a box on
bacterial growth/studying it, a box on diseases, a box on microscopes and stains, a box on cell
parts/endosymbiosis, and any other cell/microbial/microscopes diagram or taxonomy info that I
could fit in. You could also put in other info like cysts, spores, cycles, cell shapes, gut flora, etc.
The key to any nationals exam is speed. Last year the exam was incredible easy. But you had to
move quickly and efficiently, and there really wasn't time to go back. Now of course, there were
some stations that were short. Nothing on the exam will really shock you or be too hard. Having
the log graph for growth is nice, have the disease list, and some information on each microscope
(nothing too in depth but just a little info about each one). You'll have to match microscopy
images as well but that is something you have probably already seen on tests
Has anybody seen a question about the Baltimore Classification System of viruses on a test
before? I think the main question about viruses that are asked is to label an HIV and questions
about what makes them different to other microbes. I think the only real question on
classification I saw is how they distinguished bacteria originally. I put it on my sheet just in case,
though. know the parts, calculations, and types of microscopes. that's a big part that I would
recommend be added to the notesheet Has anybody else taken PacificGoldenPlover's microbe
mission practice test? The answers for questions 23 and 41 are wrong...
Question 23 should be "Eukaryotic"
For question 41, it's not that gram-negative bacteria are lacking in peptidoglycan, they just don't
have a very thick layer of it. Well, that could be talking about the bacterium's state after Gram
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staining, but that isn't implied in the question. 3, I thought legionellosis causes intestinal
disorders.
18, isn't it an SEM...not a light microscope (it is 3D so...).
23, I agree with you.
25, this one I think could be right, but algae or cyanobacteria can cause disease, right? In fact in
29 it says members of this group, is there some distinction between the group and subgroup? I
am not sure what that picture is off specifically, though.
28, If that could be a volvox, can't they sometimes move using a flagella?
37, aren't organelles found in prokaryotes? The only thing is that they are non-membrane bound,
but the question doesn't say that.
39, I think it should also say membrane bound organelles3: You're right; it can cause mild
vomiting or diarrhea in some cases.
18: Right again. This is a Scanning Electron without a doubt. In fact, I think I've seen it on Google
Images after searching "SEM"...
25: They cause disease in the sense that toxins that they secrete contaminate food supplies (e.g.
molluscs) but they do not directly infect humans. The question should have been clearer,
methinks.
28: I don't think that's Volvox by virtue of the fact that Volvox tend to be very round, compared to
the elongation in this specimen. Also, I don't think Volvox can have flagella. I'd need to do a bit
more research, though.
37: Technically, organelles aren't found in prokaryotes. It's screwy, I know, but I don't think
ribosomes are counted as organelles. The definition is still up in the air among professional
biologists, however. And there are some prokaryotes that have normally-eukaryotic organelles.
(Weird, I know!)
39: I think you're right here.
41: I wouldn't call it vague; I would call it wrong. Gram-negative bacteria still have peptidoglycan,
just in smaller amounts. For my state competition test, it showed a bunch of pictures of
microbes.
It said to say what type of microscope was being used. Did anyone else have asection like that?
Does anybody know of any good resources/websites to study for the microscopy portion?
I think I googled for microscopes for diagrams of them and images produced (including scanning
probe microscopes). I also made a chart having range of view, main use, light, number of
lenses/what is used to see, problems. I used a bit of wikipedia,for more detailed descriptions I
went to the nikon site from the nationals website ( http://www.microscopyu.com/), and for a
decent overview: http://www.cas.muohio.edu/mbi-ws/microscopes/index.html. Other than that I
googled random websites if I wanted to know something else or something from the rules. Sorry
if that didn't help much, but honestly I didn't save too many websites. To check info you could
always get a textbook (I think textbooks have been discussed), finding someone who knows
about the topic helps (I couldn't find someone, but it does help).
Microbe Mission B/C
Calculating Microscope Magnification
Microbial Origin
Algae
Differences Between Compound and Simple Light Microscopes
Prokaryotes vs Eukaryotes
Cilia vs Pili
Links of Basic Microbe Info
Microbial Growth Curve
Things to study about Fungi
Microscopes
Archaea RNA Polymerase
General Information
Naming Viruses
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Virus Shapes
Important People to Know
Estuary Associated Syndrome
Common Definitions
was taking a test the other day and it says prions are hereditary? my coach disagrees with this
but does anybody know for sure? Prions are different from the other pathogens in the fact that it
does not exactly replicate. They're basically messed up proteins that convert other normal
proteins in cells to more messed up proteins.
