Which bacterium causes whooping cough, the respiratory infection marked by severe coughing fits?
Answer
Bordetella pertussis
99 Microorganisms And Bacteria Trivia Questions with Answers
99 public questions with answers, drawn from the well. How many can you answer?
Which bacterium produces chloramphenicol, the antibiotic first isolated from a soil microorganism in 1947?
Answer
Streptomyces venezuelae
Which bacterium causes chlamydia, one of the most common sexually transmitted infections?
Answer
Chlamydia trachomatis
Which cyanobacterium is considered the most abundant photosynthetic organism on Earth?
Answer
Prochlorococcus
Which bacterium is used to produce acetone, butanol and ethanol by fermentation?
Answer
Clostridium acetobutylicum
Which bacterium hunts other bacteria by invading and digesting them from within?
Answer
Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus
Which bacterium produces streptomycin, the antibiotic discovered in the 1940s?
Answer
Streptomyces griseus
Which bacterium causes the fish disease columnaris, recognizable by pale lesions and cotton-like growth?
Answer
Flavobacterium columnare
Which bacterium causes scarlet fever by producing toxins during some Streptococcus pyogenes infections?
Answer
Streptococcus pyogenes
Which bacterium causes gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted infection that can also affect newborns?
Answer
Neisseria gonorrhoeae
Which bacterium is used to make Swiss-type cheese holes through carbon dioxide production?
Answer
Propionibacterium freudenreichii
Which bacterium is the main cause of bacterial meningitis in many young children before vaccination?
Answer
Haemophilus influenzae
Which bacterium causes anthrax, a serious disease affecting humans and animals?
Answer
Bacillus anthracis
Which bacterium causes gas gangrene most commonly through toxins that destroy muscle tissue?
Answer
Clostridium perfringens
Which bacterium is famous for forming fruiting bodies and cooperative hunting groups?
Answer
Myxococcus xanthus
Which bacterium can generate electricity while transferring electrons to minerals outside its cell?
Answer
Geobacter sulfurreducens
Which microorganism is the most common archaeal member of the human gut microbiome?
Answer
Methanobrevibacter smithii
Which bacterium naturally transfers DNA into plant cells, making it a key tool in genetic engineering?
Answer
Agrobacterium tumefaciens
Which bacterium is the main species associated with human dental caries, or tooth decay?
Answer
Streptococcus mutans
Which bacterium causes Legionnaires’ disease, a severe pneumonia often linked to contaminated water systems?
Answer
Legionella pneumophila
Which bacterium discovered in Japan can break down PET plastic?
Answer
Ideonella sakaiensis
Which bacterium causes tetanus, the muscle-stiffening disease linked to contaminated wounds?
Answer
Clostridium tetani
Which bacterium was used to create the first cell controlled by a chemically synthesized genome?
Answer
Mycoplasma mycoides
Which bacterium is strongly associated with stomach ulcers and chronic gastritis?
Answer
Helicobacter pylori
Which bacterium produces light in a famous symbiosis with the Hawaiian bobtail squid?
Answer
Aliivibrio fischeri
Which bacterium is the largest ever discovered, with cells visible to the naked eye?
Answer
Thiomargarita magnifica
Which bacterium causes bacterial vaginosis most strongly through biofilms dominated by its cells?
Answer
Gardnerella vaginalis
Which bacterium causes botulism by producing botulinum neurotoxin?
Answer
Clostridium botulinum
Which bacterium was Alexander Fleming studying when he noticed penicillin’s antibacterial effect?
Answer
Staphylococcus aureus
Which microorganism is used to make bread rise and ferment alcoholic drinks?
Answer
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Which bacterium produces insecticidal crystal proteins used in biological pest control?
Answer
Bacillus thuringiensis
Which bacterium supplies the heat-stable Taq polymerase used in PCR?
Answer
Thermus aquaticus
Which bacterium is famous for surviving intense radiation and extreme dehydration?
Answer
Deinococcus radiodurans
Which bacterium is the usual cause of tuberculosis, one of history’s deadliest infectious diseases?
Answer
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Which bacterium causes Q fever, a zoonotic disease often linked to infected livestock?
Answer
Coxiella burnetii
Which archaeon has been recorded growing at temperatures as high as 122°C?
Answer
Methanopyrus kandleri
Which bacterium did Frederick Griffith use in 1928 to demonstrate bacterial transformation?
Answer
Streptococcus pneumoniae
Which bacterium was the first free-living organism to have its genome completely sequenced, in 1995?
Answer
Haemophilus influenzae
Which bacterium was the first microorganism shown to use CRISPR sequences as an adaptive immune system?
Answer
Streptococcus thermophilus
Which bacterium is used to produce the amino acid glutamate for monosodium glutamate fermentation?
Answer
Corynebacterium glutamicum
Which bacterium produces the antibiotic vancomycin in soil ecosystems?
Answer
Amycolatopsis orientalis
Which bacterium causes walking pneumonia and lacks a cell wall?
Answer
Mycoplasma pneumoniae