You are on page 1of 37

19/01/2015

1. Microorganisms and
Microbiology

Chapter outline

1.1 What is a microbe?


1.2 The importance of Microbiology
1.3 Microbes in our lives
1.4 The history of microbiology
1.5 Important events in the development
of microbiology

1
19/01/2015

Concepts
 Microorganisms are responsible for many of the changes
observed in organic and inorganic matter (e.g.,
fermentation and the carbon, nitrogen and sulfur cycles
that occurred in nature.

 The development of microbiology as a scientific discipline


has depended on the availability of the microscope and the
ability to isolate and grow pure cultures of microorganisms.

 Microbiology is a large discipline, which has a great impact


on other areas of biology and general human welfare

1.1 What is a microbe?

The word microbe (microorganism) is used to


describe an organism that is so small that can
not be seen without the use of a microscope.
Viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and some
algae are all included in this category.

2
19/01/2015

Our world is populated by


invisible creatures too small to
be seen with the unaided eye.
These life forms, the microbes
or microorganisms, may be
seen only by magnifying their
image with a microscope.

Microbial world

Organisms Infectious agents


(living) (non-living)

Prokaryotes
eukaryotes viruses viroids prions
(unicellular)

Eubacteria Archaea Algae Fungi Protozoa Other


(unicellular (unicellular (unicellular) (multicellular
or or organisms)
multicellular) multicellular)

3
19/01/2015

The size and cell type of microbes

Most of the bacteria, protozoa, and fungi are


single-celled microorganisms, and even the
multicelled microbes do not have a great range
of cell types. Viruses are not even cells, just
genetic material surrounded by a protein coat
and incapable of independent existence.

The size and cell type of microbes


Microbe Approximate range of Cell type
sizes
Viruses 0.01-0.25µm Acellular
Bacteria 0.1-10µm Prokaryote
Fungi 2µm->1m Eukaryote
Protozoa 2-1000µm Eukaryote
Algae 1µm-several meters Eukaryote

4
19/01/2015

Why is microbiology interesting?

 Microbes can be harmful


but are a necessary part of
our lives

The Importance of Microorganisms

 The emergence of
higher life forms
 Biogeochemical
cycling
 Huge diversity and
physiological
capacities
 Relationships with
higher organisms

5
19/01/2015

6
19/01/2015

What does microbiology refer to?


 Microbiology is the study of microorganisms,
which can be unicellular or cell-cluster
microscopic organisms
– This includes eukaryotes: fungi and protists AND
prokaryotes: bacteria and certain algae
– Viruses, though not strictly classed as living
organisms, are also studied.
– Microbiology is a broad term which includes many
branches including virology, mycology,
parasitology and others.

Microorganisms as cells
 Cell is fundamental unit
of life
 Compartmentalized
 Dynamic systems
 Cells constantly
communicate and
exchange materials with
their environment

7
19/01/2015

Cell Chemistry
and Key Structures
 Four main components (macromolecules):
– Proteins
– Nucleic acids
– Lipids
– Polysaccharides
 Key structures:
– Cytoplasmic membrane
– Cytoplasm
– Nucleus

Characteristics of Living Systems

8
19/01/2015

9
19/01/2015

10
19/01/2015

11
19/01/2015

Cells as Machines and


as Coding Devices

The First Cells: when/where did the


first cell come from a non cell??

 Your just a bag of carbon,


oxygen, and hydrogen
 The RNA world
– Naked RNA are agents
of catalysis and coding
 First self replicating entity
had at least two properties:
– 1. Means of obtaining
energy
– 2. Form of heredity

12
19/01/2015

Microorganisms and Their


Natural Environments
 Cells live in assemblages
called populations
 Habitat: location in the
environment where
microbial population lives
 Microbial communities:
– Where populations live and
interact with other
populations
 Study of microorganisms in
their natural habitat is
called microbial ecology

The Effect of Organisms on Each


Other and on Their Habitats

Populations interact in various ways that


can be both harmful and beneficial
 Interaction between populations and
with physical/chemical environment

13
19/01/2015

The Extent of Microbial Life

 Reservoirs of essential nutrients for life


 Total carbon equals that of all plants on
earth
 Prokaryotes comprise the major portion
of the Earth’s total biomass: 5 X 1030
cells
 Most prokaryotes lie underground in
oceanic and terrestrial subsurfaces

1.4 The Impact of Microorganisms


on Humans
 Microorganisms as disease agents
 Agriculture
 Food
 Energy and the Environment
 The Future: biotech

14
19/01/2015

15
19/01/2015

 Important in C,N,S
cycle
 Convert elements to
a form that is readily
accessible to plants

 Negatives: Food
spoilage and food
borne diseases
– E.coli in spinach

16
19/01/2015

Energy of the Future??