I'm not sure about the hereditary mechanism of prions, and this stuff is still in research, so I
guess it could be either, although I've never heard it suggested that prions can be transmitted
via vertical transmission.
As of infectious, that's an iffy one according to logic since, as afore mentioned, they do not
exactly reproduce. However, prions are generally considered infectious microbes, so yeah.. Some
forms of prions ARE inherited from family members. Other are caught from eating meat (ex. Mad
Cow disease)
good way to identify whether a picture of a parasitic worm under a microscope is a pinworm
compared to a hookworm? I've had trouble telling them apart A good way to tell the two apart is
by looking at the ends of each worm, the hookworm looks the same on both sides, however, the
pinworm has an end that is much longer and thinner than the other side, i know I'm only in
division B Designer Genes/Heredity for next year. What does everyone think of genetics as
opposed to microbes? I am so amazingly psyched for genetics. It is my absolute favorite thing in
the entire universe. (Or at least in the top three.) I also think that this, depending on how it is run
(test vs. station, etc.) that it has the potential to be much more standardized and better within
the rules, whereas Microbe had the tendency to be annoyingly vague, and have such a huge
spectrum of questions and topics.
Does anyone know anything about the format of this event?
And does anyone find it odd that the B division has a "serious name" for the event (ie: Heredity)
and the C division has the amusing name? Usually if there is a less serious-sounding name, it is
either in both levels or just in B division. (Not really important, I just found it a little strange.)
Judging from past experience (in NC we had this event this year), the tests will still probably be
really easy or really hard. The thing is just about every decent team will be strong on the
genetics concepts, so it just comes down to a few really obscure questions about specific
diseases (which could be any of them unless they add a disease list like the one Microbe had) or
techniques. looked at the tests in the Test Exchange Archive; from the looks of them, we won't
have a specific list of diseases, if this event is run as it was in the past. I think the majority of the
disease questions require Punnett squares and calculating the chance that the offspring will carry
the gene for the disease in question. For diseases caused by nondisjunctions (trisomies and
monosomies), we could see those in karyotypes.
I also think we'll see a lot of color blindness and calico cats (yep, they can be male - they just
have to have Klinefelter's syndrome). Apparently, it's Bio-Process but with single-celled
organisms (bacteria, archaea, protists, even viruses [which I think are NOT organisms since they
don't even have a cell structure]). At regs and states for division B, content includes: different
kinds of microscopes and their uses, parts of the light microscope and determination of
magnification, functions of the nucleus, mitochondria, and chloroplasts, and their possible
origins, differences of viruses, bacteria, archaea, fungi, and algae-like and animal-like protists,
role of microbes in decomposition of food and the food industry, and illnesses/conditions that
may be caused by microbes and their treatment/prevention. using microscopes, the basic parts
of Bio-Process...?
EDIT: I don't think Microbe Mission would be as lab-ish as Bio-Process, but it still involves lab
equipment so it can't exactly be considered at a study event. as rotating stations with some
written stations and others having you make a microscope observation or collect data. You can't,
without knowing the field number of that specific ocular lens. It's a bad question. On a real event,
presumably they would give you an image of a ruler (either at that magnification or another) and
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you could calculate from there. If they decided to go complicated on you, they could give you the
field number of the ocular and the magnification of the objective, in which case you divide the
former by the latter. this event is very heavy on microscopy... It would probably be safe
memorizing the cell diagram on the powerpoint in soinc.org (its better than wasting a chunk of
your notesheet). Where did you see the term microbial origin? Also, has anyone found any good
information on Archaea? What diseases do they cause, how do they interact with humans
etc...And do you think we should know famous people/organizations in microbiology? Because in
disease detectives, there would always be a tiebreaker You should probably have every part of all
kinds of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells memorized.
Microbial origin is where they originated...I'm assuming you're talking about the nucleus,
mitochondria, and chloroplasts. I think mitochondria used to be separate organisms from a cell
because (I think) their internal structure contains DNA similar to a prokaryote. You should
probably have every part of all kinds of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells memorized.
