BIOL 2320 J.L. Marshall, Ph.D.

HCC-Stafford Campus

Chapter 1- The Main Themes of Microbiology*

*Lecture notes are to be used as a study guide only and do not represent the comprehensive information you will need to know for
the exams.

1.1 The Scope of Microbiology

Microbiology is the study of microorganisms – organisms so small, that microscopes are required to see them
and special laboratory techniques are needed to study them. Microbe - Gr. mikros, small, and bios, life.
Microorganisms are generally less than 0.1 mm (100 μm) in diameter. The major biological groups of
microorganisms, also called microbes, includes: bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, algae, and helminths
(Figure 1.3). Microorganisms have a profound influence on all aspects of life on this planet. They are
ubiquitous, meaning they are everywhere. Microbes are useful for study. They have “simple” genetics, grow
rapidly and are used to understand basic life processes.

Fields and Occupations in Microbiology (Table 1.1): Within the field of Microbiology there are many sub-
disciplines:

1. Immunology – study of how the body defends itself against infection.

2. Epidemiology – monitoring and controlling the spread of disease.
3. Medical microbiology & Pathology – focuses disease causing microbes.
4. Agricultural microbiology – studies the microbes involved in soil fertility, livestock health, and plant
diseases.
5. Food & dairy microbiology and aquatic microbiology examine the roles of microbes in consumable food
and drink.
6. Biotechnology – the application of biological processes: broad scope ranges from how bread is baked,
fermentation processes, and the manufacture of recombinant human drugs such as insulin.
7. Genetic engineering involves the manipulation of the genetic makeup of microorganisms to produce new
compounds and unique organisms used for medical or environmental applications.
8. Microbial ecology is the interaction between microorganisms and their environment and with other
organisms.

1.2 General Characteristics of Microorganisms and Their Roles in the Earth’s Environments

The Origins and Dominance of Microorganisms

All living things are made up of cells. Generally speaking, cells are essentially bags of water and nutrients with
DNA inside them and are capable of reproducing themselves. Some organisms are made up of trillions of cells
each with their own function (such as humans), while other organisms are only one cell (such as bacteria and
Protists). Cell complexity ranges widely between different organisms. One way to classify cells is whether
they are eukaryotic or prokaryotic (fig. 1.2):
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eukaryotic – Gr. eu, true, and karyon, nucleus

Organisms that have a nucleus and intracellular organelles (like mitochondria)

E.g. Homo sapiens – humans.

prokaryotic – Gr. pro, before, and karyon, nucleus

Organisms that lack both a nucleus and intracellular organelles. These are the bacteria.

E.g. Escherichia coli – a bacterium

The Cellular Organization of Microorganisms

Most prokaryotes are smaller than eukaryotic cells, and the prokaryotes lack highly specialized internal
compartments called organelles. Organelles are specialized structures in eukaryotic cells that carry out specific
functions, like the mitochondria and Golgi bodies.

Prokaryotes are typically single celled organisms. Prokaryotes include bactera and archaeons.

All prokaryotes are microorganisms, but only some eukaryotes are microorganisms, such as algae,
protozoa, molds, and yeasts.

Where Do the Viruses Fit?

Viruses are not considered cells! They are non-living organisms. But, they are microscopic and cause
infectious disease.

Microbial Dimensions: How Small is Small?

Do you use a water filter on your sink at home? What size pores are in the membrane? What size are the
bacteria? Can viruses be filtered out?

Microorganisms are measured using the metric system: (Figure 1.4)

1 meter = 1.09 yards (a little over 3 feet) Meter is abbreviated with a lowercase m.

1 millimeter (mm) = 1/1000th of a meter = 0.001m = 10-3m

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1 micrometer (m) = 1/1,000,000th of a meter = .000001 millimeters = 10-6 meters ( micrometers are usually
referred to as “microns”)

1 nanometers (nm) = 10-9 m (1 billionth of a meter)

Average sizes for microscopic organisms:

• protozoa = 100 m
• eukaryotic cell = 10 – 100 m
• bacteria = 1 to 5 m in length, some reach 20 m in length
• viruses = 0.01 m or 10 nm
smallpox virus = 250 nm or 0.25 m

polio virus = 20 nm

Why so small? Surface to volume ratio. Bacteria have a large surface-to-volume ratio and are able to
concentrate nutrients rapidly. The nutrients are then able to diffuse rapidly inside of the cell. Small size also
enables them to multiply rapidly.

