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In bacteria, DNA binding proteins and alternative sigma factors play an important role in ______.

Consider the cyanobacteria Anabaena. Individual cells grow attached to each other in long chains produced from binary fission with cells remaining attached (e.g., streptococcus). Most perform photosynthesis, using photosystems I and II to generate ATP and NADPH that they use to power the fixation of carbon dioxide via the Calvin cycle. However, a small number form heterocysts, cells that instead of performing photosynthesis, fix nitrogen into ammonium. Heterocysts share their nitrogen compounds with their photosynthetic neighbors, who in turn share sugars with the heterocysts. If you extracted all the mRNA from a single heterocyst, and all the mRNA from a single photosynthetic cell, what information would this give you, i.e., what would this tell you about them?

Which of the following statements is true regarding comparisons of bacteria and sexually reproducing organisms?

Consider the following phenotypic identification examples and types. Match each example with the type of approach it represents.

This question has two parts, please be sure to answer both, and number your answers 1 and 2! A patient is resisting the idea of getting the annual influenza vaccine, claiming to have already had the flu shot “sometime in the past decade”. 1. Define “antigenic drift” and “antigenic shift”. Compare and contrast these two terms. 2. Explain why it is important to receive an annual flu vaccine.

Janthinobacterium lividum is a Gram negative bacterium that produces a dark violet compound called violacein that possess antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties. You are interested in finding gene(s) responsible for the production of violacein. You transform a culture with a plasmid containing a transposon and an ampicillin resistance gene (bla). Realizing your transformation efficiency will be low, how might you identify bacteria that have been successfully transformed?

Which of the following contributes to healthcare-associated infections?

Shown are phylogenetic trees representing primate cytomegaloviruses (a) and their primate hosts (b) from Leendertz et. al. (J. General Virology Oct. 2009). Why do these trees look the same – i.e., what do these phylogenetic trees tell us about the evolution of cytomegaloviruses and their primate hosts? (Hint: relax! Even though we didn’t explicitly cover this, you can still formulate a hypothesis based on your understanding of phylogenetic trees, evolution, and host/pathogen relationships).

Optional 2 points of extra credit: Write your own short answer or essay question, and then answer it! Relax; this is meant to be a “choose your own topic” like on the last exam, but worded slightly differently for hopefully better success on my part. Alternately, pick any one topic you studied for this exam but I didn’t ask, and explain that topic to demonstrate your knowledge of it. Please write a complete answer that is a full paragraph with a minimum of 4-5 sentences; do not use bullet points! Note the question is set to 0 points so that it will count as actual extra credit (numerator only, not denominator) when I grade these.

Write the following as an Arabic Number.  CIX (cix)