Microbial origin is where they originated...I'm assuming you're talking about the nucleus,
mitochondria, and chloroplasts. I think mitochondria used to be separate organisms from a cell
because (I think) their internal structure contains DNA similar to a prokaryote. you would
definitely need to know Archaea and such. Gram-staining isn't that hard to learn about, My
mother is a microbiologist and is making me catalog the hemolysis and catalase results of every
bacteria on my note sheet, as well as knowing about all the different types of staining, not just
gram staining. Is this too much? my cheat sheet is basically a review for everything on the rules
page (diseases, cell biology, characteristics of microbes, etc.) and a huge catalog of microbe
names n what they do (like yeast, yogurt bacteria and stuff but with scientific names)...
You only need to know gram staining, but it's probably good to know the different types as well.
About the hemolysis and catalase- those are a bit too in depth, i think because it doesn't say
anything about it on the rulebook. Microbe Mission is about microscopes, different pathogens,
cells and their parts, and parts of various pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoans
etc At my Regional competition, they started with growth curves, interpretation, definitions and
microbial growth
Then, they had a few questions on finding High Field diameter given the low field diameter, low
power magnification, and high power magnification. After that, they had a moderate amount of
questions
about which microscope you would use to do a specific task. They had quite a few questions on
the parts of microbes. E.g do all (insert microbe), some (insert microbe), or no (insert microbe)
contain (insert organelle)?
One part had a few questions microbes and food production (what microbe, what process)
The rest of the test was about diseases; what microbe causes which, what body system is
affected, and method of infection
Strangely enough, there were no microscopes. I took the test inside a computer lab.... On all the
tests I've taken, we've just had to match the disease to the agent that causes it. But symptoms,
transmission, etc. could be put on the tests.
To actually answer the question- diseases aren't a main part of this event. I would know
everything on the rules manual, even if you don't go in depth on each topic. Algae are simple
unicellular or multicellular eukaryotic organisms that are photoautotrophic.
How are they a symbiotic relationship between fungi and bacteria?
@Witchy
Algae reproduce asexually or sexually.
They are either motile or nonmotile.
Algae often form symbiotic relationships with other microorganisms.
As primary producers, they have a role in ecology :). They serve to produce much of the planet's
oxygen, aquatic food, and they also provide a significant source of iodine and protein for many
human societies. However, they can be harmful if there are too many nutrients because they can
cause "blooms" and deprive other organisms of nutrients.
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The main types of algae are chrysophytes, diatoms, dinoflagellates, red algae, brown algae, and
green algae.
You might want to observe and draw these under a microscope
To be honest, there isn't a whole lot to know about algae.
IMO, there's more stuff to know about viruses, the species of protozoa, fungi, and eubacteria.
That basically summed algae up, but remember, some algae can be heterotrophs (just not
common). Also keep in mind that diseases like paralytic shellfish poisoning are caused by algae.
what's the difference between a compund and a simple light microscope? They're different in
quality. For example, a light microscope would use sunlight as its source of power,and therefore
less effective. Compound microscope use electricity as its source of power for the same usage,
which would be stronger and better to see the details in the specimen. A simple microscope has
one lens, but the compound microscope has several more lenses to look at things. basically a
compound microscope is used for looking at cells very carefully and in a different way For
treatment/prevention of each disease, which herpes are we talking about? Genital or Nongenital? Typo on training handout? :
Eukaryotic cells are structurally and biochemically more
complex than Eukaryotic cells
should it be Eukaryotic cells are structurally and biochemically more complex than prokaryotic
cells. arent the prokaryotes multi-celled organisms like us and eukaryotes are single celled, like
bacteria? Flipflop your definitions.
Prokaryotes are simpler cells that only have a cell membrane and maybe a cell wall, cytoplasm,
ribosomes, and DNA floating around (they don't have nuclei). They are usually single-celled
organisms like bacteria.
Eukaryotes are more complex cells that have nuclei and many different organelles. They are
often part of larger organisms (plants, animals, fungi). To clarify, eukaryotes are often, but not
necessarily multi-cellular. Protozoa for example are single celled eukaryotes.
Question: Are Prokaryotic colonies (such as bacterial colonies) considered multi-cellular? I know
that the individual bacteria are not, but if someone asked on a test, "Can prokaryotes be multicellular?", what would one say? Bacterial colonies like Volvox are a popular topic of debate for
scientists, as they have properties of uni and multicellular organisms, currently I believe scientist
do NOT classify them as multicellular because a single bacteria can split off and live its own life
or something like that. For the other question, I think (not sure on this) scientists believe that
multi-cellular prokaryotes might exist but haven't been found yet or something.
