Lecture 1

Question 1

What is a microorganism?

Answer 1

-Unicellular life form

Question 2

What can unicellular life forms do?

Answer 2

-They can function independently
-They can carry out essential functions for life, such as macromolecule assembly, growth, and energy production

Question 3

How do microorganisms differ from higher eukaryotes, plants and animals

Answer 3

-individual cells are incapable of executing the essential life functions
-they must be a part of organ/tissue to fulfill role

Question 4

Fundamentals of microbial life

Answer 4

-single cell is capable of undergoing all processes, sufficient for life
-metabolism
-reproduction
-differentiation
-communication
-motility

Question 5

Metabolism

Answer 5

The uptake of nutrients and then that converts to essential biological molecules

Question 6

Reproduction

Answer 6

Produce progeny from progenitor

Question 7

Some differentiate

Answer 7

Some microbial life will develop into alternate structures

Question 8

All communicate

Answer 8

All microbial life will communicate between like cells or different cells thru signalsq

Question 9

Some microbial life are capable of motility

Answer 9

All of those bitches evolve

Question 10

Bacteria (microorganism)

Answer 10

-unicellular
-prokaryotic and got no compartmentalization
-peptidoglycan cell wall
-binary fission

Question 11

Protozoa

Answer 11

-eukaryotic
-no cell wall
-plasma membrane
-all motile/some type of motility

Question 12

Protozoa types of motility

Answer 12

-pseudopods
-flagella
-cilia

Question 13

Fungi

Answer 13

-eukaryotic
-got extensive subcellular compartmentalization
-cell wall = made of chitin
-binary fission or mating
-gets nutrients from surroundings

Question 14

Algae

Answer 14

-unicellular or multicellular
-photosynthetic eukaryotes
-cellulose cell wall
-exist in water and land
-important ecologically cause they create oxygen and are consumed by animals as food

Question 15

Viruses

Answer 15

-Not a kind of cell

Question 16

Simple Virus

Answer 16

-capsid (protein)
-nucleic acid (dna or rna)

Question 17

Complex virus

Answer 17

-Envelope (lipid)
-capsid (protein)
-nucleic acid (dna or rna)
-all function to hijack cellular machinery

Question 18

Microbes misconceptions

Answer 18

-receives bad press as disease causing agents
-most never encounter humans, they play important roles in ecological niche
–they cycle organic and inorganic molecules, biogeochemical cycle
-they generate oxygen for aerobic respiration
-majority of their interactions w us are helpful
-they assist w immunity and metabolism

Question 19

Other uses for microbes

Answer 19

-used in agriculture, fungi supplements to potting soil, nitrogen fixing bacteria
-they are used in the food industry for bread, beer, wine, yogurt, and tofu
-for biochemical sector, they can be used to produce insulin, vaccines, and retroviral gene therapy
-they are essential for the meat industry because mutualistic bacteria is important for cellulose digestion
-they can be used as alternative fuel sources, they can produce ethanol and methanol

Question 20

Robert Hooke - 1665

Answer 20

-first to visualize fungal hyphae and spores
-first to develop compound microscope
-used to visualize first single cell organisms
-microscope not powerful enough to see bacteria
-identified a number of protists from environmental sources

Question 21

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek - 1684

Answer 21

-brilliant lens grinder
- Developed simple microscope
-Higher magnification that Robert Hooke’s
-First to visualize bacteria

Question 22

Spontaneous generation

Answer 22

•Life arising from dead matter (spoiled food)
•Maggots would “appear” on spoiled meat
•Broth would turn cloudy and stink!
•Was believed life spontaneously generated from
the decomposing food

Question 23

First Evidence Against
“Spontaneous Generation”

Answer 23

*Francesco Redi - 1668
First Evidence Against
“Spontaneous Generation”
Spoiled Meat
Several Days Later
Maggots only appeared
if flask was open!
Did not exclude the possibility of spontaneous
generation of bacteria

Question 24

First Evidence Against
“Spontaneous Generation”

