Introduction to Microbiology Flashcards
What is the “Golden Age”?
Scientists established the fundamental principles of disease pathology and microbial ecology that are still in use today. This period laid the foundation for modern biology, in which genetics and molecular biology provide powerful tools for scientists to manipulate microorganisms for medicine, research, and industry.
How did microbial diseases devastate the human population in the past?
example of diseases: bubonic plague, AIDS
The plague, page 12 which wiped out a third of Europe’s population in the fourteenth century, was caused by Yersinia pestis, a bacterium spread by rat fleas. In the nineteenth century, the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis stalked overcrowded cities, and tuberculosis was so common that the pallid appearance of tubercular patients became a symbol of tragic youth in European arts, such as Puccini’s opera La Bohème.
How many people are infected with and die from AIDS?
35 million are living with the HIV virus today and 1.2 milion will die from it this year.
How are microbes more fatal in war, than the battle itself?
Microbes kill more people than the wounds from battles. In fact, Europeans brought smallpox to North America and exterminated the population.
Who was Florence Nightingale?
She was a British nurse and Statistician. She created the polar area chart to illustrate deaths caused by infectious diseases. She founded medical statistics.
Who was Robert Hooke?
He was the first person to publish a study of the world as seen under a microscope. He also built the first compound microscope.
What was Micrographia?
The first publication of objects seen under a microscope.
Who discovered “cells”?
Robert Hooke
Who was the first person to observe single-celled microbes?
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
What is spontaneous generation?
The idea that microbes can exist without “a parent” such as maggots. However, many church leaders disagreed and stood with biblical creation. Chemist of the day supported this theory.
Who were Lazzaro Spallanzani & Francesco Redi?
Two Italian priests the refuted spontaneous generation. Francesco used meat to show that maggots came from flies and Lazzaro showed that sealed meat with a flask did not grow microbes and came up with cell fission where two cells grow until they split apart. Scientists argued that Lazzaro’s experiment lacked oxygen which made microbes not grow.
Who was Louis Pastuer?
Famous French Microbiologists; laid the foundation for modern microbiology and addressed spontaneous generation.
How was Pasteur involved in fermentation?
He discovered that fermentation was actually caused by living yeast, a single-celled fungus. In the absence of oxygen, yeast produces alcohol. But if it is contaminated with bacteria, it causes acetic acid.
Why did Pasteur disapprove that Lazzaro’s experiment failed due to lack of oxygen?
Fermentation proved that microbes can grow without oxygen. But, he did the same project with a “swan neck” straw that allowed oxygen in and microbes did not grow.
What is autoclaving?
The standard way to sterilize materials for a controlled study of microbes
