BMSC210 CH1.1 Flashcards
What invention made it possible to prove the existence of many types of microbes?
the microscope
What are some examples of fermented foods and beverages?
beer, wine, bread, yogurt, cheese, pickled vegetables
What is microbial fermentation?
Process that uses bacteria, mould, or yeast to convert sugars to alcohol, gases, and organic acids.
How did people first learn about fermentation?
Possibly by accident, such as drinking old milk that had curdled or old grape juice that had fermented.
What are some products made using fermentation?
Bread, cheese, and wine.
What type of organism is yeast?
Fungus
How do yeast cells cause bread to rise?
By metabolizing carbohydrates and producing carbon dioxide
Who is Ötzi the Iceman?
A 5300-year-old mummy found frozen in the Ötzal Alps.
What possible treatment for his infections was Ötzi carrying?
Piptoporus betulinus fungus
What was Ötzi using the Piptoporus betulinus fungus for?
Possibly trying to treat his infections
What understanding did some ancient civilizations have about disease transmission?
Could be transmitted by things they couldn’t see
What is an example of historical attempts to contain the spread of disease?
Quarantining people with leprosy and other diseases
What do historical attempts to contain the spread of disease suggest?
Understanding that diseases could be communicable
What did the ancient Greeks attribute disease to?
Bad air and miasmatic odours.
What did the Romans believe in?
The miasma hypothesis.
What sanitation infrastructure did the Romans create?
Aqueducts and the Cloaca Maxima.
What did researchers believe about the Roman sanitation infrastructure?
It helped protect them from epidemics of waterborne illnesses.
Who is considered the ‘father of Western medicine’?
Hippocrates
What did some doctors, philosophers, and scientists understand before the invention of the microscope?
Invisible forces (microbes) that can cause infection, disease, and death
Who dismissed the idea that disease was caused by supernatural forces?
Hippocrates
What important observation did Thucydides make about the Athenian plague?
Survivors did not get re-infected
Who observed that survivors of the Athenian plague were immune to the infection?
Thucydides
Who proposed that certain minute creatures in the air cause diseases?
Marcus Terentius Varro
Who was the first to develop a lens powerful enough to view microbes?
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
What invention definitively confirmed the existence of invisible microscopic creatures?
Microscope
What did the ancients suspect to be the cause of diseases?
Invisible minute creatures
Who was able to observe single-celled organisms in 1675?
Leeuwenhoek
What did Leeuwenhoek describe the organisms as?
animalcules or wee little beasties
When did the Golden Age of Microbiology occur?
between 1857 and 1914
Who were two famous microbiologists?
Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch
What process did Louis Pasteur invent to kill microorganisms responsible for spoilage?
Pasteurization
What did Louis Pasteur develop vaccines for?
The treatment of diseases, including rabies, in animals and humans
Who was the first to demonstrate the connection between a single, isolated microbe and a known human disease?
Koch
What are three diseases that Koch discovered the bacteria for?
Anthrax, cholera, tuberculosis
Who is credited with numerous innovations that advanced the fields of microbiology and immunology?
Louis Pasteur
Who identified the specific microbes that cause anthrax, cholera, and tuberculosis?
Robert Koch
Who is considered the pioneer of microbial ecology?
Sergei Winogradsky
What were the lab-based ecosystems used by Sergei Winogradsky called?
Winogradsky columns
What is lithotrophy?
Obtaining energy from inorganic molecules
How did the early photosynthetic bacteria affect Earth’s atmosphere?
They produced enough oxygen to change the atmosphere from anaerobic to aerobic.