 Microbial fuel cells


– Geobacter sp. are of interest
because of their novel electron
transfer capabilities
 Obtain energy from iron
oxides
 Can transfer electrons to the
surface of electrodes
 Use “nanowires” to shunt
electrons produced during
metabolic reactions onto the
surface of mineral grains in
the soil, to be taken up by
metal ions

17
19/01/2015

“The role of the infinitely small


in nature is infinitely large” --
Louis Pasteur

18
19/01/2015

The birth of microbiology:


Pathways of discovery
 Slow to develop
 Two events:
– Invention of the microscope
– Spontaneous generation controversy
 The Historical Roots of Microbiology:
Hooke, van Leeuwenhoek, and Cohn

Early Microscopy

 Microscopes were crude,


and lacked resolution even
though they were
compounding.
 Some descriptions of
bacteria, but very poorly
seen
 Yet, considering the tools
many discoveries were
made

19
19/01/2015

Robert Hooke

 Described fruiting
structures of molds
in 1665
 First person to
describe
microorganisms

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

 Dutch draper and


amateur microscope
builder
 Contemporary of
Robert Hooke
 First person to
observe bacteria in
1676
 “wee animalcules”

20
19/01/2015

Slow growth

 After initial discovery of tiny organisms,


the field was slow to develop for the
next 150 yrs.
 Two things became focus as the field
moved from the mid to late 19th century
– Spontaneous generation
– Nature of infectious diseases

Ferdinand Cohn (1828-1898):


Science of Bacteriology
 Contemporary of Koch
and Pastuer
 A botanist by trade
 Discovered endospores
 Laid groundwork for
bacterial classification
 Sterilization techniques
 Founded a major
scientific journal

21
19/01/2015

Cohn cont.
 Identified sulfur
bacterium Beggiatoa
mirabilis
 Became interested in
heat resistant bacterium
– Led him to discover
Bacillus genus
– Described entire life
cycle
– (vegetative cell-
endospore-vegetative
cell)
– Heat did not kill the
endospore

Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)

 French
microbiologist and
chemist
 Multi-faceted
career

22
19/01/2015

Pasteur and the Downfall of Spontaneous


Generation
 Ancient belief that
organisms arise from
nonliving materials
 Louis Pasteur was a
major opponent to
spontaneous generation
 Pasteur showed that
microorganisms present
in air resembled those
on putrefying materials
 Showed that if you
sterilized you would not
have purification

Pasteur’s Experiment

 In 1864, he crushed spontaneous generation


 Pasteur used a swan necked flask for his
experiment, now called a Pasteur flask
 Simple experiment ended the controversy

23
19/01/2015

24
19/01/2015

Pasteur and Vaccination


 Discovered that
attenuated strains
would provide
protection against
disease
– Made discovery with
chickens and cholera
 Helped solidify the
concept of germ
theory of disease

25
19/01/2015

Pasteur and Rabies Vaccine


 Known as the man who
invented the rabies
vaccine
 “Benefactor of
Humanity”
 First exp were on dogs
 Then, July 6, 1885 tried
vaccine on Joesph
Miester, a boy bitten by
a rabid dog

Pasteur Institute: 120yrs of


discoveries
 Diptheria
 Plague
 Immunology
 Tuberculosis
 Sulfamides
 Molecular biology
 AIDS

26
19/01/2015

Pasteur’s main contributions


 Instituting changes in hospital/medical
practices to minimize the spread of
disease by microbes or germs
 Coined the term “vaccine” --from the
Latin vacca, meaning “cow”
 Weak forms of disease could be used as
an immunization against stronger forms
 Rabies was transmitted by viruses too
small to be seen under the microscopes
of the time, introducing the medical
world to the concept of viruses.

