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- Cause plant diseases and some * There must have been a single molecule that could
important animal diseases such as do both cellular work and replicate itself.
hepatitis
5. Prions
- Infectious agents
- Composed of only protein
- Responsible for causing a variety of
spongiform encephalopathies
*Microbes are the dominant organisms on Earth.
Evidence for Origin of Life
Definition of life
- cells and organization
- response to environmental changes
- growth and development
- biological evolution
- energy use and metabolism
- regulation and homeostasis
- reproduction
Attributes of importance to paleobiologist are an:
Thomas Cech, 1981
- Orderly structure
- The ability to obtain and use energy - Discovered a catalytic RNA molecule in a
(metabolism) protist (Tetrahymena sp.)
- Ability to reproduce, *RNA found in ribosomes that is responsible for
Extant organisms forming peptide bonds – bonds that hold together
amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.
- Organisms present today, to explore the
origin of life Ribozymes – catalytic RNA molecules
- Some have the represent “relics” of ancient Original molecule must have fulfilled protein and
life forms hereditary function
Microbial Fossil - Ribozymes
- RNA molecules that form peptide
bonds
* The first discovery of primitive - perform cellular work and
cellular life was the 1977 discovery of replication
microbial fossils in the Swartkoppie - Earliest cells may have been RNA
chert. surrounded by liposomes
Chert is a type of granular Walter Gilbert, 1986
sedimentary rock rich in silica
- Coined the term RNA world
Swartkoppie chert fossils as well as RNA world
those from the Archaean Apex Chart of - To describe a precellular stage in the
Australia have been dated about 3.5 evolution of life in genetic
billion years old. information, as well as catalyzing
Earliest Molecules – RNA other chemical reactions
- A lipid membrane must have formed
Three different molecules fulfill the roles of: around RNA
- Liposomes – vesicle bounded by a lipid
1. Catalysts
bilayer
2. Structural molecules
3. Hereditary molecules Marin Hanczyc, Shelly Fujikawa and Jack Szostak,
2003
Proteins have two major roles in modern cells:
1. Structural
2. Catalytic
- Earliest microscopic observation of Georg Friedrich Schroder and Theodor von Dusch
organisms - allowed air to enter a flask of heat-sterilized
- Using a microscope supplied by Galileo
medium after it had passed through sterile
Robert Hoek cotton wool
- results: No growth occurred in the medium
- Credited with publishing the first drawing of even though the air had not been heated
microorganisms in the scientific literature
- Detailed drawing of fungus Mucor in his Pouchet
book Mircigraphia - claimed in 1959, to have carried out
- Prototype of the microscopes built experiments conclusively proving that
and used by the amateur Antony van microbial growth could occur without air
Leeuwenhoek contaminations
Antony van Leeuwenhoek of Delft, the Netherlands Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)
- Simple microscope composed double - ‘Swan-neck flask’ experiments
convex glass lenses held between two silver - placed nutrient solution in flasks
plates. - created flasks with long, curved
- Magnifies 50 to 300 times necks
- At 45-degree angle - boiled the solutions
- Sent detailed letters describing his - left flasks exposed to air
discoveries to the Royal Society of London - results: no growth of microorganisms
- Both bacteria and protists - also showed how to keep solutions sterile
Spontaneous generation – that living organisms Final Blow to Theory of Spontaneous Generation
could develop from non-living matter
John Tyndall (1820-1893)
Who challenged it?
- demonstrated that dust carries
Francesco Redi, Italian Physician microorganisms
- Discredited spontaneous generation - showed that if dust was absent, nutrient
- showed that maggots on decaying meat broths remained sterile, even if directly
came from fly eggs exposed to air
- also provided evidence for the existence of
John Needham (1713-1781) exceptionally heat-resistant forms of
- his experiment: bacteria
- mutton broth in flasks → boiled •Ferdinand Cohn (1828-1898)
→sealed
- results: broth became cloudy and contained - heat-resistant bacteria could produce
microorganisms endospores
- he thought organic matter contained a vital
force that could confer the properties of life
on nonliving matter.
NOTE: this preceded the work establishing the role Major Fields in Microbiology
of microorganisms in disease!
- Medical microbiology – diseases of humans
Emil von Behring (1854-1917) and Shibasaburo and animals
Kitasato (1852-1931) - Public health microbiology – control and
spread of communicable diseases
- developed antitoxins for diphtheria and - Immunology – how the immune system
tetanus protects a host from pathogens
- evidence for humoral (antibody-based) - Microbial ecology is concerned with the
immunity relationship of organisms with their
Elie Metchnikoff (1845-1916) environment
- –less than 1% of earth’s microbial
- discovered bacteria-engulfing, phagocytic population has been cultured
cells in the blood - Agricultural microbiology is concerned with
- evidence for cellular immunity the impact of microorganisms on agriculture
The Development of Industrial Microbiology and - food safety microbiology
Microbial Ecology - animal and plant pathogens
- Industrial microbiology began in the 1800s
Louis Pasteur - fermentation
- antibiotic production
- demonstrated that alcohol fermentations
- production of cheese, bread, etc.
and other fermentations were the result of
- Microbial physiology studies metabolic
microbial activity
pathways of microorganisms
- developed the process of pasteurization to
- Molecular biology, microbial genetics, and
preserve wine during storage
bioinformatics study the nature of genetic
Developments in Microbial Ecology information and how it regulates the
development and function of cells and
Sergei Winogradsky (1856-1953) and Martinus organisms
Beijerinck (1851-1931) - Microbes are a model system of genomics
- studied soil microorganisms and discovered
numerous interesting metabolic processes
(e.g., nitrogen fixation)
- pioneered the use of enrichment cultures
and selective media
Microbiology Has Basic and Applied Aspects
- Basic aspects are concerned with individual
groups of microbes, microbial physiology,
genetics, molecular biology and taxonomy
- Applied aspects are concerned with practical
problems – disease, water, food and
industrial microbiology
Molecular and Genomic Methods
- Led to a second golden age of microbiology
(rapid expansion of knowledge)
Discoveries
- restriction endonucleases (Arber and Smith)
- first novel recombinant molecule (Jackson,
Symons, Berg)
- DNA sequencing methods (Woese, Sanger)
- bioinformatics and genomic sequencing and
analysis