CHAPTER 1: The Microbial World

and You

Microbes : also called

microorganism

Minute living things that are too small

to be seen with the unaided eye

Includes bacteria, fungi (yeast &

molds), protozoa, algae, viruses

Majority helps maintain the balance of

living organisms & chemicals in our
environment

Certain microbes play important role

in photosynthesis, a food- and oxygengenerating process

They are used in the synthesis of

chemical products such as vitamins,
organic acids, enzymes, alcohols, and
many drugs

Minority of microorganisms are

pathogenic (diease-producing)

Chaim Weizmann
Discovered the process by which
microbes produce acetone and butanol in
1914
Russian-born chemist working in
England
Nomenclature
Established by Carolus Linnaeus in
1735
Latin is the language commonly used
by scholars
Assigns organisms two name:
Genus (plural : genera) the first
name and is always capitalized
Specific epithet (species name)
follows and is not capitalized
Both names are underlined or
italicized
Scientific names can:
describe an organism
honor a researcher
identify the habitat of a species

Staphylococcus aureus
A bacterium commonly found on
human skin
Staphylo- describes the clustered
arrangement of the cells
Coccus indicates that they are
shaped like spheres
The specific epithet aureus is
Latin for golden, the color of many
colonies of this bacterium
Types of Microorganisms
Bacteria (singular: bacterium)
simple, single-celled
(unicellular) organisms
they are prokaryotes (no
nuclear membrane), from
Greek words meaning prenucleus
they come in several
shapes:
Bacillus : rodlike
Coccus: spherical or
ovoid
Spiral: corkscrew or
curved
Star-shaped
Square
Enclosed in cell walls that
are largely composed of
carbohydrates and protein
complex called
peptidoglycan
Generally reproduce by
dividing into two equal cells
called binary fission
For nutrition they use
organic and inorganic
chemicals or by
photosynthesis
Can swim by using
appendages called flagella
Archaea

Prokaryotic cells
Cell walls lack
peptidoglycan
Lives in extreme
environment, divided into
three main groups

Methanogens produce
methane as waste product from
respiration
Extreme halophiles (halo= salt;
philic= loving) live in extremely
salty environments such as Great
Salt Lake & Dead Sea
Extreme thermophiles (therm=
heat) live in hot sulfurous water
such as hot springs at Yellowstone
National Park
They are not known to cause disease
in humans
Fungi (singular: fungus)
Eukaryotes, organisms whose cells
have a distinct nucleus containing the
cells DNA surrounded by a special
envelope called nuclear membrane
Unicellular or multicellular
No photosynthesis
True fungi have cell walls composed
primarily of a substance called chitin
Yeasts oval microorganisms that
are larger than bacteria
Molds forms visible masses of
mycelia, which are composed of
long filaments (hyphae) that
branch and intertwine
They reproduce sexually or asexually
For nutrition they absorb organic
material from the environment - soil,
seawater, freshwater, or animal or plant
host
Slime molds have
characteristics of both fungi and
amoebas

Protozoa (singular: protozoan)

Unicellular, eukaryotic microbes
Move by pseudopods (false feet),
flagella , or cilia (numerous short
appendages)
Amoeba move by using
extensions of their cytoplasm
called pseudopods
Have variety of shapes
Lives as free entities or as parasites
(organisms that derive nutrients from
living hosts)
For nutrition they ingest
organic compounds from
their environment
Euglena photosynthetic, they
use light as source of
energy and CO2 as
their chief source of
carbon to produce
sugars
They reproduce sexually or
asexually
Algae (singular: alga)
Photosynthetic eukaryotes
Wide variety of shapes
Reproduce sexually and
asexually
Cell walls of many algae are
composed of a carbohydrate
called cellulose
Abundant in fresh and salt
water, soil, and in
association in plants
Needs light, water, co2 for
food production and growth
Produce oxygen and
carbohydrates
Plays an important role in
the balance of nature
Viruses

so small that most can be

seen only with an electron
microscope
acellular (not cellular)
simple structure:
DNA or RNA nucleic acid as its
core
Protein coat
surrounds the core
Lipid envelope
encases the coat
Reproduce only by using the
cellular machinery of other
organisms; only multiply
within host cells they infect

