Wainwright (Autumn) Flashcards
What is the main reason we study MOs?
- cause disease in humans, animals and plants
What type of MOs are the main agents of disease in humans?
- bacteria
Do fungi cause disease?
- not usually, but can do
- cause mould
What disease do protozoa cause?
- malaria
What do algae cause?
- not disease
- toxic algal blooms
How were MOs 1st observed?
- Leeuwenhoek
- single lens microscope
- drop of water acted as 2nd lens
How were diseases originally thought to be spread?
- by poisonous air
How was the smallpox vaccination dev, and who by?
- Wortley injected small amounts of smallpox, most survived and were protected
- Jenner used cowpox as vaccination as not lethal
- Jesty did work before Jenner but not credited
What was Semmelweis responsible for?
- intro of hand washing
- recognition that doctors and midwives spread disease
What was Pasteur responsible for?
- defeated theory of spontaneous generation
- MOs in air
What was Snow responsible for?
- concluded cholera caused by contaminated water (sewage etc.)
What was Koch responsible for?
- Kochs postulates –> 1 organism for 1 disease
What was Lister responsible for?
- intro antiseptic surgery
- sprayed carbolic acid in the air
- gave surgeons more time to operate
What was Ehrlich responsible for?
- discovered 1st antibacterial agent, Salverson 606
Who contributed to the discovery and use of Penicillin?
- Fleming discovered (1st antibiotic)
- Florey and Chain dev it for medicine
What was Domagk responsible for?
- intro 1st Sulfa drug, Prontosil
What is an anthropocentric assumption?
- life assumed to have originated
What is life?
- C based –> bonds reversible, Si bonds too stable to release energy for metabolism
- ordered
- replicateable (reproduction)
- DNA based
What is the chemical theory for the origin of life?
- life originated from simple chemicals
- standard scientific view
- AAs –> proteins –> membranes –> DNA –> proto-organism
If panspermia was true what would we expect to find?
- expect MO life elsewhere
What is the litho theory for the origin of life?
- life originated from asteroids
What do comets contain, making them perfect for life?
- water
- organics
- oxygen
- CO2
- can reach 40ºC
What is panspermia?
- origin of life from space
What is neopanspermia?
- life continues to come to Earth from space
What was the Indian Sampling Balloon and what did it uncover? (Hoyle and Wickramasinghe)
- sent into high cold biosphere
- done when no eruption w/in 2 years to avoid criticism
- sampling pod and cryo tube concentrated atmosphere and take in particles under v sterile conditions
- particle mass found from 41km, 10μm, carbocyanine DNA, proved alive, had dimensions of bacteria
What is serendipity?
- accidental discovery
What size particles are carried upwards in space?
- less than 6μm
What did Rose and Baker do?
- used sampling drawer, opens in space, things fall in and closes again
- found new stratospheric particles
How do we know particles found are from space?
- never find fungal spores or pollen on inside of sampler, only outside
- if particles from Earth, then would be bits of plants but images clear
- particles found too big to be leaving Earth
Who other than Fleming claimed to have discovered Penicillin, and why did his claim fail?
- Duschesne
- fails as fungal isolate killed E. coli so prob Pauline
Who was Fleming working w/ when he discovered Penicillin and what was he doing?
- Bigger
- grew bacteria on plates for long periods, became unusual shapes
What was on Fleming’s famous plate?
- Staph, fungus mould from atmosphere contaminated plate
- zone of inhibition where bacteria lysed
- thought prod lysozyme
What role Paine play in the Penicillin story?
- taught by Fleming
- put bandages w/ culture on skin disease
- tested on ophthalmo neutorum by dipping in eye, cured
- didn’t publish or do talks, so no credit
- told Florey about importance, as cured babies, so aided purification
What role did Reid play in the Penicillin story?
- wrote papers in early 30s
- like Fleming didn’t purify or inject animals
What role did Florey play in the Penicillin story?
- purified penicillin w/ Chain
- made into an injectable drug
- saved lives of many soldiers
