BIOL 2051 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek, Fowl Cholera, Edward Jenner
Document Summary
Study of organisms too small to be seen with the naked eye. Importance: medicine: making antibiotics and controlling disease (ex: penicillum and streptomyces, agriculture: nitrogen-fixing bacteria and genetically engineered crops (ex: soybean roots. Rhizobium: food industry: beer, wine, bread, yogurt, pickles, chocolate, genetic engineering: insulin, growth hormone, vitamins, crops resistant to pests, heat, pesticides, herbicides, etc, keep us alive: recycle nutrients, produce vitamins, degrade organic matter. Some microbes cause diseases (most microbes are not pathogenic) ex: hiv, colds std"s, food poisoning, flu. Microbiologists study: bacteria, viruses, protozoans, fungi, algae, diatoms, and more. 6 major groups studied by microbiologists: prokaryotes. Microbes affect food availability: destroy crops, but preserve food. Microbial diseases change history: black plagues in europe, smallpox in americas, more soldiers have died from infections than battle wounds, tb, aids. 1: no spontaneous generation, 1861: pasteur shows that microbes do not grow in liquid until introduced from outside. Spontaneous generation- idea that living organisms originate from non-living matter.
