Chapter 1

The Main Themes of

Microbiology
 Microbiology
• The study of organisms too small to be seen
without magnification

• Microorganisms include:
– Bacteria
– Viruses
– Fungi
– Protozoa
– Helminths (worms)
– Algae

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Microbiological Endeavors

James Gathany/CDC

CDC

Photo courtesy of Sartorius Stedim Biotech Jack Dykinga, USDA/ARS

3
 Origins of Microorganisms
• Bacteria-like organisms have existed on earth for
about 3.5 billion years
– Prokaryotes (pre-nucleus): Simple cells
– Eukaryotes (true nucleus): Complex cells
Humans
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appeared.

Mammals
appeared.

Cockroaches,
termites
appeared.
Probable
origin of Prokaryotes Eukaryotes Reptiles
earth appeared. appeared. appeared.

15 billion 4 billion 3 billion 2 billion 1 billion 4

Present
years ago years ago years ago years ago years ago time
 Microbial Structure
• Two cell lines
– Prokaryote – microscopic, unicellular organisms, lack
nuclei and membrane-bound organelles
– Eukaryote – unicellular (microscopic) and multicellular,
nucleus and membrane-bound organelles
• Viruses - Acellular, parasitic particles composed of a nucleic
acid and protein
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(a) Cell Types (b) Virus Types

Prokaryotic Eukaryotic
Nucleus Mitochondria
Chromosome Envelope
Ribosomes
Capsid
Ribosomes

Nucleic
acid

AIDS virus

Cell wall Cell

membrane
Flagellum Flagellum 5
Cell membrane Bacterial virus
Microbial Diversity: 6 Types of Microbes Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Reproductive spores

Janice Carr/CDC © Tom Volk © Charles Krebs Photography

Bacteria: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a Fungi: Thamnidium, a filamentous Algae: desmids, Spirogyra filament, and diatoms
rod-shaped cell (15,500x). fungus (400x) (golden cells) (500x).

A single virus particle

CDC © Yuuji Tsukii, Protist Information Server CDC 6

Virus: Herpes simplex, cause of cold Protozoa: A pair of Vorticella (500x), stalked cells Helminths: Cysts of the parasitic roundworm,
sores (100,000x). that feed by means of a whirling row of cilia. Trichinella spiralis (250x) embedded in muscle.
Microbial Dimensions
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1 mm

Range
of
human Reproductive structure
Louse Macroscopic
eye of bread mold

Macroscopic
100 mm Nucleus
Colonial alga
(Pediastrum)
Amoeba
Range
of
light microscope
Red blood cell White blood cell
10 mm
Most bacteria fall between 1 to 10 mm
in size
1 mm
Rod-shaped bacteria Coccus-shaped bacteria
Rickettsia bacteria
(Escherichia coli) (Staphylococcus)

200 nm Mycoplasma bacteria Poxvirus

100 nm AIDS virus

Hepatitis B virus
Range 10 nm Poliovirus
of
electron Flagellum
microscope
Large protein

1 nm Diameter of DNA

Require Amino acid

special (small molecule)
microscopes

0.1 nm Hydrogen atom

(1 Angstrom)

Metric Scale

1,000 100 10 1. 0 0 0, 0 0 0, 0 0 0, 0 0 0
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Log 10 of meters 3 2 1 0 –1 –2 –3 –4 –5 –6 –7 –8 –9 –10 –11 –12
 Microbes in Energy & Nutrient Flow
• The flow of energy and food
through the earth’s
ecosystems

– Photosynthesis:
Light fueled conversion of
carbon dioxide to organic
material

– Decomposition:
Breakdown of dead matter
and wastes into simple
compounds
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 Concept Check:

Which of the following does NOT describe a

fungus?

A. Contains a nucleus
B. Has 80S Ribosomes
C. Useful in Decomposition
D. Is photosynthetic
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 Human Use of Microorganisms
• Biotechnology:
Production of foods, drugs,
and vaccines using living
organisms

• Genetic engineering:
Manipulating the genes of
organisms to make new
products

• Bioremediation:
Using living organisms to
remedy an environmental
problem
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 Lifestyles of Microorganisms

• Majority live a free existence, are relatively

harmless and often beneficial

• Some microorganisms have close associations

with other organisms
– Parasites live on or in the body of another organism
called the host and it damages the host.

