INTRODUCTION TO MICROBIOLOGY

Dr. Rose Elaine D. Tan

What is Microbiology?
Micro - too small to be seen with the naked eye

Bio – life

ology - study

Definition Microbiology
branch of biology which deals with the study of minute
living microorganism usually not visible to the naked eye
 Scope of Microbiology

• Bacteriology study of Bacteria

• Phycology study of Algae
• Parasitology study of Parasites
• Mycology study of Fungi
• Virology study of Virus
• Immunology study of cells, molecules and
mechanisms responsible for immunity
Bacteria - what comes to mind?
Diseases
Infections
Epidemics
Food Spoilage
Only 1% of all known bacteria cause human diseases
About 4% of all known bacteria cause plant diseases
95% of known bacteria are non-pathogens

Normal microbiota/flora: microorganisms that are

normally found on or in the body and do not cause disease
Pathogen: a microorganism that causes disease
Application of Microbiology
Food production (vinegar, cheese, bread, beer, wine)
Probiotics – are dietary supplements of live bacteria
(Lactobacillus & Bifidobacterium) or yeast
which confer a health benefit on the host
Produce industrial chemicals such as ethanol and
acetone
Bioremediation – clean up technology that uses naturally
occuring microorganisms to degrade hazardous
substances into non/less toxic compounds
 Exxon Valdez oil spill - 1989
 2 Genera: Pseudomonas sp. & Bacillus sp.
 Insect Pest Control
- Using bacteria to control the growth of insects
(Bacillus thuringiensis)
 caterpillars
 bollworms
 corn borers
Recombinant DNA Technology, Gene Therapy, Genetic Engineering
 a new technique for biotechnology
 Bacteria & fungi can be manipulated to produce enzymes and
proteins they normally would not produce
 Insulin
 Human Growth Hormone
 Interferon
 Vaccines
 Antibiotic
 BRIEF HISTORY
before microorganism were discovered, ancient people
regarded diseases as a form of punishment sent by
GOD for the sins of men
 disease were not new to man
Biblical disease - Leprosy
- Tuberculosis
- Syphilis
- Plague
treatment and prevention of these diseases were sought
by sacrifices and lustration to appease the anger of God
Varro = during the 2nd century B.C.– postulated the
concept of contagion

diseases are transmitted
by invisible creature

Roger Bacon (13th century) = postulated that invisible

living things called “germs” produce disease

Fracastorius (1546) = postulated that disease is

caused by invisible living things and can be
transmitted by direct contact
(person to person contact)
Spontaneous Generation Theory
Aristotle – proposed the
“Spontaneous Generation Theory”
Also called Abiogenesis
living things could develop
spontaneously from non-living materials

Supported by appearance of living

creatures in decaying meat, stagnating
ponds, fermenting grain, and infected
wounds
 Experiments to disprove
Spontaneous Generation Theory
Francesco Redi 1668
did an experiment with flies and wide-mouth jars
containing meat
he demonstrated the appearance of maggots in
decomposing meat as a result on the deposition of
eggs by flies

Evidence against spontaneous generation:

1. Unsealed – maggots on meat
2. Sealed – no maggots on meat
3. Gauze – few maggots on gauze, none on meat
Rudolph Virchow 1858
1st person to propose the Theory of Biogenesis
‘Cells can only arise from preexisting cells’

John Tyndall
proved that dust carried germs
also found out that bacterial spores could be killed by
successive heating
tyndallization (Fractional sterilization) - heating with
free-flowing steam for 30-60min for 3 consecutive
days at 100°C
Anton Van Leeuwenhoek
1st describe bacteria in 1677 with the use of
a simple microscope utilizing
crude lenses

1st person to actually see living microorganisms

considered as the Father of Bacteriology
described the 3 major forms of bacteria
Robert Hooke 1665
developed the compound microscope that
used reflected light and was able to
confirm Leeuwenhoek’s discoveries
Founded the field of Microscopic Biology
through his published work -
"Micrographia”
first person to coin the word “cell”
to describe the tiniest components
of the living system
The theory finally changes… How do microbes arise?