Answer 24

*Francesco Redi - 1668
First Evidence Against
“Spontaneous Generation”
Spoiled Meat
Several Days Later
Maggots only appeared
if flask was open!
Did not exclude the possibility of spontaneous
generation of bacteria

Question 25

John Needham’s broth experiments - 1745

Answer 25

•Boiled broth was devoid of life •Days later - teeming with microorganisms •Argued that microbes could arise spontaneously from non-

Question 26

Lazzaro Spallanzani’s modification - 1765

Answer 26

•Only uncovered broth contained microorganisms •Proponents argued that fresh air was required

Question 27

Louis Pasteur - 186

Answer 27

The Final Blow to the “Spontaneous Generation” Hypothesis

Question 28

Significant Advances in Microbiology •1864 - Fermentation and Pasteurization - Louis Pasteur

Answer 28

•Discovered source of fermentation •Yeast convert sugar to alcohol •Bacteria cause spoiling - convert alcohol to vinegar •Found heating perishables prevented spoiling - kills bacteria (Pasteurization)

Question 29

who conducted the first successful vaccination in 1794 and wat else did he do

Answer 29

1796 - First successful vaccination - Edward Jenner •Smallpox epidemics still prevalent •Cowpox caused similar disease in cattle - mild disease in humans •Jenner found infecting humans with cowpox protected against smallpox infection •Due to antigenic similarity between two viruses

Question 30

Martinus Beijerinck –1851 –1931

Answer 30

•Developed enrichment cultivation •Allowed for isolation of pure cultures from environmental samples •First to identify viruses - TMV •Demonstrated ability to pass through filters •Demonstrated necessity of integrating into cell

Question 31

• Sergei Winogradsky – 1856 – 1953

Answer 31

• Used enrichment techniques developed by Beijerinck • Discovered chemoautotrophy – use of inorganic electron acceptors to generate energy • Discovered nitrogen fixation • Conversion of atmospheric nitrogen to source that can be incorporated into essential biological macromolecules

Question 32

1876 - The Germ Theory of Disease proved correct - Robert Koch

Answer 32

• Anthrax decimating cattle industry • Isolated rod shaped bacteria from infected animal • Caused disease when introduced to healthy animals • Could isolate the same bacteria from experimental animals • Procedure now referred to as Koch’s postulates

Question 33

Summary of Koch’s Postulates

Answer 33

• Isolate organism from animal, culture in vitro • Infect healthy animal, determine if disease is reproduced • Isolate organism from infected animal, determine if it is the same organism

Question 34

who discovered antibiotics in 1928?

Answer 34

-Alexander Fleming • Plate contaminated • Zone of inhibition • Called penicillin

Question 35

Significant Advances - Epidemiology

Answer 35

• The study of how and why outbreaks of disease occur • Involves identification of causative agent (pathogen), reservoir of pathogen, and mode of transmission • John Snow was first epidemiologist • Studied cholera outbreak in London • Analyzed death records, obtained information on victims, interviewed survivors • Realized afflicted obtained water from single source • Removal of source (water pump) greatly reduced number of cases • Epidemiology can lower incidence of disease or prevent outbreaks, three types of investigations used - descriptive epidemiology, analytical epidemiology, and experimental epidemiology

Question 36

Applied Sub disciplines of Microbiology

Answer 36

• Medical microbiology – study of host/pathogen interactions • Agricultural microbiology – study of soil microbes and interactions with cash crops • Industrial microbiology – use for production of marketable products (drugs, food, etc.) • Aquatic microbiology – microbial interactions in water environments, essential for waste water treatment

Question 37

Basic Sub disciplines of Microbiology

Answer 37

• Microbial systematics – classification of microorganisms, in flux, DNA sequencing now available • Microbial physiology – study of bacterial metabolism, enhanced by advances in cultivation techniques • Bacterial genetics – transmission of genetic information, horizontal and vertical, generation of microbial diversity • Genomics – analysis of global changes in gene expression in response to environmental stimuli, widely used in biotechnology sector