L1: History and Scope of Microbiology

Question 1

Microbiology

Answer 1

study of organisms too small to be seen by unaided eye

Question 2

What are the 3 domains of life?

Answer 2

Bacteria, Archaea, and Eucarya

Question 3

What small subunit rRNA gene is associated with Bacteria?

Answer 3

16S rRNA

Question 4

What small subunit rRNA gene is associated with Archaea?

Answer 4

16S rRNA

Question 5

What small subunit rRNA gene is associated with Eucarya?

Answer 5

18S rRNA

Question 6

What are the major groups of microbes?

Answer 6

bacteria
archaea
protists
fungi
viruses

Question 7

Who was the first to describe microbes (observed eukaryotic fungi)

Answer 7

Robert Hooke

Question 8

Who was first to see prokaryotic bacteria through early versions of the microscope?

Answer 8

Antony van Leeuwenhoek

Question 9

What is spontaneous generation?

Answer 9

the idea that living organisms could develop from nonliving matter

Question 10

How was spontaneous generation challenged and disproved? By who?

Answer 10

1. Francisco Redi showed that flies don’t spontaneously generate through his experiment with meat in a jar
2. Spallanzani showed that microbes wouldn’t grow in a flask of meat broth if the flask was sealed
3. Pasteur showed that microbes won’t grow in boiled broth until introduced from outside, showing that air carries microbes (swan-neck flask)

Question 11

What is involved in the process of Pasteurization?

Answer 11

heat is used to kill microbes

Question 12

What 2 people’s work led to the study of host defenses? (Immunology)

Answer 12

Pasteur and Lister

Question 13

Who discovered surgical procedures to prevent wound infections?

Answer 13

Joseph Lister

Question 14

Who found the first direct evidence that bacteria caused disease?

Answer 14

Koch

Question 15

What did Koch study?

Answer 15

bacterial pathogen that causes anthrax - Bacillus anthracis

Question 16

What are Koch’s Postulates? (def)

Answer 16

criteria used to establish link between a microbe and a disease

Question 17

What are Koch’s Postulates? (list)

Answer 17

Microbe is found in all cases of disease and absent from healthy
Microbe must be isolated and grown in pure culture
Same disease must result when isolated microbe inoculated into healthy host
Same microbe must be isolated again from diseased host

Question 18

What 2 people contributed to early immunology work?

Answer 18

Jenner and Metchnikoff

Question 19

What did Jenner discover?

Answer 19

first vaccine- noticed that material from cowpox lesions protected against smallpox

Question 20

Who discovered macrophages?

Answer 20

Metchnikoff

Question 21

Who are 2 people that studied microbial communities?

Answer 21

Winogradsky and Beijerinck

Question 22

What are chemolithotrophs?

Answer 22

bacteria that strip inorganic compounds of electrons for energy

Question 23

Who isolated bacteria that oxidizes inorganic compounds for energy?

Answer 23

Winogradsky

Question 24

Who isolated nitrogen-fixing bacteria that reduce atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia?

Answer 24

Beijerinck

Question 25

What percentage of Earth’s microbes have been cultured?

Answer 25

<1%

Question 26

What’s some of the importance of microbes?

Answer 26

occupy majority of habitats on Earth
More photosynthesis than plants
Production of bread, cheese, beer, antibiotics
Disease in humans and plants