Microbial Involvement in Energy and Nutrient Flow

One way to classify microbes is according to their primary role in the environment: (Figure 1.5)

1. Microbes involved in energy and nutrient flow:

a. Producers – Photosynthesis: photosynthetic microorganisms including algae and cyanobacteria

account for more than 50% of the Earth’s photosynthesis. Thus, they not only serve as the basis for
the food chain, they contribute the majority of oxygen (O2 ) to the atmosphere.

b. Decomposers – Nutrient Recycling: decomposers play strategic and often specific roles in the cycling
of elements such as nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and carbon between living things and their non-living
environment.

c. Symbionts – microorganisms which live in partnership with other living things. Examples including:
bacteria living in the digestive systems of ruminants, bacteria living in our own digestive systems, and
nitrogen fixing bacteria living in plant root nodules.

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1.3 Human Use of Microorganisms

Microbes, particularly bacteria, have been used to help solve human problems. (Figure 1.6). Biotechnology
has advanced the fields of genetic engineering and bioremediation.

1. Genetic Engineering: manipulate genes, moves genes to other organisms to understand a life process,
such as protein function. Use recombinant DNA technology to accomplish the process.
2. Bioremediation: use microbes (and sometimes other organisms like plants) to remove toxic
compounds from the environment.

1.4 Microbial Roles in Infectious Diseases

Infectious diseases influence the human condition (human health):

Pathogens – Gr. pathos, diseases, and gennan, to produce. A pathogen is a microorganism or virus that causes
disease.

Many pathogens are considers parasites, an organisms that lives at the expense of another organism called a
host. The parasite will use the host for its nutrient source.

Some numbers:

• Nearly 2,000 different species of microbes can infect the human body and cause disease.
• The WHO estimates 10 billion new infections across the globe every year.(Figure 1.7)
• Infectious diseases are the most common cause of death in many communities and account for about
30% of deaths in the U.S.
• Worldwide fatalities from infectious disease = about 12 million per year. Table 1.2.

Infectious diseases are diseases that are caused by microbes. Two categories of infectious diseases are:

1. Emerging diseases – recent, unexpected diseases like the H1N1 influenza virus
2. Re-emerging diseases – diseases that existed at low levels in the population, but are now back on the rise,
such as gonorrhea.

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1.5 The Historical Foundations of Microbiology

The Development of the Microscope: “Seeing is Believing”

Antonie van Leewenhoek (Figure 1.8) developed the first microscope (Figure 1.9). He made it possible to
visualize microbes for the first time.

Historical Highlights

• 1676 – Antoine van Leeuwenhoek observes bacteria and protozoa using his home made microscope –
the first of its kind.
• 1798 – Edward Jenner demonstrates that it is possible to vaccinate against smallpox using pus from
cowpox lesions – the first vaccine.
• 1850 – Ignaz Semmelweis’ insistence on hand washing reduces mortality rate of puerperal sepsis from
8.3% to 2.3%.
• 1861 – Louis Pasteur disproves spontaneous generation theory with his swan-neck flask experiment
(1.2 Making Connections) and develops process of pasteurization in 1864. Contributes to proving germ
theory of disease.
• 1876 – Robert Koch demonstrates conclusively that a bacteria (B. anthracis) causes a disease (anthrax).
Develops procedures for identifying pathogenic microorganisms (Koch’s postulates). Germ theory
confirmed.
• 1908 – Paul Ehrlich formulates the concept of drug specificity and develops the drug salvarsan to treat
syphilis, thereby starting the use of chemotherapy to treat diseases.
• 1929 – Alexander Fleming discovers and describes the properties of the first true antibiotic, penicillin.