Multicellular Animal Parasites

Eukaryotes
Two major groups of parasitic worms
are the flatworms and the roundworms
collectively called helminths
Classification of Microorganisms
Carl Woese (1978) devised a
system of classification based on the
cellular organization of organisms
Three domains:
Bacteria (cell walls contain a
protein-carbohydrate complex called
peptidoglycan)
Archaea (cell walls, if present, lack
peptidoglycan)
Eukarya :
Protists (slime molds,
protozoa, algae)
Fungi (unicellular yeasts,
multicellular molds,
mushrooms)
Plants (mosses, ferns,
conifers, flowering plants)
Animals (sponges, worms,
insects, vertebrates)

A Brief History of Microbiology

Bacterial ancestors were the first living
cells to appear on earth
The First Observations
Robert Hooke (1665)
Englishman
Observed a thin slice of cork
through a relatively crude
microscope
Reported that lifes smallest units
were little boxes or cells as he
called them
Cell theory all living things
are composed of cells
Anton van Leeuwenhoek
Dutch merchant and amateur
scientist
First to actually observe live
microorganisms through
magnifying lenses of more than
400 microscopes he constructed
Between 1673 and 1723, he
wrote a series of letters to the
Royal Society of London
describing the animalcules he
saw through his simple, singlelens microscope
The Debate Over Spontaneous
Generation
Spontaneous generation
some forms of life could arise
spontaneously from nonliving
matter
Evidence Pro and Con
Francesco Reidi (1668)
demonstrate that maggots did not
arise spontaneously from
decaying meat

- they claimed that fresh air

was needed for spontaneous
generation
2 jars w/
decaying
meat
1st jar :
unsealed

2nd jar : sealed

Results

Flies laid eggs

on the meat and
developed into
larvae
Flies could not
lay eggs on the
meats, so no
maggots
appeared

John Needham (1745)

Englishman; found out that even
after he heated nutrient fluids
(chicken and corn broth) before
pouring them into covered flasks,
the cooled solutions were soon
teeming with microorganisms
-claimed that microbes
developed spontaneously
from fluids
-after spallanzanis
experiment, he claimed that
vital force is necessary for
spontaneous generation
had been destroyed by the
heat and kept out of the
flask by seals
Lazzaro Spallanzani Italian
scientist, suggested that
microorganisms from the air
probably had entered Needhams
solutions after they were boiled
- Spallanzani showed that
nutrients fluids heated after
being sealed in a flask did not
develop microbial growth

Anton Laurent Lavoisier showed

importance of oxygen to life
- there was not enough oxygen
in the sealed flasks to support
microbial life
The Theory of Biogenesis
Rudolf Virchow (1858)
German scientist
challenged the case for spontaneous
generation with the concept of
biogenesis, the claim that living cells
can arise only from preexisting cells
Louis Pasteur (1861)
Demonstrated that microorganisms
are present in the air & can contaminate
sterile solutions, but air itself does not
create microbes
Showed that microorganisms can be
present in non-living matter (solids,
liquids, and in the air)
Aseptic Techniques
Techniques that prevent
contamination by unwanted
microorganisms, which are now the
standard practice in laboratory and
many medical procedures
His basis when he demonstrated
conclusively that microbial life can
be destroyed by heat and that
methods can be devised to block the
access of airborne microorganisms to
nutrient environments

The Golden Age of Microbiology

Golden Age of Microbiology
(1857-1914)
Pasteur & Robert Koch led to
the establishment of microbiology
as a science

fever) from on OB patient to

another
Robert Koch (1876)
Made the first proof that bacteria
actually cause disease
German physician, Pasteurs younger
rival in the race to discover the cause of
anthrax (disease that was destroying
cattle and sheep in Europe)
Bacillus anthracis discovered a
rod-shaped bacteria in the blood of
cattle that has diead of anthrax
Kochs Postulates a sequence of
experimental steps for directly relating a
specific microbe to a specific disease

