Introduction to Microbiology Flashcards

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering basic definitions, cellular classifications, organism characteristics, and key historical figures in microbiology.

Microbiology

The science that deals with the study of micro-organisms, their activities, and their influences on different aspects of life.

Louis Pasteur

French chemist known as the father of Modern Microbiology who introduced the term microbiology.

Medical Microbiology

The branch of microbiology that deals with microbes that are harmful to man.

Bacteriology

The science studying bacteria.

Virology

The science studying viruses.

Mycology

The science studying fungi.

Parasitology

The science studying parasites.

Prokaryotes

Simple and small cells lacking a true nucleus and nuclear membrane, containing a single chromosome, $70S$ ribosomes, a rigid cell wall with peptidoglycan, and replicating by binary fission.

Eukaryotes

Cells containing a true nucleus with a nucleolus surrounded by a nuclear membrane, organelles such as mitochondria and lysosomes, multiple chromosomes, and $80S$ ribosomes.

Nucleoid

The region in prokaryotic cells that contains the single chromosome in place of a true nucleus.

Peptidoglycan

The material found in the rigid cell wall of prokaryotic bacterial cells.

Chitin

The component contained within the rigid cell wall of fungi.

Protein capsid

The outer surface structure characteristic of viruses, along with a lipoprotein envelope.

Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek

The scientist who first observed live microorganisms.

Robert Koch

German scientist (1843-1910) who discovered and cultured the bacteria that causes tuberculosis and laid Koch's postulates.

Albert Neisser

Scientist who discovered Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the causative agent of gonorrhea, in 1879.

Charles Laveran

Scientist who discovered Plasmodium species, the causative agent of malaria, in 1880.

Edwin Klebs

Scientist who discovered Corynebacterium diphtheriae, the bacterial agent of diphtheria, in 1883.

Theodore Escherich

Scientist who discovered Escherichia coli, associated with traveler's diarrhea and bladder infections, in 1884.

Shibasaburo Kitasato

Scientist who discovered Clostridium tetani (1889) and co-discovered Yersinia pestis (1894).

Alexandre Yersin

Scientist who co-discovered Yersinia pestis, the bacterial agent of bubonic plague, in 1894.

Kiyoshi Shiga

Scientist who discovered Shigella dysenteriae, the causative agent of shigellosis, in 1898.

Walter Reed

Scientist who discovered Flavivirus yellow fever virus as the agent of yellow fever in 1900.