Microbiology Study Notes

Microbiology Study Notes

• Microbiology: The study of microscopic organisms.
• Microorganisms: Living things too small to be seen with the naked eye.
• Cellular organisms: Examples include bacteria, protozoa, some algae, and fungi.
• Non-living acellular organisms: Examples include prions, viroids, and viruses.
• Protozoa and algae: Protist classifications of microorganisms.
• Robert Hooke: Described how to build the microscope that Leeuwenhoek constructed.
• Antony van Leeuwenhoek: Created the first microscope capable of seeing microorganisms.
• Spontaneous generation: The mistaken belief that non-living material could give rise to living things.
• Francesco Redi: Disproved spontaneous generation with an experiment on maggots and meat.
• Vital force: Thought to be a component of creating life, disproven by later experiments.
• John Needham: Conducted an experiment supporting spontaneous generation by observing microbial growth in sealed flasks.
• Lazzaro Spallanzani: Concluded that microbial growth is dependent on access to air, and repeated Needham's experiment, disproving spontaneous generation.
• Louis Pasteur: Demonstrated that air contains microorganisms, confirming Spallanzani's conclusion.
• Aseptic technique: Procedures to sterilize or eliminate microorganisms.
• John Tyndall and Ferdinand Cohn: Discovered heat-resistant microorganisms (endospores).
• Endospore: A dormant, heat-resistant structure formed by some bacteria.
• 3.5 billion years: Estimated age of microorganisms on Earth.
• Nitrogen fixation: The process by which microorganisms convert atmospheric nitrogen into usable forms.
• Algae and cyanobacteria: Photosynthetic microorganisms.
• Phytoplankton: Microscopic, free-floating photosynthetic organisms in aquatic ecosystems.
• Zooplankton: Small, free-floating animals part of plankton.
• Cellulose: Plant cell wall component that can't be broken down without microorganisms.
• Food products naturally produced by microorganisms: Examples are yeast, yogurt, cheeses, and buttermilk.
• Commercial products naturally produced by microorganisms: Examples are antibiotics, ethanol, hydrogen gas, and dietary supplements.
• Biotechnology: Utilizing microorganisms and biochemical techniques for practical problems.
• Recombinant DNA technology (genetic engineering): Combining genetic material from different sources in a laboratory.
• Human insulin: Example of a product created using recombinant DNA technology.
• Bioremediation: Using microorganisms to speed up the decomposition of pollutants.
• Pathogen: A microbe causing disease.
• Infectious disease: An illness caused by a microbe.
• 26%: Estimated global deaths due to infectious diseases.
• 1876-1918: The golden age of microbiology.
• Emerging diseases: Newly prevalent diseases in recent decades.
• Covid, SARS, Ebola, MERS: Examples of emerging diseases.
• Factors contributing to the emergence of emerging diseases: Evolution to new hosts, mobile populations, and close contact with animals.
• Re-emerging disease: A disease returning after a period of low prevalence.
• Normal microbiota: Microorganisms normally residing on and in the human body.
• Model organism: An organism used in the study of biological processes.
• Domain: Major categories in biological classification.
• Bacteria, archaea, eukarya: The three domains of life.
• Prokaryotic, unicellular, peptidoglycan present: Characteristics of bacteria.
• Prokaryotic, unicellular, no peptidoglycan: Characteristics of archaea.
• Fungi, algae, protozoa, helminths: Groups within the domain eukarya.
• Algae: Simple aquatic plants, typically without stems or leaves.
• Fungi: Organisms that absorb nutrients from outside sources.
• Protozoa: Complex single-celled organisms.
• Helminths: Parasitic worms.
• Roundworms (nematodes), flukes (trematodes), tapeworms (cestodes): Types of helminths.
• Binomial nomenclature: Two-part scientific naming system.
• Genus: First part of a scientific name, capitalized.
• Epithet: Second part of a scientific name, not capitalized.
• Strain: Genetic variant of a microorganism.
• Microbe: General term for microscopic organisms.
• Viruses, virions, prions: Non-living, infectious microbes.
• Viruses: DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat.
• Virions: RNA-based entities containing no protein coat.
• Prions: Misfolded proteins causing disease in humans and animals.
• Prokaryotic and eukaryotic: Fundamental cell types.
• Prokaryotic: Cell without a nucleus.
• Eukaryotic: Cell with a nucleus.
• Staining: Using dyes to visualize specimens.
• Stain: Dye solution used in staining.
• Chromophore: Molecule that absorbs light and reflects color.
• Basic stain: Single dye for staining.
• Methylene blue, crystal violet, safranin: Examples of basic stains.
• Acid stain: Stain for organisms not readily stained by basic dyes.
• Nigrosin: A type of acid stain.
• Differential stain: Differentiates various microorganism types, e.g., Gram stain.
• Gram stain: Identifying bacteria with thick or thin cell walls (gram-positive or gram-negative).
• Gram-positive: Purple-stained bacteria.
• Gram-negative: Pink-stained bacteria.
• Fixing: Chemical process to preserve a specimen.
• Mordant: Chemical fixing a dye to a specimen.
• Acid-fast stains: Staining method for identifying mycobacteria.
• Carbol fuchsin, acid-alcohol, methylene blue: Chemicals used in acid-fast staining.
• Mycobacterium: Genus of bacteria identified by acid-fast stain.
• Tuberculosis, leprosy: Diseases caused by mycobacteria.
• Capsule: Gel-like layer outside some bacterial cells.
• Endospore: Dormant structure of some bacteria.
• Flagella: Appendages used in cell movement.
• Fluorescence: Staining method for identifying microorganisms.
• Immunofluorescence: Staining using antibodies, tagging with fluorescent dyes.
• Coccus: Spherical bacterial shape.
• Bacillus: Rod-shaped bacterial shape.
• Spirillum: Spiral-shaped bacterial shape.
• Diplococci: Bacterial cocci in pairs.
• Streptococci: Cocci chains.
• Sarcinae: Cocci arranged in cubical packets.
• Diplobacilli: Bacilli in pairs.
• Streptobacilli: Bacilli chains.
• Vibrio: Curved rod bacteria.
• Coccobacillus: Short, round rod-shaped bacteria.