The Scientific Method and the Search for Knowledge

The scientific method is used to explain certain natural phenomenon. A very important aspect of the scientific
method is to develop a hypothesis, a statement that can be supported or discredited by experimentation. The
most common way to prove or disprove a hypothesis is to use the deductive approach. (Figure 1.10). Over
time as the hypothesis survives scrutiny it becomes a theory, for example, the gravitational theory.

The Development of Medical Microbiology

Once it was understood that microbes are everywhere, ubiquitous, the connection was made to their
existence and medicine. This connection led to the development of medical microbiology.

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Jenner and the Introduction of Vaccination

Developed a method to control smallpox by inoculating his patients. He is considered the “Father of
Immunology”.

The Discovery of Spores and Sterilization

The existence of spores was discovered by experiments conducted by John Tyndall and Ferdinand Cohn. The
concept of objects being sterile, which means completely free of living organism, including spores and viruses,
became essential to microbiology.

The Development of Aseptic Technique

Robert Koch – his studies linked a microbe with a specific disease.

Another very important contribution to microbiology was the practice of aseptic technique – working in a
manner such that unwanted microbes do not contaminate the specific working environment. Observations
conducted by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, who observed that mothers who gave birth at home had fewer
infections that mothers who gave birth in hospitals; Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis, who established the importance of
hand washing; and Dr. Joseph Lister, who used phenol to disinfect surgical instruments.

The Discovery of Pathogens and the Germ Theory of Disease

The germ theory of disease, that infectious diseases are causes by microorganisms is a relatively new idea.
The fact that microorganisms actually cause disease and food spoilage was not known until the 19th century.
Until about 1880, it was not understood that microorganisms, “germs”, caused disease. The causes were
explained by everything from witchcraft to punishment from God.

Louis Pasteur – invented pasteurization.

Robert Koch demonstrated that a particular organism, a bacterium, was responsible for a particular disease
using a series of procedures now named after him. Some of the pathogens Koch linked to disease include:

• Anthrax (1876) - Bacillus anthracis

• Tuberculosis (1881) - Mycobacterium tuberculosis
• Cholera (1883) - Vibrio cholerae

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Koch's Postulates for determining the etiologic agent of a disease:

1. Collection: The specific microorganism thought to be the causative agent (etiologic agent) of a disease
must be consistently collected from individuals suffering from the disease, but not from healthy
individuals.
2. Isolation: The suspected etiologic agent (potential pathogen) must be isolated and cultivated in pure
culture outside the host in vitro1. (as opposed to in vivo2).
3. Characterization: Complete microscopic and biological characterization of isolated organism.
4. Testing: Pure cultures of the suspected pathogen, when introduced into a suitable and susceptible host
(mice or rabbit) must produce the signs and symptoms characteristic of the disease.
5. Re-isolation from test subject: The same organisms must be consistently isolated in pure culture from the
experimental host and be cultivated again in vitro.

It is not always possible to follow Koch's postulates exactly. For example: Treponema pallidum (syphilis) and
Mycobacterium leprae (leprosy/Hansen's disease), as well as viruses, must be cultivated in vivo, so pure
culture is technically impossible.

1.6 Taxonomy: Organizing, Classifying, and Naming Microorganisms

1. Taxonomy – the formal system of organizing, classifying and naming living organisms. An important aspect
of this is nomenclature, assigning names to various species.

The Levels of Classification

From top to bottom: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species (Figure 1.13).

Assigning Specific Names

Aristotle (4th century BC) was probably the first taxonomist, the first to classify organisms. He classified living
things into two kingdoms: Animals (Animalia) and Plants (Plantae).

Carl von Linné (Linnaeus) (1735) devised a system of binomial nomenclature – two words, genus and species,
to represent each organism as opposed to a long, Latin description.

Examples: Homo sapiens, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Vibrio cholerae.

1 in vitro – Latin for “in glass”, i.e. culturing microorganisms in the lab in test tubes or on plates.
2in vivo – Latin for “in life”, i.e. microorganisms would be growing in a living host.
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The proper scientific name of any organism is always written in italics with the genus name capitalized and the
species name in lower case.

