week 1: microbes and building blocks

microbes, dev. of microbiology, macromolecules, naming/classifying microorganisms

magnification

specialized area of bio that deals with living things too small to be seen without magnification

spontaneous generatoin

belief that invisible vital forces present in matter could lead to the creation of life

biogenesis

living things arise only from other living things of their same kind

L. Pasteur

• studied role of fermentation of beer and wine

• pasteurization

• swan-neck flask used to disprove spontaneous generation (heated broth to sterelize it and flasks exposed to dust showed growth; whereas, flasks exposed to air but not dust showed no microbial growth)

F. Cohn

discovered and described heat-resistant endospores

O. Holmes and I. Semmelweis

emphasized importance of handwashing in preventing disease in hospitals

J. Lister

used aeseptic techniques in surgery

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

first to build simple microscope

R. Koch

postulates, identify pathogen

R. Hooke

discovered cells

restriction enzymes

molecular scissors cut DNA in specific ways and opened the door for genetic engineering

polymerase chain reaction (PCR)

made it possible to detect tiny amounts of DNA and amplify them for study

• can be used to discover new organisms, diagnose infectious diseases, and perform forensic work

taxonomy

the science of classifying living things and was developed by Carl Von Linne

nomenclature

the assignment of scientific names to taxonomic categories and individual organisms

classification

the orderly arrangement of organisms into a hierarchy

identification

the process of discovering and recording traits so organisms can be reorganized, named, and classified

bionomial nomenclature

genus + species names

• must be italicized typed; underlined written

• when abbreviated genus is shortened to first initial followed by a period + full species is written

taxonomic rank (general —> specific)

1. domain

2. kingdom

3. phylum/division

4. class

5. order

6. family

7. genus

8. species

phylogeny

the taxonomic scheme representing the natural relatedness between groups of living beings

Woese-Fox system

• 3 domains: bacteria, archae, and eukarya

• based on conserved small subunit ribosmal RNA sequences, specifically 16S rRNA