MicroPara

• Microbiology is the study of small life, including microbes like bacteria, archaea, fungi, protozoa, multicellular animal parasites, algae, and viruses
• Microbes are mostly unicellular
• The ratio of bacteria to human cells is 10:1
• 1g of soil contains 1 million species of bacteria, while 1ml of seawater contains 50 million viruses
• Streptomyces parvulus is being used to make an anti-cancer drug
• Bacteria are prokaryotic and unicellular
• Prokaryotic organisms lack a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles
• The three shapes of bacteria are Coccus (round), Bacillus (rod), and Spirillium (spiral)
• The bacterial cell wall is comprised of peptidoglycan and carbohydrates
• Bacteria have been around for 3.5 billion years
• MRSA stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and can cause infections
• Bacillus anthracis causes Anthrax and is used in biological warfare
• Gangrene is caused by Clostridium perfringens
• Gonorrhea is becoming drug-resistant
• Microbiology is the study of microbes, which can only be observed with various types of microscopes
• Microbes are said to be ubiquitous
• Germs, derived from the Latin word "germen," are first applied to bacteria in the 19th century to explain disease-causing cells that grow quickly
• Pathogens are microbes that cause diseases, while nonpathogens do not cause diseases
• 3% of known microbes are capable of causing disease
• The study of microbiology is important as microbes are essential for life on Earth, involved in decomposition, bioremediation, elemental cycles, food industries, genetic engineering, and antibiotic production
• Microbes are essential for the decomposition of dead organisms and waste products, known as decomposers
• Microbes are used in various food and beverage industries, enzyme and chemical production, and antibiotic manufacturing
• Some microbes live in the intestinal tracts of animals, aiding in digestion and producing valuable substances like vitamins
• Microbes play a crucial role in genetic engineering by inserting genes from one organism into bacterial or yeast cells
• Pathogens cause infectious diseases and microbial infections
• Archaea and Cyanobacteria are candidates for the first microbes on Earth
• Archaea are unicellular prokaryotes that live in extreme environments, while Cyanobacteria are bacteria capable of oxygenic photosynthesis
• Pioneers in the science of microbiology include Anton Van Leeuwenhoek, Louis Pasteur, Robert Koch, Ignaz Philip Semmelweis, and Joseph Lister
• Sepsis is the condition resulting from the presence of pathogenic microbes or their products in blood or tissues
• Joseph Lister devised methods to prevent microbes from entering wounds of patients, known as antiseptic surgery
• Fanny Hesse developed the use of agar as a solidifying agent for microbiological media
• Richard J. Petri developed the Petri dish for growing and manipulating microbial cultures
• Hans Christian Gram developed the Gram stain technique to separate two major groups of disease-causing bacteria
• Edward Jenner reported the use of material from an individual infected with cowpox to immunize against smallpox
• Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin from mold that inhibited bacterial growth
• Paul Ehrlich developed the first effective cure for a bacterial disease, salvarsan, effective against syphilis
• Careers in microbiology include bacteriologists, psychologists (algologists), protozoologists, mycologists, virologists, and cell biologists
• Microbes are very tiny in size, with bacteria sizes expressed in micrometers and virus sizes in nanometers
• A compound light microscope uses an ocular micrometer to measure objects viewed, calibrated with a stage micrometer
• A simple microscope has one magnifying lens, while a compound microscope has multiple lenses for magnification