You are asked to determine whether sulfur bacteria are active in a particular area of an estuary. What observations or tests can you perform to confirm this activity?
What will be an ideal response?
Sulfur bacteria convert H2S, which has a characteristic odor and causes blackening of the sediment, into inorganic sulfur. The H2S is converted first to sulfur and then to sulfate ion by other bacteria. A test for the presence of sulfate would indicate that these bacteria are present. Furthermore, when sulfate combines with water it forms sulfuric acid and lowers the pH of the water. One could look for reduced pH levels in these areas as a sign of sulfur bacteria activity.
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Evolutionary biologists often use the 16S rRNA gene sequences of prokaryotes to determine genealogical relationships between them. Because these sequences are highly conserved, differences between them are notable and useful for this kind of analysis. While sequencing bacterial endosymbionts from various plants in 1992, results showed that some of these bacteria displayed a lot of similarity in their rRNA sequences, others less, and others very little similarity. The scientists determined that the most likely explanation was that those with the most similarity shared a more recent common ancestor than those with less similarity. Which principle did the scientists use to arrive at this conclusion?
a. conductive reasoning b. natural selection c. maximum parsimony d. proteomics
Refer to the accompanying figure. Which structure is from a different germ layer than the rest?
a. 2 b. 3 c. 6 d. 7 e. 8
In general, the organization of genes in bacteria is different from that in eukaryotes. In E. coli, approximately 27 percent of all genes are organized into contiguous, functionally related units containing multiple genes under coordinated control that
are transcribed as a single unit. Such contiguous gene families are called ________. A) operons B) transcriptomes C) proteomes D) pseudogenes E) contigs
Electron transport is coupled to ATP synthesis in mitochondria, in chloroplasts, and in the thermophilic bacterium Methanococcus
Which of the following is likely to affect the coupling of electron transport to ATP synthesis in all of these systems? (a) a potent inhibitor of cytochrome c oxidase (b) the removal of oxygen (c) the absence of light (d) an ADP analog that inhibits ATP synthase