My question: Does anyone have any tips for identifying microbes and/or what type of microscope
was used from pictures? What I've done is create flashcards of a bunch of each of the different
types of microbes citing what it is and what microscope was used. Look for similarities between
those take with similar microscopes- some you might find have grater color depth ( but be sure
that they have not been enhanced)while others are very precise when it come to detail.
unfortunately i have not found a single source with many pictures of all of the microscopes under
different scope, but i have found that universities and allied professional organizations are a
good place to start.
I've been asking my self the same question-hope this helps!
arent the prokaryotes multi-celled organisms like us and eukaryotes are single celled, like
bacteria? No
prokariotic = dna in no specific place, mainly bacteria euchariotic= nucleus, more complex,
includes protists fungi, plants, and humans
Volvox is an algae, not a bacteria. It is eukaryotic.
but this is not quite accurate. Bacteria keep their DNA in chromosomes, as we do - usually one
circular chromosome, but they can have up to three and they may be circular or linear, and they
may have smaller structures called plasmids as well. What they lack is membrane-bound
organelles, so the chromosomes are loose inside the cytoplasm,
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Sorry about that, it is correct. However, the members of Volvox are unicellular and volvox
colonies behave somewhat like a multicellular organism.
You should be able to identify types of organisms by sight (bacilli, cocci, viruses etc.), and you
should know which listed diseases are caused by pathogens are of which type, but I don't think
many people would be able to answer a question such as the one you propose. There are a few
exception - Streptococcus is pretty distinctive - but even here I doubt anyone would expect you
to be able to differentiate S. pneumoniae, which causes bacterial meningitis, from S. pyogenes,
which causes strep throat.
we were given a bacterial cell diagram at an invitational competiton recently, and what I thought
were cilia were pili, is there anyway that I should've known otherwise? there were already some
motile structures on the diagram (aka flagellum)
I was once in the EXACT same position as you and I said they were cilia and was incredible angry
when I saw that it was wrong! But the fact of the matter is (based on my bio textbook) that most
prokaryotes (i would say all but there may be some weird exception) don't have cilia. They have
pili/fimbrae which help in the genetic exchange of materials (they help the bacteria with
reproduction). So if you see stuff that looks like hair on a prokaryotic cell then it's pili/fimbrae
NOT cilia.
What my team mate and I had to do was there were 5 stations set up around the room.
-Identifying the different parts of a microscope and explaining what they do.
-Drawing different cells that you see under the microscope.
-And identifying different diseases by bacteral, viral, fungal, ect. today at our competition we had
to identify specific types of protozoa worms that caused diseases (and of the five only one
caused a microbial disease we are supposed to know). I don't think this is something we are
supposed to know... am I incorrect? Have other people been given actual specimens and been
asked to identify them and then know what they cause? For live ID's, the only one I've gotten
was Yeast, which is pretty basic. No test proctor is actually going to have live Anthrax cultures for
students to ID or anything, that would be really dangerous. In regards to the Gram staining, I
would recommend actually doing a few yourself. I've gotten questions that describe a poorly
done gram stain and ask which step was improperly done, along with how to fix it. Real
experience in staining helps a lot there. Other important things to study, I've run into lots of foodrelated questions that ask for specific species of mold that help with making salami, for example.
You also might have to know/identify microbiology lab equipment and its function, such as the
inoculation loop. I don't know about identifying specific types of protozoa worms, considering I
haven't gotten a station test yet (in this event, anyway). I got a lot of diseases we weren't
supposed to know on one test, though - my partner and I only knew about half of them, and she's
also in Disease Detectives. I guess the diseases thing is rather common. My friend said that her
regional test for Microbe was like 75% about microscopes; she did manage 5th place though. And
as for diseases being on the test that weren't supposed to be, that does happen a lot, which is
annoying. I remember being asked in a herpetology event to specifically ID different sea turtles,
when the list specified that we only had to be able to ID them as sea turtles (as opposed to other
turtles) without having to differentiate them by species. But event writers don't always follow the
rules (it's usually better at states than regionals). Big part of the test was about
pathogyns/antogyn. You should always study more diseases than listed because event
supervisors often make tests that don't exactly follow the rules packet. we had to identify live
specimens of any of the diseases (I thought it was just
treatments/preventions/pathogens/general info about them) I've had national-level questions on
tests in almost every event I've taken - they're often used as tie-breakers.
