Chapter 1 Flashcards
What are the characteristics of parasite lifestyles?
harbored and nourished by host, cause damage and disease in the host
What is phylogeny?
The taxonomic scheme that represents the natural relatedness between groups of living things
What does it mean to say bacteria are ubiquitous?
They are found everywhere and in all environmental conditions
What is nomenclature?
The assignment of scientific names to the various taxonomic categories and individual organisms
What does eukary mean?
True nucleus
What are the levels of classification, from most general to most specific?
Domain, kingdom, phylum/division, class, order, family, genus, species
What is the definition of sterile?
Completely free of all life forms including spores and virus particles
What is bioremediation?
Introduction of microbes into the environment to restore stability or. lean up toxic pollutants
What is deductive reasoning?
Using general principles to explain scientific observations
What contributions did Ferdinand Cohn make to microbiology?
Discovered and described bacterial endospores
What term is used to refer to older diseases?
Reemerging
What contributions did Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis make to microbiology?
Showed that infections could be spread by doctors who did not wash their hands
What does the environmental microbiology branch deal with?
Effects of microbes on the earth’s diverse habitats
What are the official terms for organisms studied under the area of microbiology?
Microorganisms or microbes
What contributions did Antonie van Leeuwenhoek make in microbiology?
Fashioned crude microscopes and made drawings of “animalcules”
What were the five kingdoms recognized in the old classification system?
Plants, animals, protista, monera, and fungi
What is microbiology?
The specialized area of biology that deals with organisms too small to be seen with the naked eye
What is evolution?
The accumulation of changes that occur in organisms as they adapt to their environments
What does the agricultural microbiology branch deal with?
Relationships between microbes and domesticated plants and animals
What are the terms for cells with no true nuclei?
Prokaryotes or akaryotes
What is the definition of a communicable disease?
Any disease that can be spread between organisms (human to human, animal to human, etc)
What contributions did John Tyndall make to microbiology?
Discovered that microbes in dust and air have high heat resistance
What is identification?
Process of discovering and recording the traits of organisms so they can be recognized or named and placed in a taxonomic scheme
What contributions did Robert Koch make to microbiology?
Linked a specific organism with a specific disease
What contributions did Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes make to microbiology?
First observed that women giving birth at home suffered fewer infections than women who gave birth in hospitals
What is the definition of an infectious disease?
Any disease that is caused by a microbe
What is the binomial system of nomenclature?
Combination of the genus name and species name to identify an organism
How do modern microscopes differ from Leeuwenhoek’s original microscopes?
More refined lenses, condenser, finer focusing, built in light sources
Which major group of microorganisms is technically not a microorganism?
Helminths
What is biotechnology?
Manipulation of microbes to make products in an industrial setting
What are the six major groups of microorganisms?
Bacteria, fungi, protozoa, viruses, prions, and helminths
What term is used to refer to new diseases?
Emerging
What contributions did Robert Hooke make in microbiology?
Had some of the first observations of microbes in the 1600s
What does the industrial microbiology branch deal with?
Safeguarding food and water and using biotechnology to form microbes that can create wanted substances
What contributions did Joseph Lister make to microbiology?
First to utilize hand washing and misting operating rooms with antiseptic chemicals
What is anoxygenic photosynthesis?
The first form of photosynthesis developed by bacteria that did not produce oxygen as a product
What does prokary mean?
No true nucleus
What does the public health microbiology and epidemiology branch deal with?
Monitoring and controlling the spread of diseases
What is a hypothesis?
Tentative explanation to account for what has been observed or measured
What is a pathogen?
any agent that causes disease
What are the characteristics of microorganism lifestyles?
soil or water habitats, relatively harmless or beneficial, derive food and other factors from nonliving environment
What is inductive reasoning?
Process of discovering general principles by careful examination of specific cases
What are the attributes of microorganisms that microbiologists study?
Cell structure and function, growth and physiology, genetics, taxonomy and evolutionary history, and interactions with the living and nonliving environment
What makes microbes difficult to study?
They cannot be seen directly and must be analyzed using indirect methods and microscopes
What is recombinant DNA technology?
Collection of techniques that allow for genetic material to be transferred between organisms in order to deliberately alter DNA
What are the general characteristics of bacterial and archaeal cells?
About 10x smaller than eukaryotic cells, lack organelles
What does the medical microbiology branch deal with?
Microbes that cause disease in humans and animals
What is genetic engineering?
Manipulation of the genetics of microbes, plants, and animals for the purpose of creating new products and GMOs
What is the term for cells with true nuclei?
Eukaryotes
What are some of the ancient uses for microorganisms?
Yeast for bread, wine, and beer production, fungi for cheese production, moldy bread for wound treatment
What is taxonomy?
The science of classifying biological species
What makes microbes easy to study?
They reproduce rapidly and large populations can be grown in a lab setting
What is classification?
Orderly arrangement of organisms into a hierarchy of taxa
What does the immunology branch deal with?
The role of the immune system in various diseases and the protective substances and cells produced in response to infection
What are the three domains recognized in the new classification system?
Archaea, bacteria, and eukarya
What is the scientific method?
General approach taken by scientists to explain natural phenomena
What percentage of earth’s oxygenic photosynthesis is performed by microbes?
70%
What is decomposition?
The breakdown of dead matter and wastes
