You would like to test the hypothesis that ammonia-oxidizing Archaea are more active and abundant than ammonia-oxidizing Bacteria in coastal marine water. What technique(s) or experiment(s) could you use to test this hypothesis?
A) environmental proteomics
B) fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH)
C) stable isotope probing using 15N labeled ammonia
D) stable isotope ratios of ammonia and nitrite
Which of the following statements is FALSE concerning enrichment bias?
A) Dilution of the inoculum may help to avoid enrichment bias in some cases.
B) Enrichment bias is impossible to overcome in some oligotrophic environments.
C) Enrichment bias resulted in the underestimation of prokaryotic diversity.
D) Enrichment bias favors organisms that grow quickly.
How would you label and separate the DNA of unknown methylotrophs in a sample?
A) Incubate the sample with 13C-methane.
B) Hybridize the DNA to FISH probes.
C) Use DGGE to separate the strands of DNA in the sample.
D) Use T-RFLP to identify the methylotroph DNA in the sample.
The 13C/12C isotopic ratio of geological rocks of different ages has been used as evidence for or against past biological activity, because compounds of biological origin
A) do NOT contain 13C.
B) have a higher proportion of 13C that compounds of geological origin.
C) have a lower proportion of 13C that compounds of geological origin.
D) are not well preserved in geological samples.
Stable isotope probing (SIP) is a method that
A) causes cells that hybridize with a fluorescent probe to fluoresce under UV light.
B) compares the isotopic ratios of different compounds in the environment to determine whether they are of biological or geological origin.
C) uses substrates containing heavy isotopes to label the DNA of organisms that use those substrates.
D) compares the transcription of specific isotope labeled genes under different conditions.