Quiz 1

• genetic engineering is the process of using recombinant DNA technology to alter the genetic makeup of an organism
• immunology deals with the response of an organism to antigenic challenge and its recognition of what is self and what is not
• nutrient cycle occurs as animals and plants consume nutrients found in the soil, and these nutrients are then released back into the environment via death and decomposition
• planktons are microscopic organisms that constitute hat sustaining base of food chains in the ocean
• aids in digestion are bacteria that help in breaking down big food molecules into useable fuel
• biotechnology utilizes living organisms and their derivatives in order to produce products and process (healthcare, medicine, biofuels)
• antibiotic production is done by several groups of microbes like bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes as their natural defense system against other microbes
• Infectious disease are disorders caused by organisms like bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites
• prokayotes are miccroscopic, unicellular organisms that lack nuclei and membrane bound organelles.
• the genetic material of prokaryotes is in their nucleoid
• eukaryotes are unicellular and multicellular, with nucleus and membrane-bound organelles.
• viruses are acellular organisms, meaning they are not cells and cannot reproduce on their own as they lack either DNA or RNA
• viruses are parasitic particles composed of a nucleic acid and protein
• prokaryotes are measured in micrometers, viruses in nanometers, and helminths in milimeters
• Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek was a dutch linen merchant who was first to observe living microbes.
• Leeuwenhoek's first microscope single-lens magnified up to 300x, and called his discoveries as animalcules
• Robert Hooke coined the term cell, basing it on prison cells
• Aristotle articulated the theory of spontaneous generation
• according to Aristotle, nonliving materials can have life arising from them if they contained pneuma or vital heat
• Francesco Redi put meat in an open, cork-sealed, and gauze-covered container and therefore demonstrated that maggots were the offspring of flies rather than spontaneous generation
• John Needham argued that microbes arose spontaneously in broth from a "life force"
• Lazzaro Spallanzani aimed to disprove Needham's claims
• Matthias Schleiden and Theodore Schwann formulated the cell theory, stating that cells are the fundamental units of life and carry out all the basic functions of living things
• John Tyndall and Ferdinand Cohn each demonstrated the presence of heat resistant forms of some microbes - Cohn determined these forms to be endospores
• Sterility eliminates all life forms including endospores and viruses
• Joseph Lister introduced disinfection of hands using chemicals prior to surgery and the use of heat for sterilization as a way of reducing microbes in medical settings
• pathogens and germ theory of disease states that certain diseases occurring in nature are due to microorganisms/microbes growing in the body rather than sins, bad character, etc.
• the two main contributors of pathogens and germ theory of disease are Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch
• paul ehrlich pioneered the development of chemotherapy for infectious disease
• The formal system of taxonomy was originated by Carl von Linne
• classification is the orderly arrangement of organizms into groups
• nomenclature is the assigning of names
• identification is discovering and recording traits of organisms
• 3 domains:

  • bacteria - true bacteria, peptidoglycan
  • archaea - odd bacteria that live in extreme environments
  • eukarya - have nucleus and organelles
• in naming microorganisms:

  • each microbe is given 2 names
  • the genus is a noun that must always be capitalized
  • the species is an adjective and is in lowercase.
  • both must be italicized or underlined
• nutrition is the process by which chemical substances are acquired from the environment for use in cellular activities like growth and metabolism
• Heterotrophs must obtain carbon in an organic form made by other living organisms (proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids)
• Autotrophs are organisms that use CO2 as carbon source. They are not nutritionally dependent on other living things