What is Microbiology?

The study of microorganisms,

how they work, interact with
the environment, and interact
with us.
Microbiology has its roots in
the study of bacteria, the
largest and most important
group of microorganisms.

Microbiology
From a cellular perspective, you
might think the human body is
mostly human. But youd be
wrong. It is actually mostly
bacterial. The typical adult
body is composed of about 100
trillion (1014) cells. It harbors 12 x 1015 bacterial cells from at
least 500 species about 20

Microbiology
Total number of microbial cells on
Earth is about 5 X 1030.
The total amount of carbon present
in this population equals that of all
plants on Earth.
The total amount of nitrogen and
phosphorous present in
prokaryotes is over 10 times that of
all plant biomass.
Most prokaryotic cells reside
underground in oceanic and

Microorganisms: Friends
or
Foes?

As we understand how microbes

work, we can devise ways to
increase their benefits and
decrease their harmful effects.

What would be different about

your life if all microorganisms
ceased to exist?
The role of the infinitely small in
nature is infinitely large. Louis

Factors Responsible for Emerging

Infections

Emerging infections: New, reemerging or

drug-resistant infections whose incidence
in humans has increased within the past 2
decades or whose incidence threatens to
increase in the near future.
1992: MDR TB in NYC, 4,000 cases
1993: Cryptosporidiosis in Milwaukee, 400,000 cases = 25%
of citys population
1993: Hantavirus in 4-corners area, 50% mort
1995: Ebola in Kikwit, Zaire, 240 deaths
1997+: E. coli O157:H7, National outbreaks
1999: Nipah virus in Malaysia, encephalitis, 100 die
2002: SARS in China
2006: Chikungunya in India
2007: Salmonella-contaminated peanut butter (48 states)
2009: Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome

Emerging and Reemerging Diseases

Infectious Diseases
150 million people have died of AIDS, TB,
and malaria alone since 1945 compared
with 23 million lost to wars.
160 times more people have died from
AIDS, malaria, respiratory and diarrheal
diseases than in all natural disasters
combined.
About 1/3 of deaths worldwide are due
to infectious diseases.

United States

United States

Leading Infectious
Killers in the World
(1998)

Figure 1.3

From: Mokdad, A.H., J.S. Marks, D.F.

Stroup, and J.L. Gerberding. Actual
Causes of Death in the United States,
2000. JAMA, March 10, 2004.

oni van Leeuwenhoek and his microscop

(1632-1723)

The Early Years of

Microbiology

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (Dutch)

Began making and looking through
simple microscopes to answer What
does it really look like?
Often made a new microscope for
each specimen
Examined everything and
visualized tiny animals, fungi, algae,
and single celled protozoa;
animalcules

By the end of 19th century, these

organisms were called microbes
Leeuwenhoek is known as Father
of Microscopy

And the motion of the

most of these animalcules in
the water was so swift, and
so various, upwards,
downwards, and round
about, that twas wonderful
to see.
-Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, as reported to
the Royal Society of London (1674)

How Can Microbes Be

Classified?

Leeuwenhoeks microorganisms
grouped into five categories:
Fungi
Small animals (helminths)
Algae
Protozoa
Prokaryotes (bacteria)
What is missing?

Carolus Linnaeus (Swedish) developed a system for

naming plants and animals,
and grouping similar

The Microbial Umbrella

Fungi
Eukaryotic (have membrane-bound
nucleus)
Obtain food from other organisms
Possess cell walls composed of chitin
Composed of:

Molds multicellular; have hyphae;

reproduce by sexual and asexual spores
Yeasts unicellular; reproduce asexually by
budding; some produce sexual spores

Classified by type of sexual spore

Common Diseases:

Ringworm
Yeast infections (Candidiasis)
Coccidioidomycosis
Histoplasmosis
Cryptococcosis

Examples
of Fungi:
Penicillium
chrysogen
um
--a mold.

Figure 1.4

Examples of
Fungi:

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a yeast

Parasitic Worms (Helminths)

Wuchereria in blood

Types of Helminths:
Cestodes = Tapeworms
(Taenia)
Trematodes = Flukes
(Schistosoma)
Nematodes = Roundworms

Algae
Unicellular or multicellular
Photosynthetic
Simple reproductive
structures
Categorized on the basis of
pigmentation, storage
products, and composition
of cell wall
Non-pathogenic except for
their role in red tides and

Examples of Algae:

Spirogyra sp.

