Questions and Answers

What must occur for bacterial conjugation to take place?
A) The cells must transfer RNA.
B) One of the cells must be E. coli.
C) The cells must come into contact with each other.
D) Each cell must contain a plasmid.

Bacterial conjugation is often referred to as bacterial sex. Why is this term inaccurate?
B) Bacteria are neither male nor female.
C) Sex is a phenomenon only seen in animals.
D) Conjugation does not result in the formation of new offspring.

What benefit does the F- strain receive from mating with an Hfr strain?
A) It picks up a fertility factor.
B) It can now produce sex pili.
C) It acquires new, potentially beneficial genes from the Hfr strain.
D) It becomes an F+ cell.

Which of the following is a characteristic of an F+ cell?
A) Presence of a fertility factor
B) Ability to synthesize sex pili, presence of a fertility factor, and ability to mate with an F- cell.
C) Ability to mate with an F- cell
D) Ability to synthesize sex pili

Why does conjugation between an Hfr strain and an F-strain not result in two Hfr strains?
A) Conjugation is typically disrupted before the fertility factor can be transferred.
B) The cell membranes between the two strains never fuse together.
C) Hfr strains lack fertility factor.
D) The transferred genes typically recombine with the recipient chromosome.

How does an F+ cell differ from an Hfr cell?
A) Hfr cells cannot perform conjugation.
B) Hfr strains have the F plasmid integrated into the chromosome.
C) Hfr strains can no longer reproduce.
D) F+ cells have no plasmids.

Which of the following is an example of horizontal gene transfer in bacteria?
A) Transformation
B) Conjugation and transformation
C) Conjugation
D) Transduction
E) Transduction, conjugation, and transformation

What is unique about transduction compared to normal bacteriophage infection?
A) Transduction transfers DNA from the chromosome of one cell to another.
B) The bacteriophage does not erupt from an infected cell during transduction.
C) The bacteriophage takes fragments of the cell with it during transduction.

The virus infects a host cell by:
The host cell engulfing the virus through endocytosis.
The virus removing the DNA from the host.
The virus pierces the outer surface of the host cell and injects its DNA.
The virus stays attached to the surface of the cell and takes over its genetic machinery.

The pilus is found on both the donor and recipient cells.
A) True
B) False