MICROPARA MIDTERMS

• Microbiology


  Advanced biology course that studies microbes
• Microbes


  Extremely small (microscopic) living organisms and certain non living entities
• Living microbes


  • Bacteria
  • Archaea
  • Some algae
  • Protozoa
  • Some fungi
• Nonliving microbes


  • Viroids
  • Prions
  • Viruses
• Ubiquitous


  Found virtually everywhere
• Germs


  Microbes that cause disease
• Pathogens


  Disease-causing microbes
• Nonpathogens


  Microbes that do not cause disease; vast majority of microbes are nonpathogens
• Indigenous microbiota


  Microbes that live on and in our bodies
• Opportunistic pathogens


  Microbes that can cause disease, but usually do not; they can be thought of as microbes that are awaiting the opportunity to cause disease
• Microbes play significant roles in our lives; they are essential for life on this planet
• Photosynthetic algae and bacteria produce much of the oxygen in our atmosphere
• Microorganisms are involved in the decomposition of dead organisms and waste products
• Saprophytes


  Organisms that live on dead or decaying organic matter
• Bioremediation


  Use of microbes to clean up toxic wastes and other industrial waste products
• Many microbes play essential roles in various elemental cycles, such as the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, and phosphorus cycles
• Algae and bacteria serve as food for tiny animals; important links in food chains
• Microbes that live in the intestinal tracts of animals aid in the digestion of food and produce beneficial substances
• For many years, microorganisms have been used as "cell models"; the more the scientists learned about microbial cells, the more they learned about cells in general
• Microbes are used in many industries, such as food, beverage, chemical, and antibiotic industries and in genetic engineering
• Genetic engineering


  A gene(s) from one organism is inserted into a bacterial or yeast cell; the cell that receives the new gene(s) is then capable of producing the gene product(s) coded for by the new gene(s)
• Biotechnology


  The use of living organisms or their derivatives to make or modify useful products or processes
• Fossils of primitive microorganisms date back about 3.5 billion years
• Candidates for the first microorganisms on Earth

  • Archaea
  • Cyanobacteria
• Infectious diseases of humans and animals have existed for as long as humans and animals have inhabited the planet
• Earliest known account of pestilence occurred in Egypt


  About 3180 BC
• Anton Van Leeuwenhoek


  Father of Microbiology, not a trained scientist, made many simple single-lens microscopes, observed "animalcules" (bacteria and protozoa)
• Louis Pasteur


  French chemist who made numerous contributions to microbiology, investigated different fermentation products, developed the pasteurization process, discovered life forms that could exist without oxygen (anaerobes), developed several vaccines, including rabies and anthrax vaccines
• Robert Koch


  German physician who made numerous contributions to microbiology, made significant contributions to the germ theory of disease, discovered the Bacillus Anthracis produced spores, developed methods of fixing and staining bacteria, developed methods to cultivate bacteria
• Koch's Postulates


  1. A particular microbe must be found in all cases of the disease and must not be present in healthy animals or humans

  2. The microbe must be isolated from the diseased animal or human and grown in pure culture in the laboratory

  3. The same disease must be produced when microbes from the pure culture are inoculated into healthy susceptible laboratory animals

  4. The same microbe must be recovered from the experimentally infected animals and grown again in pure culture
• If an organism fulfills Koch's Postulates, it has been proven to be the cause of that particular infectious disease
• Koch's Postulates helped prove the germ theory of disease
• Koch gave a tremendous boost to the development of microbiology by stressing laboratory culture and identification of microorganisms
• Circumstances do exist in which Koch's Postulates cannot be fulfilled
• Microbiologist


  A scientist who studies microbes
• Career fields within the science of microbiology

  • Bacteriology
  • Phycology
  • Protozoology
  • Mycology
  • Parasitology
  • Virology
• Medical microbiology


  Involves the study of pathogens, the disease they cause, and the body's defenses against disease; concerned with epidemiology, transmission of pathogens, disease-prevention measures, aseptic techniques, treatment of infectious diseases, immunology, and production of vaccines
• Metric units


  Used to express the sizes of microbes
• Meter (m)


  The basic unit of length in the metric system, equivalent to 39.4 inches
• Micrometer (μm)


  One millionth of a meter, used to express the sizes of bacteria and protozoa