Reference no: EM133160864

BIOL2173 Microbiology - RMIT University

Assessment Questions

Question 1. A mutant you made in the laboratory with 5-bromouracil suddenly regains the wild-type phenotype. You discuss this phenomenon with your advisor and colleagues, and they suggest you try transposon mutagenesis to avoid this problem and create stable mutants. Why is it important to create microbial mutants in research? i.e. whatare mutants from wild type used for? Explain the procedure to create mutants in bacteria, AND discuss why would mutants created with 5-bromouracil be more likely to regain the wild-type phenotype than mutants created via transposon mutagenesis?

Question 2. Antibiotic resistance is a major healthcare problem, with some microbes developing resistance to most known antibiotics. How can microbes develop resistance against currently used antibiotics? Discuss two potential mechanisms for developing antibiotic resistance AND identify potential approaches to overcome it? Support your answer with examples and cited references.

Question 3. Some residential human oral bacteria may cause opportunistic infections in other body systems. Discuss the potential of residential microbes to develop into opportunistic pathogens, why? Where? When? And give an example on an oral Gram-negative bacterium that has the potential to cause opportunistic infectionsin patientswho are diagnosed with inflammatory Bowel Diseases,supporting your answer with cited evidence from the literature.