Fermentation and Pasteurization

Fermentation - yeasts convert
the sugars into alcohol in the
absence of air
- process used to make wine
and beer
Bacteria - in the presence of air,
it change the alcohol into vinegar
(acetic acid)
Pasteurization Pasteurs
solution by heating the beer and
wine just enough to kill most of
the bacteria that cause spoilage
- commonly used to reduce
spoilage and kill potentially
harmful bacteria in milk and in
some alcoholic drinks
The Germ Theory of Disease
Germ Theory of Disease
microorganisms might cause
disease
In 1865 Pasteur believed that
another silkworm disease was
caused by a protozoan
In 1835 Agostino Bassi, an
amateur microscopist, proved that
another silkworm disease was
caused by a fungus
In 1860s Joseph Lister, an
English surgeon, applied theory to
medical procedures
- believes that phenol (carbolic
acid) kills bacteria, so he began
treating wounds with phenol
solution
In 1840s Ignaz Semmelweis
had demonstrated physicians who
at the did not disinfect their
hands, routinely transmitted
infections (puerperal, child-birth,

Vaccination
Edward Jenner (May 4,1796)
Young British physician
Embarked on an experiment to find a
way to protect people from smallpox
Vaccination
from the Latin word vacca meaning
cow
Immunity
The protection from disease provided
by vaccination or recovery from the
disease itself
Virulence / Avirulent
Lost of the ability to cause disease
Vaccine
Term for cultures of avirulent
microorganisms used for preventive
inoculation

The Birth of a Modern Chemotherapy:

Dreams of a Magic Bullet
Chemotherapy
Treatment of disease by using
chemical substances
Commonly refers to chemical
treatment of non-infectious disease
such as cancer
Antibiotics

Chemicals produced naturally by

bacteria and fungi to act against other
microorganisms
Synthetic Drugs
Chemotherapeutic agents
prepared from chemicals in the
laboratory
The First Synthetic Drugs

Bacteriology study of
bactieria
Heidi Schulz (1997)
Discovered a bacterium
large enough to be seen
with the unaided eye
Thiomargarita
namibienisis lives in
mud on African coast and
consumes hydrogen
sulfide which would be
toxic to mud-dwelling
animals

Paul Ehrlich (1910)

German physician
Who fired the first shot in the
chemotherapy revolution
Mycology - study of fungi
He found a chemotherapeutic
Parasitology study of protozoa
agent called salvarsan (an
and parasitic worms
arsenic derivative effective

Rod of Asclepius
against syphilis) it was
Medical symbol
considered to offer salvation
Represents the removal of
from syphilis and contained
parasitic guinea worms
arsenic

Asclepius
Quinine used to treat malaria
Greek physician who practiced
from the bark of a South
about 1200 B.C.
American tree
Defied as god of medicine
Genomics study of all of an
Sulfonamides
organisms genes
Sulfa drugs

Allowed scientists to classify bacteria

Synthesized
& fungi according to their genetic
relationships with other bacteria, fungi,
A Fortunate Accident Antibiotics
and protozoa
Immunology study of immunity
Alexander Fleming

Rebecca Lancefield
Scottish physician &
Proposed that streptococci be
bacteriologist
classified according to
Discovered the first antibiotic
stereotypes (variants within a
Mold was later identified as
species) based on their
Penicillium notatum then
component in the cell walls of the
renamed as Penicillium
bacteria
chrysogenum

Interferons (1960)
named the molds active
Substances produced by the
inhibitor penicillin (first
bodys own immune system were
antibiotic produced by a fungus)
discovered
AIDS a disease that destroys
Modern Developments of Microbiology
the immune system