By 1860, the debate had become so heated that the

Paris Academy of Sciences offered a prize for any
experiments that would help resolve this conflict

Louis Pasteur
claimed the prize in 1864,
as he published the results
of an experiment he did to
disprove spontaneous
generation in microscopic
organisms
Giving rise to the Theory of Biogenesis
TheTheory of Biogenesis
Hypothesis: Microbes come from cells of organisms on dust
particles in the air; not the air itself
 Meat broth was boiled in a flask to kill microorganisms

 The neck of the flask was heated and bent into S-shape

 Microorganisms could not get into broth because they would settle

in S shaped neck before contact with broth

 No growth was in discovered in the broth

 Broth was tilted into the S component and microorganisms

contaminated broth and grew

 Pasteur’s S-shaped flask kept microbes out but let air in .

 Proved microbes only come from other microbes (life from life) -
biogenesis
 Germ Theory of Disease
developed by Louis Pasteur
it states that each specific infectious disease is caused by a
specific microorganism

Joseph Lister 1860s

 used a chemical disinfectant (aqueous phenol) to
prevent surgical wound infections after looking at
Pasteur’s work showing microbes are in the air, can
spoil food, and cause animal diseases
 also developed the first pure culture technique using
liquid medium which was the key to identification of
bacteria
 Robert Koch 1876
 establish proof of the microbial etiology of 3 important diseases
of this day:
 Cholera (Vibrio cholerae)
 Tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis)
 Anthrax (Bacillus anthracis)
 Koch’s postulates - which are experimental steps to prove that
a specific microbe causes a specific disease
(1) The organism must always (4) Organisms must be
be found in diseased animals re-isolated from experimentally
and not in healthy one infected animals

(2) Organisms isolated from (3) Organisms grown in pure

the diseased animals must culture must initiate and reproduce
be grown in pure culture the disease when re-inoculated
away from the diseased animals into susceptible animal
Exceptions to the Kock’s Postulate :
1) Carrier - some individual harbors the organism but do not
manifest the disease and can transmit the disease to others

2) Some or certain organisms/bacteria cannot be cultured in vitro

(cannot grow in artificial culture media)
Ex. Mycobacterium leprae / Treponema pallidum

3) Certain animals not susceptible to certain microorganism

some animals are by nature immune
- cannot replicate even with the same specie
some bacterial specie are host specific
Ex. Vibrio cholerae cannot cause chicken cholera
or vice versa
 The Golden Age of Microbiology
1857-1914
Beginning with Pasteur’s work, discoveries included the
relationship between microbes and disease, immunity, and
antimicrobial drugs
Pasteur
 Pasteurization
 Fermentation
Joseph Lister
 Phenol to treat surgical wounds – 1st attempt to control
infections caused by microoganisms
Robert Koch
 Koch’s Postulates
Edward Jenner
 vaccination
Paul Erlich
 1st synthetic drug used to treat infections
 Salvarsan - arsenic based chemical to treat Syphilis
The Birth of Modern Chemotherapy
1928: Alexander Fleming discovered the first antibiotic
He observed that Penicillium fungus made an antibiotic,
penicillin, that killed S. aureus
1940s: Penicillin was tested clinically and mass produced
area of biologic science comprising of 3 distinct but highly
interrelated disciplines that include:
- Classification
- Nomenclature
- Identification

Carl Linnaeus
- the Father of Taxonomy
- His system for naming, ranking, & classifying
organisms is still in wide use
- He established the system of scientific nomenclature:
Genus & specie
Classification
organization of microorganisms that share similar
morphologic, physiologic and genetic traits into specific
groups or TAXA

Genus: comprised of different species that have several

important features in common but differ sufficiently
to still maintain their status as individual specie