Figure 1.6

Examples of Algae:

Diatoms

Figure 1.6

Protozoa
Single-celled eukaryotes
Similar to animals in their nutritional
needs and cellular structure
Typically live freely in water; some live
inside animal hosts
Most reproduce asexually; some
reproduce sexually. Classified by
mechanism of motility:
Most are capable of locomotion by:
Pseudopodia cell extensions that flow in
direction of travel
Cilia numerous, short, hair-like
protrusions that propel organisms
through environment
Flagella extensions of a cell that are

Examples of Protozoa:
Amoeba
Entamoeba histolytica causes
amoebic dysentery

Examples of Protozoa:
Paramecium

Balantidium coli causes

diarrhea & dysentery
Figure 1.5

Examples of Protozoa:
Trypanosoma brucei causes
African sleeping sickness

Other diseases caused by flagellates:

Chagas disease
Baghdad boil (Leishmania)
Giardiasis

Figure 1.5

Prokaryotes
Unicellular and lack nuclei
Much smaller than eukaryotes
Found everywhere there is
sufficient moisture; some found in
extreme environments (Archaea)
Reproduce asexually
Two kinds
Bacteria cell walls contain
peptidoglycan; a few lack cell walls;
most do not cause disease and some
are beneficial
Archaea cell walls composed of
polymers other than peptidoglycan;

Examples of Prokaryotes:
Streptococcus sp.

Figure 1.7

Viruses

Human papillomavirus

T2 Bacteriophage

The Golden Age of

Microbiology
1857-1907
Scientists searched for
answers to four questions:
Is spontaneous generation of
microbial life possible?
What causes fermentation?
What causes disease?
How can we prevent infection
and disease?

1. Is Spontaneous
Generation of Microbial
Life Possible?

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

Greek philosopher and
scientist
Studied under Plato
Tutored Alexander the Great
Promulgated spontaneous
generation living things can
arise from nonliving matter;
water was key.
This idea held for 2000 years

Recipe for making mice

J.B. van Helmont 1620 AD
If a dirty undergarment is squeezed
into the mouth of a vessel
containing wheat, within a few days
(say 21) a ferment drained from the
garments and transformed by the
smell of the grain, encrusts the
wheat itself with its own skin and
turns it into mice. And what is more
remarkable, the mice from the grain
and undergarments are neither
weanlings or sucklings nor

Francesco Redis
Experiments
(Italian physician 1626-1697)

600s: New view that animals come only from other a

Needhams Experiments
(British scientist 1713-1781)
Mid-1700s: Scientists did not
believe large animals could arise
spontaneously, but did believe
microbes could
John Needham boiled beef gravy and
plant infusions in vials, tightly sealed
them with corks
Vials turns cloudy after a few days
Observation of microscopial animals of
most dimensions

His theory of a Life Force that

causes inanimate matter to

Spallanzanis Experiments
(Italian Catholic priest and scientist 1729-1799)
Lazzaro Spallanzani boiled infusions for
almost an hour and sealed the vials by
melting their slender necks closed.
Vials remained clear, unless seals were broken and
exposed to air

1799: Concluded that

Needham failed to heat vials sufficiently to
kill all microbes or had not sealed vials
tightly enough
Microorganisms exist in air and can
contaminate experiments
Spontaneous generation of microorganisms
does not occur
Critics said sealed vials did not allow enough

Louis Pasteur
French chemist (1822-1895)
Father of Microbiology

Figure 1.12

Pasteurs Experiments
(1861)

Figure 1.12

The Scientific Method

Debate over spontaneous
generation led to development of
the scientific method
A group of observations leads
scientist to ask question about some
phenomenon
The scientist generates hypothesis
(potential answer to the question)
The scientist designs and conducts
experiment to test hypothesis
Based on observed results of
experiment, scientist either rejects or
modifies hypothesis

2. What Causes
Fermentation?
Spoiled wine threatened the
livelihood of vintners, so they
funded research into how to
promote production of alcohol, but
prevent spoilage by acid
production during fermentation
Some believed air caused
fermentation reactions, while
others insisted living organisms
caused fermentation
This debate also linked to debate
over spontaneous generation.

2. What Causes
Fermentation?

Pasteurization
Pasteurization in the 1800s:
A process of heating grape juice
just enough to kill most
contaminating bacteria without
changing the juices basic
qualities so that it could then be
inoculated with yeast to ensure
that alcohol fermentation
occurred.
Pasteurization today is also used
routinely on milk products and in
industrial microbiology.