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 Microbes & Infectious Diseases
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• Pathogens: Microbes
Parasitic diseases 2.5%
that do harm Miscellaneous 1.5%

• Nearly 2,000 different

microbes cause
diseases 7%
5%
26%

• 10 B new infections/year 9%

worldwide
11%
18%

• 12 M deaths from 17.5%

infections/year
worldwide
12
 Top Causes of Death in the
United States and Worldwide

13
Historical Foundations of Microbiology

• Thousands of microbiologists over 300 years

• Prominent discoveries include:

– Microscopy
– Scientific method
– Development of medical microbiology
– Microbiology techniques

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 Spontaneous Generation
• Spontaneous Generation is an early belief that
some forms of life could arise from vital forces
present in nonliving or decomposing matter (flies
from manure, etc.)

• Louis Pasteur eventually disproved spontaneous

generation and proved the Theory of Biogenesis -
the idea that living things can only arise from other
living things
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723)

• Dutch linen
merchant

• First to observe
living microbes

• Single-lens
magnified up to
300X

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 Leeuwenhoek’s Work
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Lens

Specimen holder

Focus screw

Handle

© Kathy Park Talaro/Visuals Unlimited

© Kathy Park Talaro/Visuals Unlimited

17
 Scientific Method
• Approach taken by scientists to explain a certain natural
phenomenon
• Form a hypothesis - a tentative explanation that can be
supported or refuted
– Deductive approach “If…, then….”
• A lengthy process of experimentation, analysis, and
testing either supports or refutes the hypothesis
• Results must be published and repeated by other
investigators.
• If hypothesis is supported by a growing body of evidence
and survives rigorous scrutiny, it moves to the next level of
confidence - it becomes a theory.
• If evidence of a theory is so compelling that the next level
of confidence is reached, it becomes a Law or principle.
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 Concept Check:
A Scientific Theory has little or no evidence to
support it and could be best described as a “best
guess”.

A. True
B. False

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Discovery of Spores and Sterilization
• John Tyndall and Ferdinand Cohn each
demonstrated the presence of heat resistant
forms of some microbes.
– Cohn determined these forms to be heat-
resistant bacterial endospores.

• Sterility requires the elimination of all life forms

including endospores and viruses.

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 Using the Scientific Method to
Investigate Bacterial Endospores
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Hypothesis Predictions Testing Theory/Principle

Bacterial endospores If hypothesis is true, Compare endospore formers to non-endospore microbes. Endospores are the only
are the most resistant endospores can survive cells consistently capable of
of all cells on earth. extreme conditions Survival of Survival of surviving a wide range of
such as: endospore former non-endospore former destructive environmental
conditions. In order to
• temperature (boiling)................................ +............................. –/+* sterilize, these cells must be
eliminated.
• radiation (ultraviolet)................................. +..............................–
• lack of water (drying)................................ +.............................–/+
• chemicals................................................. +............................. –/+
(disinfectants) *Only 1 out of 4 cell types survives.

Endospores
of certain
bacteria
Endospores
Cells without
endospores are Additional tests show that endospores
ordinary bacteria, have thick coverings and protective features
fungi, animal cells. and that endospores are known to survive
over millions of years.

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Development of Aseptic Techniques
• The human body is a source of infection
– Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes – observed that mothers
of home births had fewer infections than those who
gave birth in hospitals

– Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis – correlated infections with

physicians coming directly from the autopsy room to
the maternity ward

– Joseph Lister – introduced aseptic techniques to

reduce microbes in medical settings and prevent
wound infections
• Involved disinfection of hands using chemicals prior to surgery
• Use of heat for sterilization
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 The Germ Theory of Disease

• Many diseases are caused by the growth of

microbes in the body and not by sins, bad
character, or poverty, etc.

