MCB 2000 Study Guide - Summer 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Bacteria, Dna, Peptidoglycan
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
MCB 2000
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Lecture 1
• Microbiology = study of microbes usually less than 1mm in diameter which cannot be
seen with the naked eye and require some magnification to be seen clearly
o Microbes
▪ Viruses
• Acellular = not truly a living thing
▪ Bacteria
▪ Fungi
• Mycologists = people who study fungi
▪ Protozoans
▪ Prions
• Acellular
o Possible focuses of microbiologists
▪ Medicine—immunology
▪ Food and dairy
▪ Public health—epidemiology
▪ Industrial
▪ Agricultural
▪ Biotechnology (antibiotics, hormones, growth factors, etc.)
▪ Genetic engineering
• GMOs
▪ Recombinant DNA technology = transfer of genetic material from one
organism to another to deliberately alter the DNA and produce a specific
product
▪ Bioremediation = use of microorganisms to restore stability/clean up toxic
pollutants
• Evolution
o Microbes were the first living organisms on earth
o Origin of prokaryotes on earth was 3.5 BYA
o There was no oxygen on earth until 2 BYA so microbes introduced oxygen to the
earth
▪ Made the environment suitable for everyone else
• Microbes and humans
o Only a small fraction of microbes are disease causing
o Historical uses
▪ Bread production
• Microbes produce CO2 which is what makes bread rise
▪ Alcohol production
• Fermentation = sugar → alcohol
o Ethyl alcohol
▪ Cheese production
• Milk = sugar + protein
• Microbes ferment the sugar part of the milk to make cheese
▪ Treatment of wounds/lesions
• Antibiotics
▪ Mining precious metals
• Microbes use minerals for their energy production and we can
extract the minerals from the microbes
▪ Bioremediation = use of biological means to remove pollution
find more resources at oneclass.com
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• Cleaning up human-created contamination
• Important scientists
o Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)
▪ Disproved theory of spontaneous generation
• Spontaneous generation = living can develop from non-living
things (not true)
▪ Developed germ theory of disease = opposite of spontaneous generation
• Only the living can give rise to more living things
▪ Demonstrated that fermentation is the result of microbial activity
▪ Developed pasteurization
• Pasteurization = kill bacteria in liquids without killing texture/flavor
of the food
• Originally developed in vineyard to be used on wines
▪ Vaccine for rabies and anthrax
▪ Considered to be the father of microbiology
o Robert Koch (1843-1910)
▪ Established the relationship between bacillus athracis and anthrax
• Essentially established etiology—that bacteria can cause diseases
• Proposed Koch’s postulates
o Establish the link between a particular microorganism and
a particular disease
▪ Work led to discover or development of
• Agar
• Petri dish
• Nutrient broth and nutrient agar
• Methods for isolating microorganisms
• Other major milestones in microbiology
o 1676 = Anthony van Leeuwenhook observes bacteria and protozoa using
homemade microscope
o 1796 = Edward Jenner develops first vaccine—for smallpox
o 1847-1850= Ignaz Semmelweis demonstrates that women were dying of
childbirth because they were getting diseases transmitted by the physicians
o 1853-1854 = John Snow shows that cholera is spread by contaminated water
o 1867 = Joseph Lister is the first to work on antiseptic (sterile) surgery
o 1908 = Paul Ehrlich develops drug to treat syphilis (first time chemotherapy is
used to treat disease)
o 1929 = Alexander Fleming discovers antibiotics (penicillin)
• Recent advances in microbiology
o Easier to isolate DNA now
▪ PCR = amplifies DNA and can make a lot of it from a little so it’s easier to
examine
o Discovery of DNA as genetic material
o Isolation, sequencing, manipulation of DNA
▪ Human genome project
o Genetic engineering
▪ Cheaper to make drugs using microbes and DNA now
• Microbes harming humans
o Pathogens = microbes that cause disease—only a small fraction of all microbes
▪ WHO estimates that 10 billion new infections are caused every year by
microbes
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Fall 2018: microbiology = study of microbes usually less than 1mm in diameter which cannot be seen with the naked eye and require some magnification to be seen clearly. Infectious diseases are among the most common cause of death in the. Involved in breakdown/cycle of: carbon (co2, nitrogen, oxygen, methane, help regulate temperature on earth by converting co2 and methane (greenhouse gases) In many symbiotic relationships with other organisms: found in, earth"s crust, polar ice caps, oceans, bodies of plants, animals, landscaping, needed to maintain livability on the planet, microorganisms as cells. Incubation: proper growth temperature and other conditions, produces a culture visible growth of the microbe in the medium. Isolation: may take form of separate colonies or turbidity (free floating cells) in broth, may need to inoculate a separate medium. Inspection: observed with microscope for growth characteristic, color, texture, size, observe cell shape, size, motility, may use staining techniques.