For example:

Staphylococcus aureus

(Staphylococcus = genus name and aureus = species name)

It is common to see only the genus name abbreviated with an upper-case letter such as:

S. aureus

In older texts or when written by hand, the name of the organism is underlined: S. aureus.

Many species of bacteria are subdivided into strains. A strain is a subtype of a particular bacteria species
usually with unique characteristics. For example, E.coli O157:H7 is a strain of Escherichia coli which has
acquired the shiga toxin gene. One way to think of this is that all domesticated dogs are the same genus and
species (Canis familiaris), but there are hundreds of breeds (Dobermans, Great Danes, Spaniels, etc.).

1.7 The Origin and Evolution of Microorganisms

All Life Is Related and Connected Through Evolution

Phylogeny is the study of how organisms are related on an evolutionary scale. Relatedness can be traced to
morphology, the structure and shape of an organism, physiology, the function, and genetics, the inheritance.

Through evolution these changes are tracked over millions of years. Over time species adapt to their natural
environment.

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Systems for Presenting a Universal Tree of Life

The diagram showing how organisms are related are shown in a phylogenetic tree (Figures 1.14 and Figure
1.15).

The Kingdom System

Robert Whittaker proposed a five kingdom system based on types of cells. The 5 kingdom system is:

Fig. 1.14:

Eukaryotes

Animal Kingdom

Plant Kingdom

Fungi Kingdom

Protists Kingdom

Prokaryotes

Monera Kingdom (i.e. only bacteria)

Note: Viruses are not included in the classification of living things since, technically speaking, they are not
alive.

The Domain System

This system is based on cell type (prokaryotic or eukaryotic) and genetic composition. The Domain system was
devised by Dr. Carl Woese and Dr. George Fox. They showed the relatedness of species through comparing
their rRNA. As a result three distinct Domain were organized (Figure 1.15):

Domain Bacteria – contains the true bacteria. These cells lack a nucleus and organelles.

Domain Archaea - contains organisms that have a prokaryotic cellular structure, but in some

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ways (genetic regulation mechanisms) are similar to eukaryotes. These

organisms live in extreme environments.

Domain Eukarya – contains eukaryotic organisms such as trees, fish, birds, and yeast.

FYI = Microorganism Survey

Monera (Bacteria)3 - Single-cell prokaryotes. The study of bacteria is called bacteriology. Within the Monera
kingdom there are four domains:

• eubacteria – typical, “true” bacteria. Most of the pathogens are in this domain.
• archaea – Domain Archaea contains primitive bacteria that live in extreme environments.
Examples: methanogens, thermophiles, and halophiles. These do not cause disease.
• cyanobacteria – formerly blue-green algae; photosynthetic producers.
• mycoplasmas – atypical in that they lack a cell wall; one species causes the human disease
known as “walking pneumonia”.

Protozoa are in the K. Protista. They are single-celled eukaryotes with no tissue formation. Cells have
organelles and a nucleus.

Fungi have their own kingdom: K. Fungi. Exist as either single-celled or multicellular eukaryotes. They lack
chlorophyll and do not carry out photosynthesis. They take in food by absorption. The study of fungi is
mycology. Yeasts and molds belong to this group.

Helminths – only microorganisms in K. Animalia. Multicellular eukaryotes. The organisms in this category of
interest to us are the parasitic worms (for ex. hookworms).

Viruses have no kingdom. They are not living things. Non-cellular, they have no observable metabolic activity
other than replication, which they cannot do outside another cell. They are intracellular obligate parasites.

3 Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology is a reference book in which one can find the names, morphological and physiological
characteristics of all known bacteria. (On reserve in the library.)
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Some interesting web sites to use as references

Medical Microbiology Text http://gsbs.utmb.edu/microbook/toc.htm

Very technical, but in depth coverage of major classes of microorganisms.

Center for Disease Control http://www.cdc.gov/

This is an EXCELLENT, up to date reference for almost all known pathogens.

World Health Organization www.who.int/home-page

The "Bad Bug Book" http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/intro.html

“Cool Microbiology” (links) http://www.cmdr.ubc.ca/cool.html

Texas Department of Health – Infectious Disease Control Unit

Information on infectious disease in Texas.

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/idcu/default.asp

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