Robert Koch and the Germ Theory of


Disease:
The Development of Koch’s Postulates
 Major contributions:
– Discovered anthrax
– Discovered the bacterium
that causes tuberculosis
and chlorea
 Koch’s postulates
– Developed based on
experiments with anthrax
in mice
– He took experiment one
step further and showed
that even after many
transfers in culture, the
bacteria could still cause
disease

27
19/01/2015

1.2 Koch’s Postulates

28
19/01/2015

Koch’s Postulate and Coral Disease

 Corals are declining at


an alarming rate
 30% worldwide decline
in corals
 Satisfying Koch’s
Postulate to determine
the causative agent in
coral disease is
challenging and very
controversial

Coral Disease
 Hard to duplicate the The etiology of white pox, a lethal disease of the
Caribbean elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata Kathryn L.
reef Patterson* , James W. Porter�, Kim B. Ritchie、ヲ,
Shawn W. PolsonDeborah L. Santavy珥, and Garriet
 Many diseases have W. Smith、PNAS 2002

been described solely


on the basis of field
characteristics, and in
some instances there is
disagreement as to
whether an observed
coral condition is
actually a disease.
 A disease pathogen has
been identified for only
handful coral diseases

29
19/01/2015

A Test of Koch’s Postulates:


Tuberculosis
 Discovered that the causative
agent of tuberculosis was
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
 Considered his greatest
accomplishment
 Used microscopy, staining, pure
culture isolation, and animal
systems
 Won Nobel prize in 1905 his
work on tuberculosis

Koch and Pure Cultures


 Developed methods to isolate a specific
microorganism into pure culture
 He observed individual colonies on
potato slices represented pure cultures
 He later developed other media that
was more uniform and reproducible with
gelatin and later with agar

30
19/01/2015

Microbial Diversity and the Rise


of General Microbiology
 From 19th to 20th century, microbiology
grew and improved significantly
 Several subdisciplines arose leading to
an era of “molecular microbiology”
 Two giants helped with this transition:
– Martinus Beijerinck
– Sergei Winogradsky

Martinus Beijerinck (1851-1931)


 Biggest achievement: developed
the enrichment culture technique
 Microorganisms isolated in a
selective fashion
 Aerobic nitrogen-fixing, sulfate-
reducing,sulfur-oxidizing, nitrogen-
fixing root nodule, Lactobacillus,
and green algae
 Using selective filter techniques,
discovered that the infectious agent
in tobacco mosaic disease, was not
bacteria--described the first virus

31
19/01/2015

Sergei Winogradsky (1856-1953): the


Concept of Chemolithotrophy
 Interested in bacteria involved
in the cycling of nitrogen and
sulfur
 Introduced the concept that
bacteria could be important
biogeochemical agents

Sergei cont.
 From studies on sulfur-oxidizing
bacteria:
– Chemolithotrophy: the oxidation
of inorganic compounds linked to
energy conservation
 From studies on nitrogen fixing
bacteria, concluded that they
obtained their carbon from CO2
 From studies, proposed these
organisms were autotrophs,
specifically chemoautotrophs
 Also isolated the first nitrogen-
fixing bacteria

32
19/01/2015

33
19/01/2015

34
19/01/2015

The Modern Era of Microbiology

 Development of the Major Subdisciplines of


Applied Microbiology
– Medical microbiology
– Immunology
– Agricultural microbiology
– Industrial microbiology
– Aquatic microbiology
– Marine microbiology
– Microbial ecology

35
19/01/2015

Basic Science Sub disciplines


in Microbiology
 Microbial systematics
 Microbial physiology
 Cytology
 Microbial biochemistry
 Bacterial genetics
 Molecular biology
 Virology

36
19/01/2015

The Era of Molecular


Microbiology
 By 1970’s, experimental manipulation of
genetic material
– Restriction enzymes
– Biotechnology
 Genomics:comparative analysis of genes of
different organisms
– Nucleic acid sequencing
– Phylogenetic relationships
 Proteomics: the study of protein expression in
cells

New Frontiers

 350yrs of research!

37

You might also like