Ch 18 (Concept Check) Lecture Notes

How do we define species of microorganisms?

phenetic features, genetic features

Microbial genomics

pan genome and metagenome

Biovars

differ biochemically and physiologically

Morphovars

differ morphologically

Serovars

differ in antigenic properties

Which of the following as an example of the use of the binomial system devised by Linnaeus?

Escherichia coli

Unrooted tree

represents a phylogenetic relationship but does not provide an evolutionary path

Rooted tree

Has a node that serves as common ancestor

An unrooted tree containing four unrelated species can become rooted by adding:

a distantly related outgroup

Core genome

the set of genes found in all members of a species

Pan-genome

every gene in all strains of a species; includes the core genome plus every additional gene found in at least one strain

Which of the following is true regarding the importance of horizontal gene transfer in phylogeny?

Phylogenetic tress show inferred evolutionary relationships in the form of multiple branching lineages connected by nodes

Which of the following is FALSE regarding the microbial taxonomy?

The type strain is the most representative strain of a particular species