Microbiología General
(302113)
Ing. Maryoris E. Soto Lopez
PhD. y MSc. En Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos
Docente de planta
Programa de Ingeniería de Alimentos
Universidad de Córdoba
Introducción a la Microbiología
• El mundo microbiano y tu: los microorganismos en nuestras vidas!!!
• Introducción y temas principales de la microbiología.
• La microbiología en el contexto histórico
• Microscopia
• Nombrando y clasificando microorganismos
Competencias obtenidas en esta
unidad…
• Reconocer la microbiología como ciencia y los microorganismos como su objeto de
estudio;
• Listar los principales eventos históricos que contribuyeron para establecer la
microbiología como ciencia;
• Reconocer la importancia de los Postulados de Koch y sus aplicaciones;
• Describir las características generales de los principales grupos de microorganismos;
• Reconocer el impacto de los microorganismos en la vida humana.
Evaluación
Parcial: 40%
Quices: 15%
Cuaderno de Protocolo: 25%
Seminario: 10%
Articulo: 10%
1er Parcial: 10 de mayo
2do Parcial: 14 de junio
3er Parcial: 9 de agosto
Cuaderno de Protocolo
• Titulo de la práctica
• Objetivos
• Flujograma (Revisado el día de
la práctica)
• Resultados y documentación
• Análisis de Resultados
• Bibliografía
Seminarios…
1. Elementos comunes y diferenciales entre procariotas y Eucariotas – 26 de abril
2. Técnicas avanzadas de Microscopía – 26 de abril
3. Estructuras accesorias de bacterias y su relación con la resistencia Microbiana – 3 de mayo
4. Tipos de resistencia microbiana – 3 de mayo
5. Clasificación de los antimicrobianos 17 de mayo
6. Proteínas relacionadas a los procesos de división celular – 17 de mayo
7. Influencia de la composición del medio de cultivo en la taza de crecimiento microbiana – 17
de mayo
8. Tecnología del ADN recombinante – 24 de mayo
9. RNA´s y aplicaciones en Biotecnología – 24 de mayo
10. Procesos de esporulación – 31 de mayo
11. Activación de la respuesta adaptativa de bacterias y procesos de formación de biofilmes – 31
de mayo
12. Probióticos: Mecanismos de acción – 7 de junio
13. Virus y su relación con el cáncer – 7 de junio
14. Enfermedades autoinmunes y reemergentes – 21 de junio
15. Rol del Ingeniero de Alimentos en Epidemiología – 21 de junio
16. Desarrollo de vacunas – 12 de julio
The Microbial World and Us…
• Relationship between microorganisms
and our lives
• Detrimental effects (diseases and
spoilage)
• Beneficial effects
• Ecological relevance (Recycle of
elements – C y N)
• Commercial and industrial
applications (Foods, Chemical Agents
and drugs)
• Waste treatment.
Microorganisms
• Microbes, also called microorganisms, are minute living things that individually are usually
too small to be seen with the unaided eye.
• The group includes bacteria, fungi (yeasts and molds), protozoa, and microscopic algae.
• It also includes viruses, those noncellular entities sometimes regarded as straddling the
border between life and nonlife
Microorganisms…
We tend to associate these small
organisms only with:
• Uncomfortable infections,
• Common inconveniences such as
spoiled food,
• Major diseases such as AIDS.
However, the majority of
microorganisms actually help maintain
the balance of life in our environment.
Microorganisms…
• Marine and freshwater microorganisms form the basis of the food chain in oceans,
lakes, and rivers.
• Soil microbes help break down wastes and incorporate nitrogen gas from the air into
organic compounds, thereby recycling chemical elements among soil, water, living
organisms, and air.
Microorganisms…
Certain microbes play
important roles in
photosynthesis, a food and
oxygen-generating process
that is critical to life on Earth.
Microorganisms…
Humans and many other
animals depend on the
microbes in their intestines for:
• Digestion and the synthesis
of some vitamins that their
bodies require,
• B vitamins for metabolism
• Vitamin K for blood clotting.
Microorganisms…
Microorganisms also have many
commercial applications.
They are used in the synthesis of
such chemical products as:
• vitamins,
• organic acids,
• enzymes,
• alcohols,
• and many drugs.
For example, microbes are used to
produce acetone and butanol, and
the vitamins B2 (riboflavin) and B12
(cobalamin) are made biochemically.
Microorganisms…
• The process by which microbes
produce acetone and butanol was
discovered in 1914 by Chaim
Weizmann, a Russian-born
chemist working in England.
