Micro-organisms

Microbes
too small to be seen with the
naked eye
aggregations or colonies can be
seen without the aid of a
microscope
Microbes
are found almost anywhere
are more abundant than any
other life form
they are forms on which all
others depend.
Recycle elements required for
life
N - Nitrogen
O - Oxygen
P - Phosphorus
S - Sulfur
C - Carbon
Microbes produce
food
fuel
air
4 major categories
bacteria
fungi
protists
viruses
Pathogens
disease causing agents
AIDS - Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome
Botulism - food poisoning
Tuberculosis
Polio
Pathogens
Typhoid Fever
Syphilis

Disease
Microbes cause disease by
directly damaging tissues and
weakening bodily functions or
by producing toxins that do.

Pathogenic microbes
the proportion of pathogenic
microbes on earth is very small

Producers
produce carbohydrates
break down starch into sugar
convert sugars into alcohol
Water Dwelling microbes
algae and bacteria
largest producers of carbon
containing compounds through
photosynthesis
Some microbes
are unable to take in Carbon
Dioxide from the air.
They get Carbon from
bicarbonate in the water
Ion
an atom that carries a positive
(+) or a negative (-) charge
carries the charge because it has
gained or lost one or more
electrons
Microbes use CHOs
(carbohydrates)
synthesized during
photosynthesis (Ps) to make cell
structures and as an energy
source
Provide food for larger
organisms
Replenish Oxygen supply
Single Celled Fungi
Yeasts
Producers in wine making,
bread baking or beer brewing.
Convert sugar to alcohol in
fermentation process

Cheese Making
bacteria convert lactose (milk
sugar) to lactic acid
Contribute to production
of food and other substances by
their enzymes


Enzymes
organic molecules that speed up
biochemical reactions without
being used up or becoming part
of the end product.
A catalyst - causes a reaction to
take place

Examples
foods
medicines
vitamins
leather processing
textile production
Decomposers and Recyclers
worlds greatest recyclers
Keep elements like C and N
cycling through the
environment
Used to treat sewage, clean up
toxic wastes, processing
materials

Recyclers
more than one type of
bacterium is needed to convert
atmospheric N into a form
useable by plants.
Requires three different
chemical reactions.

Production through
decomposition
Methane - decomposition of
organic matter
Methanogens - swampy areas,
land fills, digestive tract of
ruminants.
Production through
decomposition
Linen fabric is made from flax
stems
Stems are immersed in water
Bacterium digests pectin that
makes the stalks stiff
Linen Fabric Production
remainder is washed dried and
spun into thread and then
woven into fabric

Basic features of MOs
(microorganisms)
4 major groups
bacteria, fungi, protists,
viruses
Viruses are not made up of cells
and are not considered
organisms by many
microbiologists.
Bacteria, fungi and protists
have a cellular structure, a
membrane surrounding
cytoplasm

Protists
have an inner compartment
nucleus
DNA in non circular
chromosomes
unicellular or multicellular
protozoans, algae, others
resemble fungi
Fungi
have cellular structure
non circular chromosomes
in fungi with many cells, walls
between cells are sometimes not
complete
cytoplasm and nuclei can stream from
one cell to another within slender
filaments of cells called hyphae
Fungi
have cellular structure
non circular chromosomes
in fungi with many cells, walls
between cells are sometimes not
complete
Fungi
cytoplasm and nuclei can
stream from one cell to another
within slender filaments of cells
called hyphae

