The Microbial World And The Tree Of Life Flashcards
What has heavily influenced the evolution and survival of plants and animals?
Microbial symbioses, microbial activities, pathogens
When did prokaryotes evolve?
3.5 to 3.8 billion years ago
Define a stromatolite
Layered sedimentary formations created mainly by photosynthetic microorganisms such as Cyanobacteria, sulfate reducing bacteria and proteobacteria.
What is fossil evidence of microbial life?
Stromatolites
When do the oldest stromatolites date back to?
3.4 - 3.5 billion years ago
4 impacts of microorganisms on human society
- Microbes and disease
- Microbes and agriculture
- Microbes and food
- Microbes and industry
Microbes and food
spoilage/fermentation to make cheese, yoghurt, bread and beer
Microbes and disease
aids understanding of disease and therefore public health and sanitation
Microbes and agriculture
leguminous plants and nitrogen fixation, microorganisms in the human intestinal tract and the rumen of cattle
Microbes and industry
Problems if grown as a biofilm
Useful if grown in large quantities to make antibiotics, enzymes and chemicals
Confusion over 5 or 6 kingdoms, what could we say is a 6th kingdom itself?
Archaea
What are the five kingdoms ?
Animal, plant, fungi, protist, Monera (bacteria + archaea)
First documented evidence of a magnifying glass like object
700BCE
Rock crystal disk with a convex shape
(The Assyrians Nimrud Lens)
What year did Leeuwenhoek observe single celled organisms?
1674
When was the first TEM created?
1931
ETEM
2009
In situ atomic resolution Environmental TEM
Evolution of described kingdoms
1735 - Linnaeus - Vegetabilia and Animalia (VA)
1866 - Haeckel - Protista, Animalia and Plantae (PAP)
1937 - Chatton - Prokaryota and Eukaryota
1956 - Copeland - Monera, Protoctosta, Animalia, Plantae
1969 - Whittaker - Monera, Fungi, Protoctista, Animalia, Plantae
1977 - Woese et al - Eubacteria, Archaebacteria, Fungi, Protoctista, Animalia, Plantae
1990 - Woese et al - Archaea, Eukarya
What did Whittaker notice about classification of the kingdoms in 1969?
That fungi should be their own kingdom
Who proposed the three domain tree of life and what was it based on?
Woese et al
Bacteria, archaea, eukarya
Sequencing of the 16s rRNA
Why was 16s rRNA used?
Short
Highly conserved