I'm using the training handout to create a checklist of things
-Eukaryotic cell structure and organelles.
-Prokaryotic cell structure and parts.
-Different means of Eukarytoc locamotive means. (Flagella, cillia, and pseudopods.)
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-Bacteria shapes
-Gram staining
-Virus identification
-Ecological uses of Microbes
-Diseases (Using the 2011 Microbe Mission disease list to identify the microbes responsible for
each disease.)
-Microscope types
-Microscope parts
You may also want to know the name of the microbe that causes the disease (Such as: Botulism
is commonly caused by Clostridium botulinum) You might want to look up the graphs and
bacteria growth curves too. My regionals had some pretty crazy things like specific genuses of
bacteria used in food production and biogeochemical cycles. And the diseases on the test
weren't part of the official list, but, luckily, I knew them all. fungi do have cell walls, right? Yes!
They're made of chitin.
he Microbial Growth Curve is pretty basic stuff when It comes to biology:
Lag Phase: Bacteria become adjusted to the environment they have been introduced to.
Expontential Growth: The conditions are right for reproduction (plenty of resourses ((food)), right
climate, and undisturbed area), thus the're numbers increase rapidly.
Stationary Phase: The reproduction and death rate is balanced at this point. Bacteria are still
reproducing, although lack of resources and bi-products of they're waste cause the death rate to
increase.
Death Phase: The resources have become scarse, and waste has become toxic, the bacteria are
dying.
For calculating growth:
Simply multiply the current poulation as the previous population. If any spikes in growth occur,
asume these will happen regurlarly.
Do you think fungi will be in the test?
Yep! They're among the microbes you need to know. Also, it's helpful to know for the disease part
of the event that a disease with "mycosis" in it is usually, if not always, a fungal disease.
Blastomycosis and zygomycosis are examples.
Have archea ever been known to be pathogenic?
What distinguishes algal protists from plantae?
Does alcohol kill all prokaryota?
1. No archaea has been discovered to be pathogenic so far.
2. Algal protists are protists, that is, although they are eukaryotes, they lack specialized tissue
and are organized more simply than plants. They also lack mitochondria.
3.This depends on what you are implying. Some prokaryotes actually produce alcohol through
fermentation, but that's probably not what you're asking about. Alcohol, when concentrated
highly enough (70%) or so, can actually break a prokaryotes cell wall and then denature proteins
of the cell. However as you see on the labels of alcohol disinfectant and stuff, this only kills
99.9% of bacteria (or whatever). To achieve a sterile environment (no microorganisms) you must
use a change in pH, temperature or some other method of making the bacteria unable to
function.
Starters: Try and subscribe to an online database or get a book on Microbiology.
What'd I suggest you learn for starters:
Classification. Classification for fungi is rather complex and annoying
Anatomy. Fungi have all these weird structures that they use due to their lack of mobility
Diet: They "eat" in a weird way. Look up hyphae.
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Ecological role: They form many symbiotic relationships. There's a lot to learn about those
Habitats: They live pretty much anywhere, except extreme conditions.
Reproduction: Spores are annoying, but you have to know a lot about those
Uses: We use fungi for a lot of stuff.
Diseases: They cause a lot of "mold" related infections and diseases
Are diseases a huge part of the test?
That depends on who writes the test. I would expect them to be only about 10-20% though.
Know the different stages of the growth curve- lag, log (exponential), stationary, death. Be able
to identify those stages in a growth curve. They may also give you a growth curve and ask what
phase the microbe is in.
This describes the phases pretty well http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacterial_growth
any possible explanations for stationary and death phases in growth curves
Their roles in the environment (e.g. decomposing) and their roles in idustrial procedures (e.g.
pickling). tationary: all of the nutrients have been depleted so no further population growth can
occur.
death: with all of the nutrients depleted and oxygen levels decreasing, the microbes begin to die.
will taxonomy be mentioned in the test? You might need to know some more famous genuses of
microbes depending on who writes your test. You should definitely know the kingdoms and
domains though (don't worry if you don't know them; they're pretty easy to learn).
Also, the more likely genuses on the test are probably ones associated with diseases (e.g. Vibrio
cholerae is associated with cholera).
What microscope would you use to view a pollen grain?
Scanning electron?
