One organism found in a termite’s gut is Mixotrichia paradoxa. This strange creature looks like a single-celled swimming ciliate under low magnification. However, the electron microscope reveals that it contains spherical bacteria rather than mitochondria and has on its surface, rather than cilia, hundreads and thousands of spirilla and bacilla bacteria. You are the scientists who first observed this organism. How would you describe this organism- single-celled? Aggregate? Colony? Multicellular? Can the structure of this organism give you any insight into the evolution of eukaryotic cells?

One organism found in a termite’s gut is Mixotrichia paradoxa. This strange creature looks like a single-celled swimming ciliate under low magnification. However, the electron microscope reveals that it contains spherical bacteria rather than mitochondria and has on its surface, rather than cilia, hundreads and thousands of spirilla and bacilla bacteria. You are the scientists who first observed this organism. How would you describe this organism- single-celled? Aggregate? Colony? Multicellular? Can the structure of this organism give you any insight into the evolution of eukaryotic cells?

Biology Today and Tomorrow without Physiology (MindTap Course List)

5th Edition

ISBN:9781305117396

Author:Cecie Starr, Christine Evers, Lisa Starr

Publisher:Cecie Starr, Christine Evers, Lisa Starr

Chapter4: Energy And Metabolism

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 1DID: The genus Ferroplasma consists of a few species of acid-loving archaea. One species, F. acidarmanus,...

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In 1985, a 0.5-mm cell was discovered in surgeonfish and named Epulopiscium fishelsoni. It was presumed to be a protozoan. In 1993, researchers determined that Epulopiscium is actually a gram-positive bacterium. Why do you suppose this organism was initially identified as a protozoan? What evidence would change the classification to bacterium?
In 1985, a 0.5-mm cell was discovered in surgeonfish and named Epulopiscium fishelsoni. It was presumed to be a protozoan. In 1993, researchers determined that Epulopiscium is actually a gram-positive bacterium. Why do you suppose this organism was initially identified as a protozoan?
If you visit a lake in the middle of the Amazon and take water samples to analyze under a microscope from a nearby university that has good instrumentation and there you detect microorganisms that are not visible to the naked eye. What studies would you do to determine if they are bacteria, archaea, fungi or protozoa? Explain each type of analysis and how would you rule out members of each group? Write at least 3 paragraphs
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You isolated a new microorganism that has single cells and appear to lack a nucleus.Chemical analysis show the presence of both DNA and RNA in the cytoplasm and pseudomurein in the cell wall. In which of the following groups would the organism be classified?
The genus Ferroplasma consists of a few species of acid-loving archaea. One species, F. acidarmanus, was discovered to be the main component of slime streamers (a type of biofilm) deep inside an abandoned California copper mine (Figure 4.11A). F. acidarmanus cells use an ancient energy-harvesting pathway that combines oxygen with ironsulfur compounds in minerals such as pyrite. This reaction dissolves the minerals, so groundwater that seeps into the mine ends up with extremely high concentrations of metal ions such as copper, zinc, cadmium, and arsenic. The reaction also produces sulfuric acid, which lowers the pH of the water around the cells to zero. Despite living in an environment with a composition similar to hot battery acid, F. acidarmanus cells maintain their internal pH at a cozy 5.0. Thus, researchers investigating Ferroplasma metabolic enzymes were surprised to discover that most of the cells enzymes function best at very low pH (Figure 4.11B). A. Deep inside one of the most toxic sites in the United States: Iron Mountain Mine, in California. The water in this stream, which is about 1 meter (3 feet) wide in this photo, is hot (around 40C, or 104F), heavily laden with arsenic and other toxic metals, and has a pH of zero. Slime streamers growing in it are a biofilm dominated by a species of archaea, Ferroplasma acidarmanus. B. pH profiles of four enzymes isolated from F. acidarmus. Researchers had expected these enzymes to function best at the cells cytoplasmic pH (5.0). What does the dashed line signify?
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"a long, thin cellular appendage present in many Archaea that rotates and is responsible for swimming motility" Name it.
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