Virology study of viruses

Originated during the Golden Age of
Microbiology
Dmitri Iwanowski (1892)
Reported that the organism that
caused mosaic disease of tobacco
was so small that it passed
through small filters fine enough
to stop all known bacteria
He was not aware that it is a virus
Wendell Stanley (1935)
Demonstrated that the organism
called tobacco mosaic virus
(TMV), was fundamentally
different from other microbes &
so simple and homogenous it
could be crystallized like a
chemical compound
His work facilitated the study of
viral structure and chemistry

Demonstrated the relationship

between genes and enzymes

Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod,

Maclyn McCarty (1944)
DNA was established as the
hereditary material
Joshua Lederberg & Edward
Tatum (1946)
Discovered that genetic material
could be transferred from one
bacterium to another by process
of conjugation
James Watson & Francis Crick
(1953)
Proposed a model for the
structure and replication of DNA

Francois Jacob & Jacques Monod

(1961)
Recombinant DNA Technology

Discovered messenger RNA

Paul Berg (1960s)
(ribonucleic acid), a chemical involved
Showed that fragments of human
in protein synthesis, and later they
or animal DNA that code for
made the first major discoveries about
important proteins can be
the regulation of gene function in
attached to bacterial DNA
bacteria
Recombinant DNA Technology
Microbes and Human Welfare
involves:
Recycling Vital Elements
Microbial genetics
Studies the mechanisms by
Martinus Beijerinck & Sergei
which microorganisms
Winogradsky (1880s)
inherit traits

First to show how bacteria help recycle

Molecular Biology
vital elements between the soil and the
Studies how genetic
atmosphere
information is carried in
molecules of DNA and how
Microbial Ecology
DNA directs the synthesis

The study of the relationship

of proteins
between microorganisms and their
George Beadle & Edward
Tatum (1941)

environment
Branched out and include the study of
how microbial populations interact

with plants and animals in various

environments
C, N, O, S, P are essential for life and
abundant, but not necessarily in forms
that organisms can use

Normal Microbiota protect us

against disease by preventing the
overgrowth of harmful microbes
- produces substances like
vitamin K and B
Resistance - the ability to ward
off diseases

Bioremediation: Using Mcirobes to

Clean Up Pollutants

Biofilms

Bioremediation by using bacteria

in these ways, toxins can be removed from
underground wells, chemical spills, toxic waste
sites, and oil spills

Bacterial Enzymes used in drain

cleaners to remove clogs without adding
harmful chemicals to the environment

Pseudomonas & Bacillus

commonly used microbes of certain species of
bacteria of the following genera

Bacillus enzymes also used in

household detergents to remove spots in
clothing

Biofilm complex aggregation of

microbes
Infectious Diseases
Infectious disease a disease
in which pathogens invade a
susceptible host, such as human
or animals
Emerging Infectious Disease
Emerging Infectious Disease these are diseases that are new
or changing and are increasing or
have potential to increase in the
near future

Insect Pest Control by Microorganisms

Bacillus thuringiensis produce

protein crystals that are toxic to the digestive
systems of the insects

H1N1 influenza (flu)

Also known as swine flu
Caused by influenza
H1N1
Global epidemic disease

Modern Biotechnology and

Recombinant DNA Technology
Biotechnology - use of
microorganisms to produce some
common foods and chemicals
Gene therapy important
outcome of recombinant DNA
techniques
- inserting a missing gene or
replacing a defective one in
human cells

Avian influenza A (H5N1)

Or bird flu
West Nile encephalitis (WNE)
Inflammation of the brain caused by
West Nile virus

Bovine Spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE)
Microbes and Human Disease

Also called as mad cow disease

Normal Microbiota

One of a handful diseases caused by

infectious protein called prion

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)

Human Immunodeficiency Virus
A human disease also caused by prion(HIV)

Cause of AIDS (Acquired

Escherichia coli
Immunodeficiency Virus)

Normal inhabitant of the large

Destroys CD4+ T cells, one type of

intestine of vertebrates
white blood cell important to immune

It helps produce certain vitamins and

system defense
breaks down undigested foodstuffs

E.coli O157:H7
Causes bloody diarrhea when it grows
in the intestines