Eduard Buchner
(German scientist 1860-1917)
Demonstrated that fermentation
does not require living cells
The presence of enzymes (cellproduced proteins) can promote
the chemical reactions of
fermentation.
Beginning of biochemistry and
microbial metabolism

Developments Preceding the

Germ Theory of Disease:
Observations on Contagion:
Prior to the 1800s, disease was
attributed to evil spirits, astrological
signs, imbalances in body fluids, foul
vapors, and poisonous miasmas
Girolamo Fracastoro (Italian philosopher
1478-1553)
In 1546, conjectured that germs of
contagion cause disease
Three forms of contagion:
Direct contact- Disease spread by touching infected
person
Fomites- Disease spread by touching contaminated

3. What Causes Disease?

Pasteur developed the germ
theory of disease (1857).
Robert Koch (German country
doctor and scientist 1843-1910)
studied causative agents of
disease
Anthrax; developed famous
postulates
Examined colonies of microorganisms
on solid media (agar & Petri plates)
Because of his achievements, Koch is
considered the Father of the
Microbiological Laboratory

Louis Pasteur
(1822-1895)

Robert Koch
(1843-1910)

Laboratory Microbiology
Advances by Koch and
Others
Simple
staining techniques

First photomicrograph of bacteria

First photomicrograph of bacteria
in diseased tissue
Techniques for estimating CFU/ml
Use of steam to sterilize media
Use of solid media and Petri
dishes
Aseptic techniques
Bacteria as distinct species

Kochs Postulates
Suspected causative agent must
be found in every case of the
disease and be absent from
healthy hosts
Agent must be isolated and grown
outside the host
When agent in introduced into a
healthy, susceptible host, the host
must get the disease
Same agent must be re-isolated
from diseased experimental host

Vibrio cholerae (bacterium)

Table 1.2

4. How Can We Prevent

Infection and Disease?
Semmelweis and Handwashing
Listers Antiseptic Technique
Nightingale and Nursing
Snow infection control and
epidemiology
Jenners Vaccine field of
immunology
Ehrlichs Magic Bullets field of
chemotherapy

Ignaz Philipp
Semmelweis

Observed
highphysician
rate of puerperal
fever in
(Hungarian
1818-1865)
women who gave birth in Vienna hospital
Hypothesized that cadaver particles
from autopsies caused the infections
After requiring medical students to wash
hands with chlorinated lime water,
mortality dropped significantly
Ridiculed, forced to leave, returned to
Hungary, and promoted hand-washing
Unsuccessful in gaining support from
European doctors
Became depressed, and was committed
to a mental hospital
Died from Streptococcus infection (the

Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis

Joseph Lister
(English physician 1827-1912)

Aseptic Surgery:
Lister began
spraying wounds,
surgical incisions,
and dressings with
carbolic acid
(phenol)
His work was
accepted after he
showed that it
reduced deaths by
two-thirds
Semmelweis
vindicated

An Operation in
Edinburgh - 1870

Florence Nightingale
(English nurse 1820-1910)
Introduced
cleanliness and
aseptic
techniques into
nursing practice
during Crimean
War
Founded the
Nightingale
School for
Nurses

John Snow

(English physician 1813-1858)

Mapped the
cholera
outbreak in
London in
1854
Identified
the reservoir
as the Broad
Street Pump
Beginning of
epidemiolog
y and
infection
control

1866 cartoon describing cholera transmission

Edward Jenner
(English physician 1749-1823)

Discovered that vaccination using

cowpox provided protection against
potentially fatal smallpox
Intentionally inoculated a boy with pus
collected from a milkmaids cowpox
lesion
Later infected same boy with smallpox
pus
Immunity developed

Beginning of field immunology

Edward Jenner vaccinates James Phipps with pus from

cowpox, 1798

Louis Pasteur
Watches the
Vaccination of
Joseph Meister
for Rabies,
1885

Paul Ehrlich
(German microbiologist 1854-1915)

Paul Ehrlich
(German microbiologist 1854-1915)

Discovered that chemicals could be

used to kill microbes differentially
Sought after a chemical (a magic
bullet) that would destroy
pathogens while remaining
nontoxic to humans
Discovered Salvarsan to treat
syphilis in 1909
Beginning of chemotherapy

Alexander Fleming discovered

Penicillin, 1928

Figure 1.19 Some of the many scientific disciplines and applications that arose from the pioneering work of
scientists just before and around the time of the Golden Age of Microbiology.

The Modern Age of

Microbiology
All new questions:
What are the Basic Chemical Reactions of Life?
Biochemistry
How Do Genes Work?
Microbial Genetics
Molecular Biology
Recombinant DNA Technology
Gene Therapy

What Role Do Microorganisms Play in the

Environment?
Environmental Microbiology
How Do We Defend Against Disease?
Immunology
Chemotherapy

Flavr Savr Tomatoes

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