Introduction & History of Microbiology

The Microbial World and You

Microorganisms = Living things too small to be seen with the unaided eye

The Microbial World and You

Importance of microorganisms :
for the maintenance of an ecological balance on Earth some microorganisms live in humans and other animals and are needed to maintain the host's health For the production of foods and chemicals

Some microorganisms cause disease = pathogenic

Naming and Classifying Microorganisms (Taxonomy)

System of nomenclature by Carolus Linnaeus (1735):

each living organism is assigned two names

genus and a specific epithet, both of which are underlined or italicized.

Naming and Classifying Microorganisms (Taxonomy)

All organisms are classified on the basis of cellular structure into:

Bacteria Archaea Eukarya

Protista Fungi Plantae Animalia

Types of Microorganisms

Bacteria
unicellular organisms no nucleus and so are described as prokaryotic most have a peptidoglycan cell wall divide by binary fission may possess flagella can use a wide range of chemical substances for nutrition three major basic shapes of bacteria :

bacillus coccus spirillum

Types of Microorganisms

Peptidoglycan
huge polymer that envelopes the entire cell sheath can often be isolated molecules consist of strings of sugar molecules linked together by chains of amino acids into a huge network

Types of Microorganisms

Bacillus

Haemophilus influenzae on Sputum Culture Characteristic of Bacterial Pneumonia

Types of Microorganisms

Cocci

Types of Microorganisms

Types of Microorganisms

Spirillum

Types of Microorganisms

Archaea
prokaryotic cells cell walls if present lack peptidoglycan Include: methanogens halophiles extreme thermophiles

Types of Microorganisms

Some of the microbes in this picture are called methanogens (fancy name for methane makers). Methanogens live where there is no oxygen. Like other microbes that grow without oxygen, methanogens are called anaerobes. The methane produced by this community is used for fuel, a flammable gas known as natural gas used to heat your home.

Types of Microorganisms

Some of the microbes in this picture are called methanogens (fancy name for methane makers). Methanogens live where there is no oxygen. Like other microbes that grow without oxygen, methanogens are called anaerobes. The methane produced by this community is used for fuel, a flammable gas known as natural gas used to heat your home.

Types of Microorganisms

Halophiles
salt-loving organisms that inhabit hypersaline environments

Types of Microorganisms

Halobacteria

Types of Microorganisms

In the foreground red-coloured prokaryotes grow where the water is hotter.

Types of Microorganisms

Temperature ranges of microorganisms:

Psychrophiles (cold-loving) can grow at 0oC, and some even as low as -10oC; their upper limit is often about 25oC.

Mesophiles grow in the moderate temperature range, from about 20oC (or lower) to 45oC.
Thermophiles are heat-loving, with an optimum growth temperature of 50oC or more, a maximum of up to 70oC or more, and a minimum of about 20oC. Hyperthermophiles have an optimum above 75oC and thus can grow at the highest temperatures tolerated by any organism. An extreme example is the genus Pyrodictium, found on geothermally heated areas of the seabed. It has a temperature minimum of 82oC, optimum of 105o C and growth maximum of 110oC.

Types of Microorganisms

Fungi
include mushroom, molds, and yeasts have eukaryotic cells (with a true nucleus) most fungi are multicellular obtain nutrients by absorbing organic material from their environment

Types of Microorganisms

Protista
Protozoa Slime molds Algae

Types of Microorganisms

Protozoa
unicellular eukaryotes obtain nourishment by absorption or ingestion through specialized structures move by pseudopodia, cilia, flagella can reproduce sexually or asexually

Types of Microorganisms

Slime molds are usually placed in the kingdom Fungi, although some authorities now place them in the kingdom Protoctista (Protista). Most fungi are composed of threadlike filaments of eukaryotic cells called hyphae, collectively referred to as a mycelium. Slime molds are composed of an acellular mass of naked protoplasm with no cell walls in its vegetative state. They are typically found in damp, shady areas with abundant organic matter, although they may move to bright areas to "fruit."

Types of Microorganisms

Algae
photosynthetic eukaryotes sexual and asexual reproductive forms cellulose produce oxygen and carbohydrates

Types of Microorganisms

Plants
cell walls chlorophyll autotrophic photosynthetic

Types of Microorganisms
Multicellular Animals and Parasites

not microorganisms some stages of their life cycle are microscopic medical importance : helminths include 2 major groups: flatworms round worms

Types of Microorganisms

Viruses
So small can be seen only with the aid of electron microscope very simple structure core made up of only DNA or only RNA core is surrounded by a protein coat sometimes an envelope may be present reproduce by using cellular machinery of other organisms parasites of other forms of life

A Brief History of Microbiology

The First Observations

Robert Hooke

observed plant material was composed of "little boxes introduced the term "cell" (1665)

Hooke's observations laid the groundwork for development of the cell theory, the concept that all living things are composed of cells. Antoni van Leeuwenhoek

used a simple microscope was the first to observe microorganisms (1673)

A Brief History of Microbiology

The publication of Hookes Micrographia in 1665 marks one of the milestones in British science. This book contains numerous drawings of objects he viewed with the microscope: a bee sting, a razorblade, snow crystals, wood, cork and insects. He also created his own technique for the production of thin sections. In 1667 his studies on the composition of cork led him to suggest the use of the term cell, paving the way to the utilization of the same word in todays life sciences to describe the basic constituents of all living creatures.

