99 Microorganisms And Bacteria Trivia Questions with Answers
99 public questions with answers, drawn from the well. How many can you answer?
Which bacterium causes tularemia, a zoonotic disease sometimes called rabbit fever?
Answer
Francisella tularensis
Which bacterium causes the foodborne illness listeriosis and can grow at refrigerator temperatures?
Answer
Listeria monocytogenes
Which bacterium causes leprosy, a chronic infection also called Hansen’s disease?
Answer
Mycobacterium leprae
Which bacterium causes Lyme disease, the tick-borne infection identified in the 1970s?
Answer
Borrelia burgdorferi
Which archaeon was the first microorganism found growing naturally at temperatures above 100°C?
Answer
Pyrolobus fumarii
Which bacterium causes Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a tick-borne disease?
Answer
Rickettsia rickettsii
Which bacterium causes diphtheria-like disease in some animals and produces the antibiotic erythromycin?
Answer
Saccharopolyspora erythraea
Which bacterium causes scarlet fever, the rash-producing illness often associated with strep throat?
Answer
Streptococcus pyogenes
Which microorganism is the dominant methane-producing archaeon in the human gut?
Answer
Methanobrevibacter smithii
Which bacterium causes gas gangrene, also called clostridial myonecrosis, most often?
Answer
Clostridium perfringens
Which bacterium is a major cause of staphylococcal food poisoning through preformed toxins?
Answer
Staphylococcus aureus
Which bacterium is the best-known cause of antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis?
Answer
Clostridioides difficile
Which bacterium attacks and digests other bacteria from inside their cells?
Answer
Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus
Which bacterium is the most abundant photosynthetic organism in the oceans?
Answer
Prochlorococcus
Which bacterium causes syphilis, the sexually transmitted infection described by its distinctive stages?
Answer
Treponema pallidum
Which bacterium causes epidemic typhus, historically spread by the human body louse?
Answer
Rickettsia prowazekii
Which bacterium fixes nitrogen in root nodules of legumes such as peas and clover?
Answer
Rhizobium leguminosarum
Which bacterium causes meningococcal meningitis and can also cause bloodstream infections?
Answer
Neisseria meningitidis
Which bacterium causes crown gall disease in plants and transfers DNA into plant cells?
Answer
Agrobacterium tumefaciens
Which bacterium causes green discoloration and a fruity odor in some infected wounds?
Answer
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Which bacterium produces the enzyme used in PCR, a technique that amplifies DNA?
Answer
Thermus aquaticus
Which bacterium is used to produce Swiss-type cheese flavor and its characteristic holes?
Answer
Propionibacterium freudenreichii
Which bacterium causes gonorrhea, the sexually transmitted infection first described in ancient medical texts?
Answer
Neisseria gonorrhoeae
Which bacterium causes whooping cough, the respiratory disease also called pertussis?
Answer
Bordetella pertussis
Which bacterium causes anthrax, the disease historically linked to infected animal hides and wool?
Answer
Bacillus anthracis
Which bacterium causes diphtheria, a disease marked by a thick throat membrane?
Answer
Corynebacterium diphtheriae
Which bacterium causes plague, the disease associated with the Black Death?
Answer
Yersinia pestis
Which bacterium is traditionally used with Streptococcus thermophilus to make yogurt?
Answer
Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus
Which bacterium produces the botulinum toxin responsible for botulism?
Answer
Clostridium botulinum
Which bacterium causes tetanus, the disease marked by painful muscle spasms?
Answer
Clostridium tetani
Which bacterium is the main cause of dental caries by producing acid from sugars in dental plaque?
Answer
Streptococcus mutans
Which bacterium is used to make the insecticidal protein in the biological pesticide Bt?
Answer
Bacillus thuringiensis
Which protozoan parasite causes malaria and is responsible for the disease’s most severe cases?
Answer
Plasmodium falciparum
Which bacterium was used to discover streptomycin, the first effective antibiotic against tuberculosis?
Answer
Streptomyces griseus
Which microorganism ferments sugars to make bread rise and is also used in brewing?
Answer
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Which bacterium is famous for surviving doses of radiation that would kill most other organisms?
Answer
Deinococcus radiodurans
Which bacterium is associated with stomach ulcers and was identified by Barry Marshall and Robin Warren?
Answer
Helicobacter pylori
Which bacterium causes Legionnaires’ disease and grows inside amoebae in natural water systems?
Answer
Legionella pneumophila
Which bacterium was the first organism whose complete genome was published, in 1995?
Answer
Haemophilus influenzae
What is the largest known bacterium by cell volume, discovered in a Caribbean mangrove in 2022?
Answer
Thiomargarita magnifica
Which bacterium causes tuberculosis, the infectious disease described by Robert Koch in 1882?
Answer
Mycobacterium tuberculosis