• Two major contributors:

Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch

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Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)
• Showed microbes
caused fermentation and
spoilage

• Disproved spontaneous
generation of
microorganisms

• Developed
pasteurization

• Demonstrated what is
now known as Germ
Theory of Disease 24
Robert Koch (1843-1910)
• Established Koch’s
postulates - a
sequence of
experimental steps that
verified the germ
theory

• Identified cause of
anthrax, TB, and
cholera

• Developed pure
culture methods25
 Taxonomy
• Taxonomy: organizing, classifying, and naming
living things
– Formal system originated by Carl von Linné

• Concerned with:
– Classification – orderly arrangement of organisms into
groups
– Nomenclature – assigning names
– Identification – determining and recording traits of
organisms for placement into taxonomic schemes
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 Levels of Classification

• Domain - Archaea, Bacteria, & Eukarya

• Kingdom
• Phylum or Division
• Class
• Order
• Family
• Genus
• Species

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 Sample Taxonomy
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Domain: Eukarya (All eukaryotic organisms) Domain: Eukarya (All eukaryotic organisms)

Kingdom: Animalia Kingdom: Protista

Lemur Includes
protozoa
and algae

Sea squirt Sea star

Phylum: Chordata Phylum: Ciliophora

Only protozoa
with cilia

Class: Mammalia Class: Hymenostomea

Single cells with
regular rows of
cilia; rapid
swimmers

Order: Primates Order: Hymenostomatida

Elongate oval cells with
cilia in the oral cavity

Family: Hominoidea Family: Parameciidae

Cells rotate while swimming
and have oral grooves.

Genus: Homo Genus: Paramecium

Pointed, cigar-shaped cells with
macronuclei and micronuclei
Species: caudatum
Species: sapiens Cells cylindrical, long, and pointed

(a)
at one end 28
(b)
 Concept Check:
Organisms in the same Family must also be in the
same Class.

A. True
B. False

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 Assigning Specific Names
• Binomial (scientific) nomenclature

• Gives each microbe 2 names:

– Genus - capitalized
– species - lowercase

• Both italicized or underlined

– Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus)

• Inspiration for names is extremely varied and

often imaginative!
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 The Origin and Evolution of
Microorganisms
• Phylogeny: natural relatedness between groups
of organisms

• Evolution
– All new species originate from preexisting species
– Closely related organism have similar features
because they evolved from common ancestral forms

• Evolution usually progresses toward greater

complexity
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 Three Domains of Life
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• Bacteria - Angiosperms
Gymnosperms
Arthropods
Chordates

true bacteria Annelids Echinoderms

Ferns
Mosses Mollusks
Club
fungi
Nematodes

• Archaea -
Yeasts
PLANTS
Kingdom FUNGI
Molds
(Plantae) Kingdom Flatworms

odd bacteria that (Myceteae) ANIMALS

Kingdom

live in extreme Red Slime Ciliates

(Animalia)
Sponges
First multicellular
molds
environments, high algae
Green
algae
Flagellates organisms appeared
0.6 billion years ago.
Brown
salt, heat, etc. algae Amoebas
PROTISTS
Kingdom
(Protista)
EUKARYOTES

Diatoms Apicomplexans

• Eukarya - Dinoflagellates
Early eukaryotes
First eukaryotic

have a nucleus cells appeared

PROKARYOTES

62 billion years ago.

and organelles MONERANS

Kingdom
Monera
Archaea Bacteria

5 kingdoms
2 cell types Earliest cell
First cells appeared
3–4 billion years ago.
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 The Evolutionary Relationships
Between Earth’s Inhabitants
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Kingdoms

Plantae Animalia Fungi Protista

Domain Bacteria Domain Archaea Domain Eukarya

Prokaryotes Prokaryotes
Chlamydias Gram-positive Endospore Gram-negative Methane
Cyanobacteria that live in that live in Eukaryotes
Spirochetes bacteria producers bacteria producers
extreme salt extreme heat

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Ancestral Cell Line (first living cells)
 Concept Check:
Organisms in the Domain Archaea have more DNA
sequence similarity to

A. Escherichia coli which is in the Domain Bacteria

B. Humans which are in the Domain Eukarya
C. Archaea have no DNA sequence similarity to any
other organism
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