• With the outbreak of World War I
in August of that year, the
production of acetone became
very important for making cordite
(a smokeless form of gunpowder
used in munitions).
• Weizmann’s discovery played a
significant role in determining the
outcome of the war.
Microorganisms…
• The food industry also uses
microbes in producing, for example,
vinegar, sauerkraut, pickles, soy
sauce, cheese, yogurt, bread, and
alcoholic beverages.
• In addition, enzymes from microbes
can now be manipulated to cause
the microbes to produce substances
they normally don’t synthesize,
including cellulose, digestive aids,
and drain cleaner, plus important
therapeutic substances such as
insulin.
• Microbial enzymes may even have
helped produce your favorite pair of
jeans.
Microorganisms…
• Though only a minority of
microorganisms are pathogenic
(disease-producing), practical
knowledge of microbes is necessary
for medicine and the related health
sciences.
• For example, hospital workers must
be able to protect patients from
common microbes that are
normally harmless but pose a
threat to the sick and injured.
Microorganisms…
• Today we understand that microorganisms are
found almost everywhere. Yet not long ago,
before the invention of the microscope, microbes
were unknown to scientists.
• Thousands of people died in devastating
epidemics, the causes and transmission of which
were not understood.
• Entire families died because vaccinations and
antibiotics were not available to fight infections.
We can get an idea of how our current concepts
of microbiology developed by looking at a few
historic milestones in microbiology that have
changed our lives.
• First, however, we will look at the major groups of
microbes and how they are named and classified.
Naming and Classifying Microorganisms
• The system of nomenclature (naming) for organisms in use today was established
in 1735 by Carolus Linnaeus.
• Scientific names are latinized because Latin was the language traditionally used
by scholars.
• Scientific nomenclature assigns each organism two names—the genus (plural:
genera) is the first name and is always capitalized; the specific epithet (species
name) follows and is not capitalized.
Escherichia coli
Species
Genus name
• The organism is referred to by both the genus and the specific epithet, and both
names are underlined or italicized.
Naming and Classifying Microorganisms
• By custom, after a scientific name has been
mentioned once, it can be abbreviated with the
initial of the genus followed by the specific epithet.
Initial of
the Genus E. Coli Species
name
• Scientific names can, among other things, describe
an organism, honor a researcher, or identify the
habitat of a species.
Naming and Classifying Microorganisms
• For example, consider Staphylococcus aureus, a
bacterium commonly found on human skin. Staphylo-
describes the clustered arrangement of the cells; -
coccus indicates that they are shaped like spheres.
• The specific epithet, aureus, is Latin for golden, the
color of many colonies of this bacterium.
• The genus of the bacterium Escherichia coli (eshʹer-IK-
ē-ah KŌ-lī, or KŌ-lē) is named for a scientist, Theodor
Escherich, whereas its specific epithet, coli, reminds us
that E. coli live in the colon, or large intestine.
Types of microorganisms
• Bacteria (singular: bacterium) are
relatively simple, single-celled
(unicellular) organisms.
• Because their genetic material is not
enclosed in a special nuclear
membrane, bacterial cells are called
prokaryotes, from Greek words
meaning prenucleus.
• Prokaryotes include both bacteria and
archaea.
Bacteria
• Bacterial cells generally appear in one of several shapes.
• Bacillus (rodlike), coccus (spherical or ovoid), and spiral (corkscrew or curved) are
among the most common shapes, but some bacteria are starshaped or square.
• Individual bacteria
may form pairs,
chains, clusters, or
other groupings; such
formations are usually
characteristic of a
particular genus or
species of bacteria.
Bacteria
• Bacteria are enclosed in cell walls that are
largely composed of a carbohydrate and
protein complex called peptidoglycan.
• Bacteria generally reproduce by dividing
into two equal cells; this process is called
binary fission.
• For nutrition, most bacteria use organic
chemicals, which in nature can be derived
from either dead or living organisms.
• Some bacteria can manufacture their own
food by photosynthesis, and some can
derive nutrition from inorganic substances.
• Many bacteria can “swim” by using moving
appendages called flagella.
Archaea
• Like bacteria, archaea consist of prokaryotic cells,
but if they have cell walls, the walls lack
peptidoglycan.
• Archaea, often found in extreme environments, are
divided into three main groups. The methanogens
produce methane as a waste product from
respiration.
• The extreme halophiles (halo = salt; philic = loving)
live in extremely salty environments such as the
Great Salt Lake and the Dead Sea.
• The extreme thermophiles (therm = heat) live in hot
sulfurous water, such as hot springs at Yellowstone
National Park.
• Archaea are not known to cause disease in humans.
