(LE1) Scope and History of Microbiology

Question 1

What are the different organism types?

Answer 1

• fungi
• bacteria
• viruses
• protozoans
• helminths (certain stages)

Question 2

What are the defining traits of bacteria?

Answer 2

• Prokaryotic organism
• no nucleus
• no membrane-bound organelles

Question 3

How are viruses intracellular parasites?

Answer 3

They need to be inside cells to live (divide, make protein, etc.)

Question 4

Define protozoans

Answer 4

• mostly unicellular, eukaryotic
• “animal-like” meaning motile
• most are harmless; few are pathogenic

Question 5

Describe fungi

Answer 5

• eukaryotic
• most are harmless (beneficial)
• Saprobes: eat decaying matter

Question 6

What kind of fungi are yeast?

Answer 6

unicellular

Question 7

What kind of fungi are molds and mushrooms?

Answer 7

multicellular

Question 8

Describe helminths

Answer 8

• multicellular eukaryote
• Eggs and sometimes larvae are microscopic
• adults are not

Question 9

Describe Ebola

Answer 9

• largest known virus
• hemorrhagic
• contagious seven days after patient passes

Question 10

An example of a bacteria with a symbiotic relation to humans and our normal flora. What are the outcomes?

Answer 10

Escherichia coli
- breaks down certain foods (cellulose)
- produces gas
- produces vitamin K
- microbial competition for resources

Question 11

What are saprobes? What microbes are saprobes?

Answer 11

Organisms that aid in decomposition and facilitate the nutrient cycling of Carbon and Nitrogen
- fungi
- bacteria
- protozoans

Question 12

What is bioremediation? Name some examples

Answer 12

Using microbes to clean up waste and toxins

• sewage treatment plants
• Oleophiles: eat oil

Question 13

What are examples of humans harnessing the power of microbes?

Answer 13

Penicillin
- insulin (recombination techniques: put human DNA into bacteria)

Question 14

What is Robert Hooke’s significance?

Answer 14

• first to look at cells using a compound microscope

Question 15

What is Antonie van Leeuwenhoek’s significance?

Answer 15

first to look at living cells, “animalcules”
- led to cell theory: all living things made of cells and came from pre-existing cells

Question 16

Spontaneous generation vs. Biogenesis

Answer 16

SG: life comes from non-life (theory)
BG: life comes from life

Question 17

What was Redi’s significance?

Answer 17

did the fly experiment to try and prove biogenesis

Question 18

What was Needham’s significance?

Answer 18

Boiled broth and left in open flask to try and prove spontaneous generation

Question 19

What was Spallanzani’s significance?

Answer 19

Did the same experiment as Needham but corked the flask to prevent microbes from growing, proving biogenesis

Question 20

What was Louis Pasteur’s significance regarding biogenesis?

Answer 20

Used an S-neck flask to recreate Needham’s original experiment to allow oxygen in the flask. Disproved spontaneous generation

Question 21

What were Pasteur’s other achievements?

Answer 21

Pasteurization: killing microbes with low heat

Vaccine development
- Cholera: used attenuated (weakened) strain
- Rabies: used a killed pathogen from rabbit spinal cord

Question 22

What is the premise of Germ Theory? Who is credited for it?

Answer 22

microbes are the cause of human disease

Ignaz Semmelweis

Question 23

Florence Nightingale significance

Answer 23

First to enact hygiene in clinical care.

Question 24

Joseph Lister significance

Answer 24

Developed aseptic surgical techniques
- used carbolic acid to clean air prior to surgery

Question 25

Robert Koch's significance to germ theory

Answer 25

- proved bacterium B. anthracis caused anthrax - first to use agar

Question 26

What is Koch's postulate?

Answer 26

Four stipulations to prove pathogen causes disease

Question 27

What is John Snow's significance?

Answer 27

Credited with the birth of Epidemiology - Cholera epidemic in London (Broad St pump)

Question 28

Edward Jenner significance

Answer 28

First modern vaccine: Smallpox - Discovered from milkmaid and cowpox

Question 29

What is variolation? Who is well-known for utilizing it?

Answer 29

Infect people with milder forms of a disease. - Lady Mary Wortley Montagu variolated her children against Smallpox

Question 30

Paul Ehrlich significance

Answer 30

"magic bullet" - Salvarsan (sulfa): chemical that kills pathogen w/o killing host

Question 31

Alexander Flemming significance

Answer 31

Discovered Penicillin from Penicillium notatum

Question 32

What are some targets for the magic bullet?

Answer 32

Bacteria: cell wall, different ribosomes, etc. Fungi: ergosterol in cell membrane Viruses: varies (ex/ HIV: reverse transcriptase) Protozoans and helminths: specific enzymes

Question 33

What is Metchnikoff's significance to immunology?

Answer 33

First to see phagocytosis

Question 34

What is Dmitry Iwanowski's significance to virology?

Answer 34

First to discover viruses

Question 35

What are the three domains for organism classification?

Answer 35

Eukarya: all eukaryotes Bacteria: Prokaryotes Archaea: Prokaryotes and extremophiles