Robert Hooke

A Brief History of Microbiology

The Debate over Spontaneous Generation

Until the mid-1880s, many believed in spontaneous generation, the idea that living organisms could arise from nonliving matter. Francesco Redi demonstrated that maggots appear on decaying meat only when flies are able to lay eggs on the meat (1668). John Needham claimed that microorganisms could arise spontaneously from heated nutrient broth (1745).

A Brief History of Microbiology

The Debate over Spontaneous Generation

Lazzaro Spallanzani repeated Needham's experiments and suggested that Needham's results were due to microorganisms in the air entering his broth (1765). Rudolf Virchow introduced the concept of biogenesis: Living cells can arise only from preexisting cells (1858).

Louis Pasteur demonstrated that microorganisms are in the air everywhere; offered proof of biogenesis (1861). Pasteur's discoveries led to the development of aseptic techniques used in laboratory and medical procedures to prevent contamination by microorganisms that are in the air.

Louis Pasteur

A Brief History of Microbiology

The Golden Age of Microbiology:

Rapid advances in the science of microbiology were made between 1857 and 1914.

A Brief History of Microbiology

Fermentation and Pasteurization

Pasteur found that yeast ferments sugars to alcohol and that bacteria can oxidize the alcohol to acetic acid.

A heating process called pasteurization is used to kill bacteria in some alcoholic beverages and milk.

Louis Pasteur

A Brief History of Microbiology

The Germ Theory of Disease

Agostino Bassi (1835) & Pasteur (1865) showed causal relationship between microorganisms and disease Joseph Lister introduced disinfectant to clean surgical dressings to control infections in humans (1860s) Robert Koch proved that microorganisms caused disease. Developed Koch's postulates (1876), a sequence of procedures to prove that a particular microorganism causes a particular disease.

Robert Koch

A page from Koch's lecture "The etiology of tuberculosis", delivered on 24 March 1882.

A Brief History of Microbiology

Vaccination
In a vaccination, immunity (resistance to a particular disease) is conferred by inoculation with a vaccine.

In 1798, Edward Jenner demonstrated that inoculation with cowpox material provides humans with immunity from smallpox. About 1880, Pasteur discovered that avirulent bacteria could be used as a vaccine for fowl cholera; he coined the word "vaccine". Modern vaccines are prepared from living avirulent microorganisms or killed pathogens, from isolated components of pathogens, or by recombinant DNA techniques.

Smallpox is the most deadly disease in our species history. Variola virus causes this disease and humans are the virus only natural host. It is transmitted person-to-person, most commonly through the air. Infected people exhale the virus from blisters in their mouth, and anyone who comes within 10 feet of a smallpox victim can inhale the aerosolized virus and catch the disease. There are no currently available anti-viral measures that doctors can use to treat smallpox. Antibiotics dont work. Vaccination, however, protects a person from contracting this disease. More than 300 million people died from smallpox from 1900 to 1978, when the last case in the world occurred. The last case in the United States was in 1949. Doctors and public health officials eradicated the disease by mass vaccination

Variola virus causes small pox

Edward Jenner

The Birth of Modern Chemotherapy Dreams of a "Magic Bullet"

Chemotherapy is the chemical treatment of a disease

Two types of chemotherapeutic agents are:

synthetic / semi-synthetic drugs : chemically prepared in the laboratory antibiotics: substances produced naturally by bacteria and fungi that inhibit the growth of other microorganisms

Paul Ehrlich introduced an arsenic-containing chemical called salvarsan to treat syphilis (1910). Coined terms "magic bullet" and "chemotherapy."

Paul Ehrlich

Salvarsan

The Birth of Modern Chemotherapy Dreams of a "Magic Bullet"

Alexander Fleming
observed that the mold (fungus) Penicillium inhibited the growth of a bacterial culture named the active ingredient "penicillin" (1928)

Penicillin has been used clinically as an antibiotic since the 1940s. In 1939, Rene Dubos discovered two antibiotics produced by the bacterium Bacillus. Researchers are tackling the problem of drugresistant microbes.

Alexander Fleming

Modern Developments in Microbiology

Bacteriology: bacteria
Virology: viruses Mycology: fungi Parasitology: parasitic protozoa (protozoology) and worms.

Modern Developments in Microbiology

Genomics: the study of all of an organism's genes, to classify bacteria, fungi, and protozoa.
Immunology: study of AIDS, analysis of interferon action, and the development of new vaccines are among the current research interests in immunology.

Molecular biology and electron microscopy have provided tools for advancement of our knowledge of virology. Recombinant DNA technology has helped advance all areas of microbiology.

Microbes and Human Welfare

Microorganisms
degrade dead plants and animals (saprophytes; saprophytic) recycle chemical elements to be used by living plants and animals.

Bacteria
decompose organic matter in sewage

Bioremediation processes
use bacteria to clean up toxic wastes.

Biological controls
bacteria that cause diseases in insects Kill insect pests specific for the pest and do not harm the environment.

Microbes and Human Welfare

Biotechnology
Use of microbes to make products such as foods and chemicals

Recombinant DNA
bacteria can produce substances such as proteins, vaccines, and enzymes

Gene therapy
viruses are used to carry replacements for defective or missing genes into human cells.

Genetic engineering
used in agriculture to protect plants from frost and insects and to improve the shelf life of produce

Microbes and Human Disease

normal microbiota or normal flora. pathogenicity; virulence

Everyone has microorganisms in and on the body

disease-producing properties of a species of microbe and the host's resistance (immune response) are important factors in determining whether a person will contract a disease

infectious disease

one in which pathogens invade a susceptible host

emerging infectious disease (EID)

is a new or changing disease shows an increase in incidence in the recent past or a potential to increase in the near future