What's the difference between stereo and compound microscope? Compound microscope has
two lenses - i.e., ocular and objective. Stereo microscope has two oculars and two objectives - it's
really two compound microscopes side by side.
And yes, those cool pictures of the surface details of pollen grains are SEMs.
When would you use a confocal microscope instead of a fluorescence microscope?
I think if you need higher magnification or have fluorescent-stained specimens, you'd use
confocal. Confocal uses a laser, whereas fluorescence uses UV radiation and a shield that
protects the viewer's eyes
you don't need to know the particular virus but you would be safe to know the symptoms
Has anyone been given a picture of a symptom of a disease and asked to ID the disease and/or
answer questions about it? You could be shown a bullseye rash (Lyme's), a swollen neck
(mumps), a rash (smallpox, chickenpox, measles, etc.), a nasty foot (athlete's foot), ringworm.
this event usually doesnt have much disease identification. many times they'll ask what kind of
microbe a disease is caused by (ex. virus, prion, bacteria) but i haven't seen anything other than
this and prevention and cure.
I've seen tests completely without microscope use, so, my question is...
If you've had your State competition, did your test rely heavily on microscopy? Did you have to
use them at several stations? I didn't have states yet but you would be better off getting all of
your microscope stuff down in case. And the test will probably be asking, "What microscope do
you think was used to take this picture of a virus".
Has anyone been given diseases that are not on the disease list? We consistently do (even at our
state tournament) and it clearly states in the rules that all questions should be restricted to the
disease list.....
Yep, that happened to me at state too. We also had to identify the specific type of
bacteria\virus\etc that caused the disease. I got so mad at myself for deciding not to put those
on my notes, because I was so close to doing so.
We had questions about the black plague, scarlet fever, ect Miscarriages can sometimes be
caused by bacteria, specifically a bacteria that is passed down by the mother: Chlamydia
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trachomatis... that's one of the one's I knew but they asked what Bacterial strand caused Scarlet
Fever and I was just so confused... lol for one I know very veyr little about Scarlet Fever and two,
I thoguht Scarlet Fever was caused by a virus! gram staining and bacterial shapes
Do you think that we would be asked to identify a disease causing agent, such as Bacillus
anthracis? we had to look at pathogens underneath a microscope and identify which disease they
cause, as well as the specific type of bacteria, etc. that causes the disease. For example, the
type of virus that causes chicken pox (varicella zoster).
There is a list of diseases to know and you should know their microbial causes (e.g., Borellia
burgdorferi sensu stricto), their treatment (e.g., amoxicillin), and their prevention (e.g., own a
domesticated guineafowl that eats ticks). note: the aforementioned examples all dealt with Lyme
disease.
There were several questions about agar plates, deeps, etc, and on national material. It would be
great if they would focus on a specific microbe. my question is that my partner and I looked up
all the specific microbe names that caused diseases (ie: chicken pox is caused by the VaricellaZoster virus). But some of the diseases I couldn't find specific microbe names. Like for Rabies all I
got was the Rabies Virus. Not exactly helpful...but if that's the best I can find do I just leave it? If
they ask on the test for the specific name do I just put that down? The rabies virus causes rabies.
The poliovirus causes polio. The Varicella zoster virus causes chicken pox. Those are just the
names of the viruses The virus is scientifically called the rabies virus. The genus is Lyssavirus
and the family is Rhabdoviridae, but Rhabdoviridae Lyssavirus is not a taxon. There seems to be
some discrepancies around how many different shapes of viruses there are. The textbook I have
and other websites state there are 3- icosahedron, helix, and complex. How many different
shapes are there?Also, is polyhedral the same as icosahedron, and is binal another name for
complex? 've also found that there are three. If you find anymore, the classification probably
getting specific about whether the virus has a membrane envelope. I believe polyhedral is
essentially the same as icosahedral, and as far as I know, binal is another name for complex
are there any major (or minor) people or scientists I should know? I've seen questions about
Hershey, Chase, and Griffith on a test. It would be good to know them. I also recommend
knowing about Koch and Pasteur, and possibly Prusiner. does anyone know anything about
estuary associated syndrome? specifically, the size, classification, shape, symptoms, treatment,
and prevention? cause: neurotoxins from Pfiesteria (dinoflagellate) symptoms: amnesia, vision
loss, and some other things I can't remember treatment: Cholestyramine prevention: avoid
estuaries, especially when there are dinoflagellate algal blooms
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