Microbiology Exam 1 Module 1

Question Set 1

What is a microorganism ? Examples.

Microorganisms are things that are too small to see with the naked eye.
Examples include bacteria, archaea, protozoa, fungi, helminths, viruses, and algae.

Bacteria

Prokaryotic

Autotrophic (Photosynthetic)

Unicellular

Binary Fission: Asexual

Cell wall with peptidoglycan

Bacteria cell wall composition

Cell wall with peptidoglycan

Archaea

Prokaryotic

Heterotrophic

Unicellular

Binary Fission: Asexual

Archaea cell wall composition

Pseudomurein

Fungi

Eukaryotic

Heterotrophic

Unicellular & Multicellular

Both Sexually & Asexual

Fungi cell wall composition

Cell wall has chitin

Protozoan

Eukaryotic

Heterotrophic

Unicellular

Both Sexually & Asexual

Lacks a cell wall

Protozoan cell wall composition

Lacks cell wall

Algae

Eukaryotic

Autotrophic (Photosynthetic)

Unicellular & Multicellular

Both Sexually & Asexual

Algae cell wall composition

Cell wall has cellulose

Helminth

Eukaryotic

Heterotrophic

Multicellular

Both Sexually & Asexual

Lacks a cell wall

Helminth cell wall composition

Lacks cell wall

What makes viruses different from other microorganisms (such as bacteria, etc.)? For example, are viruses living and what is the structure of viruses?

The main difference is that bacteria are free-living cells that can live inside outside the body. While viruses are a nonliving collection of molecules that need a host to survive, they are subatomic. They're beyond the scope of microscopes you need an electron microscope to see them.

What are helminths

The are flatworm and round worms. They do not contain a cell wall. They are heterotrophic and they can reproduce both asexually and sexually. They have microscopic stages.

What does it mean to say that a microbe is ubiquitous?

It means that they were found in the Earth's crust and landscape, polar ice and oceans, also found inside the bodies of plants and animals. They are essential to life. It means they are found everywhere.

Genetic Engineering

Manipulates the genetics of microbes, plants, and animals for the purpose of creating new products and genetically modified organisms (GMOs)

Recombinant DNA technology

DNA technology makes it possible to transfer genetic materials from one organisms to another and deliberately alter DNA

Bioremediation

Uses microbes already present or introduced intentionally to restore stability or clean up toxic pollutants

The term used to describe a disease-causing microorganism is

Pathogen

What is the leading cause of infectious death in the US? What is the leading cause of infectious death in the world?

Heart Disease & Influenza

What is the leading cause of infectious death in the world?

Lower respiratory infection

Taxonomy

The science of classifying living things

Nomenclature

The assignment of scientific names to the various taxonomic categories and individual organisms

Classification

The orderly arrangement of organisms into a heirarchy

Identification

The process of discovering and recording traits of organisms so they can be placed in an overall taxonomic scheme

Who developed the formal system for classifying and naming organisms (Nomenclature)

Carolus Linnaeus (1735)

Genus

First name of organism

Specific Epithet

Second part of scientific name

How are names of organisms written (what part is capitalized)

Genus is CAPITALIZED

Species is lowercased

Underline both when written

Italics when typed

Carl Woese proposed that organisms may be classified into one of three different domains by analysis of their

rRNA analysis: bacteria, archaea, and eukarya

What are the three domains proposed by Carl Woese?

Bacteria (Prokaryotic)

Archaea (Prokaryotic)

Eukarya (Eukaryotic)

How are organisms classified and organized into several descending ranks, beginning with the most general and ending with the smallest and most specific?

Domain (Dumb)

Kingdom (King)

Phylum (Philip)

Class (Came)

Order (Over)

Family (From)

Genus (Great)

Species (Spain)

Who was the first to report that living things were composed of little boxes or "cells" from looking at cork?

Robert Hooke

Who was the first to look at living microorganisms with a microscope?

Anton Van Leeuwenhoek

Redi

Maggots don’t arise from decaying meat

Sealed and open jar

Supports: Biogenesis

Needham

Boiled broth and covered it

Microbes grew

Supports: Biogenesis

Spallanzani

Covered broth before it boiled

boiled two containers of gravy, but only sealed one immediately after boiling; the open jar was full of microorganisms, but the sealed one had none

No maggots

Suports: Biogenesis

Pastuer

S-Shaped flasks proved that the air carried living organisms in it

Air does not create microbes; microbes are in the air

Supports: Biogenesis

Spontaneous generation

That living organisms arise from nonliving matter; a vital force forms life

Biogenesis

The hypothesis that the living organisms arise from preexisting life; life gives life

What is pasteurization?

A technique in which heat is applied to liquids to kill potential agents of infection and spoilage, while at the same time retaining the liquid’s flavor and nutritional value.

Koch’s postulates

Used to establish whether or not an organism is pathogenic (causes diseases) and which disease it caused

Step 1 for Koch’s postulates

Same pathogen must be present in every case of disease

Step 2 for Koch’s postulates

Pathogen must be isolated from diseased host and grown in pure culture

Step 3 for Koch’s postulates

Pathogen from pure culture must cause the disease when its inoculated into healthy, susceptible animal

Step 4 for Koch’s postulates

Pathogen must be isolated from the inoculated animal and must be shown to be the original organism

How did Jenner produce the 1st vaccine?

He found that milkmaids exposed to cowpox were resistant to small pox, then exposed a child to a cowpox lesion, then exposed them to smallpox in which they produced no infection and found that cowpox and smallpox had similar antigens

What type of enzymes were discovered in the 1970s that is used to cut DNA in specific ways?

restriction enzymes were discovered, they were little molecular "scissors" in bacteria

What technique was invented in the 1980s by Kary Mullis, that was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1993 that is used to amplify and subsequently analyze DNA

The PCR technique was invented to detect tiny amounts of DNA and then amplify them into quantities sufficient for studying

Prokaryotic Microorganisms

Bacteria and Archaea

Eukaryotic Microorganisms

Fungi, Protozoans, Algae, Helminth

Unicellular Microorganisms

Bacteria, Archaea, Protozoan

Heterotrophic Microorganisms

Archaea, Fungi, Protozoan, Helminth

Autotrophic Microorganisms

Algae

Microorganisms that reproduce binary fission: Asexually

Bacteria and Archaea

Microorganisms that reproduce both sexually and asexually

Fungi, Protozoan, Algae, Helminth

Microorganisms that are both unicellular and multicellular

Fungi and Algae