microbiology overview

• Archaea

  Single-celled organisms living in extreme environments, lacking peptidoglycan cell walls or cell wall entirely.
• Fungi

  Organisms with chitin walls, absorbing organic chemicals for energy. Yeasts are unicellular, while mold and mushrooms consist of masses of mycelia composed of hyphae filaments.
• Protozoa

  Microorganisms that absorb, ingest, or phagocytose organic chemicals. They may be motile via flagella, cilia, or pseudopods. Some are photosynthetic, free-living, or parasitic and can reproduce sexually or asexually.
• Algae

  Organisms with cellulose cell walls, found in freshwater, saltwater, and soil. They perform photosynthesis for energy, producing oxygen and carbohydrates. Can reproduce sexually or asexually.
• Viruses

  Acellular entities consisting of DNA or RNA core surrounded by a protein coat that may be enclosed by lipids. They can only replicate in a living host.
• Helminths


  Parasitic, multicellular animals, including flatworms and roundworms. They include microscopic stages in their life cycles.
• Mycology


  The study of fungi.
• Parasitology

  The study of protozoa and worms.
• Virology


  The study of viruses.
• Epidemiology


  The study of the transmission of diseases.
• Fermentation

  The microbial conversion of sugar to alcohol in the absence of air.
• Pasteurization

  The application of high heat for a short time to kill harmful bacteria in beverages.
• Chemotherapy

  The treatment of disease with chemicals.
• Antibiotics

  Chemicals produced by fungi and bacteria that inhibit or kill other microbes. Overuse can cause resistance.
• Spontaneous Generation


  The disproved hypothesis that life arises from nonliving matter.
• Biogenesis

  The hypothesis that living things arise only from pre-existing living cells.
• Microbe


  Tiny, living things that cannot be seen with the naked eye. They decompose organic waste, produce antibiotics and vitamins, aid in diagnostics, generate oxygen by photosynthesis, and ferment food.
• Microbiome


  Around 4 trillion bacterial cells living in our body. They help maintain good health, prevent the growth of pathogenic microbes, and may maintain the immune system's ability to discriminate threats.
• Transient Microbiota

  Microbes present for a short time that don't cause disease.
• Kingdoms


  Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista, Archaea, Eubacteria, and Bacteria are the seven kingdoms.
• Robert Hooke

  Improved the compound light microscope and determined that living things have cells.
• Francesco Redi

  Proved biogenesis by showing maggots growing on uncovered meat, but not on gauze covered (where air or the 'vital source' was present).
• Louis Pasteur

  Demonstrated that microbes caused fermentation and disease, and developed the process of pasteurization.
• Germ Theory

  The theory that disease is caused by microorganisms.
• Pure Cultures

  Cultures that allow disease to be linked with specific bacteria.
• Edward Jenner

  Created the idea of vaccination through cowpox.