Species: most basic taxonomic group and may be

defined as a collection of bacterial strains that share
many common physiologic and genetic features and
as a group differ notably from other bacterial specie
Levels of Classification
Taxon:
A group or “level” of classification
Hierarchical; broad divisions are divided up into smaller divisions:

Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
              Species
 Identification
 process by which a microorganism’s key features are delineated
 the profile is compared with those of other previously characterized
microorganisms so that the organism in question can be classified
within the most appropriate taxa and can be assigned an appropriate
Genus and Species name
General categories of identification method:
Genotypic characteristics
 Relate to an organism’s genetic make-up including the nature of the
organism’s genes and constituent nucleic acid
Phenotypic characteristics
 includes readily observable characteristics
 Morphology, staining rxn., antigenic properties, environmental &
nutritional requirements, resistance profiles
Nomenclature
naming of microorganisms according to established rules
and guidelines provide the accepted labels by which
organisms are universally recognized
Scientific name (Systematic Name)
Binomial System of Nomenclature
 The first letter of the genus name is always capitalized, but
never the first letter of the species name
 A genus name may be used alone to indicate a genus group; a
species name is never used alone
 Genus and species are either underlined or italicized
Eschericia coli or Eschericia coli
 The genus may be abbreviated with the first letter, and the
species is written out
E. coli
before microorganisms were discovered all living things
were believed to be either plants and animals
 no transition type were thought to exist
after discovery of microorganism
– it was clear that microorganism combines both plant
and animal properties
 Haeckel – proposed that microorganism be placed in
another kingdom

Kingdom Protista
 members of this kingdom are distinguished from plants and animals
 Algae
 Protozoa
 Fungi
 Molds (multicellular)
 Yeasts (single-celled)

Kingdom Monera
 Monera is the only "kingdom" containing prokaryotic organisms
 Bacteria
 cyanobacteria (blue-green algae)
 archaebacteria
Kingdom Protista

members of this kingdom are distinguished from
plants and animals by their following characteristics
1. Simple organization
2. Unicellular or Multicellular

Protist
- undifferentiated unicellular organisms that do not form the
specialized tissues and organ systems of higher plants and animals

2 Distinct Cell types:

1) Eucaryote (Higher Protista)
2) Procaryote (Lower Protista)
 EUCARYOTES
• higher protists
• ex: algae (red algae, brown algae, green algae)
fungi
protozoa
slime molds
• characteristics:
- possess a well defined nucleus w/c contain the genetic information of
the cell in multiple strands of DNA and proteins called chromosomes
- nucleolus w/c exist w/in the nucleus and plays a role in
the production of ribosomal RNA and ribosomes
- contain membrane enclosed organelles that have specific
cellular functions and site where chemical activities takes place
- cytoskeleton which provides support for the different organelles
- contain complex phospholipids, sphingolipids, histones, sterols
- mitochondria are sites of energy production for cellular work
- ribosomes (80s) are masses of RNA and proteins that function as the
site for protein synthesis
- golgi apparatus is where protein is packed for export
- endoplasmic reticulum is involved in the transport of newly synthesized
proteins
- lysosomes are vesicles that contain enzymes for cellular digestive
process
- cell membrane regulates flow of material in and out of the cytoplasm

• method of cell division: mitosis

 PROKARYOTES

• lower protists
• bacteria,
cyanobacteria (blue-green algae)
archaebacteria (methanogens,
extreme halophiles,
thermoacidophiles)

• characteristics:
- lack a nucleus or nuclear membrane
-has a ribosome (70s)
- absent mitochondria
- have no organelles, histones and
only in rare cases complex phospholipids, sphingolipids and sterols
- chemical activities takes place in the cytoplasm
- have a cell wall composed of peptidoglycan with muramic acid
- are haploid with a single chromosome composed solely of DNA

• method of cell division: binary fission