Yeasts
unicellular
Molds
have many cells
Fungi
visible to the naked eye
mushrooms
bracts
puffballs
toadstools
Viruses
not cellular
particles made up of nucleic
acid and protein
Include short length of DNA or
RNA - never both!
Viruses
On their own they cannot
reproduce at all
Inject their nucleic acid into a
host cell
Viruses
Injected DNA or RNA tricks
host cell into using the viruses
chemical instructions to make
substances needed for the virus
to reproduce
Viruses
Host cell is damaged when
newly reproduced virus
particles break out of cell (lyse)
What does it take to keep a
microbe alive?
Lots of variation in
environmental and nutritional
condition requirements
Nutritional needs
energy sources
basic elements to make and
replace cell structures
Heterotrophs
organic compounds to meet
energy needs
Carbon source to make own
organic molecules
get energy from sugars,
starches, fats and other organic
compounds
Saprobes
live in soil, get nutrients from
dead organic matter
Clostridium botulinum -
botulism, food poisoning
Autotrophs
build their own organic
compounds if they have an
available source of inorganic
compounds
Phototrophs
generate their own food using
sunlight and inorganics such as
carbon dioxide
Chemotrophs
dont require sun
get energy from carbon dioxide,
salts, water and others
Nitrosomonas bacteria
live in soil
use ammonia (NH4) as energy
hetero, chemo and phototrophs
use energy from the
environment
light and heat energy from the
sun
energy stored in chemical bonds
or organic or inorganic
compounds
Six major elements in cells
C - Carbon
H - Hydrogen
N - Nitrogen
O - Oxygen
P - Phosphorus
S - Sulfur
Also -
K- potassium
Ca - Calcium
Fe - Iron
Na - Sodium
Trace elements
Co - Cobalt
Zn - Zinc
Mo - Molybdenum
Cu - Copper
Mn - Manganese
Si - Silicon

hetero, chemo, and phototrophs
some require organic
compounds that they cannot
make themselves
must be added to culture in
isolation - called growth factors
Vitamins
Microbial nutrition in the lab
hardened gel - called agar
nutrients are added to the agar
called growth medium
Pure Cultures
Grow only one kind of microbe
Must use aseptic technique to
avoid contaminating the culture

Mixed cultures
may be grown on selective
media
nutritious to some and not to
others
allows researchers to isolate a
certain species of microbe

Environmental conditions for
microbial growth
Oxygen - require Oxygen -
aerobic
some microbes live in Oxygen
poor environment - anaerobic
Anaerobic processes
fermentation
O2 atoms in compounds are
rearranged and made available
to microbes
Anaerobes
made up of molecules
containing O2 but dont
produce free or gaseous O2
Anaerobes
free oxygen may be toxic
pH
favorable range - 6-8
acidophillic - acid loving used
in mining operations.
Oxidize Cu, Fe and other metal
sulfides in the process of
pulling out the ore
Temperature
37 degrees C (98 degrees F)
some can survive a wide range
of temps ranging from 32
degrees F to 212 degrees F
Moisture
dissolve minerals, ions, gases
and organic compounds
Moisture
in extremely dry conditions
microbes form spores that hold
the genetic information and
some cytoplasm.
Spores
when moisture is added the
spore breaks down and bacteria
resume their normal activity
Salt concentrations
most microbes cant survive in
high salt or sugar
concentrations
Microbe sex
or - how microbes reproduce
process is known as binary
fission
Binary fission
increase in size, extend cell wall
material down center and divide
in two.

Speed of reproduction
in 24 hours some species of
bacteria can go from one cell to
16,777,216 cells
Single celled protists
have a more difficult
reproductive process
DNA in nucleus is fist
replicated then divided into 2
identical sets (mitosis)
continued
cytoplasm of cell then divides
to form 2 identical daughter
cells.
Fungi
reproduce by a number of
methods
yeasts - budding - cytoplasm
pinches off on one side of cell
to form a new cell
or fuses with another cell

Fungi
after fusing with a cell, nuclei
fuse and divide to form spores
when released from the cell
Yeast
spores become cells on their
own
Many celled fungi
hyphae or filaments fuse to
form sporagia
cases in which nuclei from 2
parent molds excahange pieces
of chromosomes
a type of sexual reproduction
Microbial populations
can and do change over time
bacterial populations adapt to
changes in the environment
Mutations
change in DNA
alteration of base sequence
occur spontaneously
Genetic recombination
exchanging or recombining
genetic information
two bacterial cells become
connected by a thin strand of
cell material called a pilus
Genetic recombination
DNA can travel from one
microbe to another
gene enters a microbe that did
not initially have it