Introduction to the microbial world Flashcards
What are some differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells?
Pro=DNA not enclosed within membrane + usually singular and circularly arranged chromosome (Eu=DNA in nucleus and in several chromosomes)
Pro= cell walls contain peptidoglycan
Pro= divide by binary fission
What is the germ theory?
micro-organisms are the causes of many diseases
What research did Jenner carry out?
Smallpox- if vaccinated with cowpox you couldn’t get small pox
What did Ignaz Semmelweis discover?
incidence of puerperal fever decreased by hand washing
What did John Snow discover?
Cholera was transmitted by infected water
What did Louis Pasteur discover?
- showed that bacteria were responsible for food spoilage
- invented pasteurisation
- proposed use of antiseptics to prevent infection
What did Joseph Lister discover?
-used carboxylic acid to fight infections
What did Alexander Fleming discover?
penicillin
What did Bayer discover?
prontosil, first commercially available antibiotic which was effective against some gram positive bacteria
Why are antifungals hard to develop?
fungi are eukaryotic so selective toxicity is harder to achieve
Why are antivirals hard to produce?
viruses have small genomes so few drug targets which are often highly mutable so resistance is a problem
-tend to inhibit virus life cycle rather than killing it
What have genomes allowed us to investigate?
evolution
What are metagenomics?
the study of a community based on the DNA present and does not rely on culturing strains
Why haven’t a lot of bacteria been studied?
we can’t culture many forms of it
Why are bacteria useful?
- direct food source
- prebiotics
- cheese
- production of vaccines
- clean up oil spills
