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What is microbiology?

 study of organisms and agents too small to be seen by the naked eye (<1mm)
Epulopiscium fishelsonii – found in the gut of surgeonfish
Thiomargarita namibiensis – “sulfur pearl of Namibia”, largest bacteria (0.75
mm in diameter)
Relative sizes of microbes: 0.01µm to 100µm

 study of organisms that can exist as single cells, contain a nucleic acid genome for at
least some part of their life cycle, and are capable of replicating that genome
- includes recently discovered microorganisms such as Epulopiscium and
Thiomargarita
- also include viruses, which microbiology texts traditionally discuss along with
living organisms

Importance of microorganisms:
 first living organisms on planet
 live everywhere life is possible
 more numerous than any other kind of organisms
 global ecosystem depends on their activities - oxygen replenishment, nitrogen
fixation, carbon fixation (photosynthesis), biogeochemical
cycling, decomposition
 influence human society in many ways

Basic Microbiology
• Interest on the microorganisms and their biology
Fields: Virology - viruses
Bacteriology - bacteria
Phycology - algae
Mycology - fungi
Protozoology - protozoa

• Morphology/particular functional process

Microbial physiology/biochemistry
Microbial genetics/molecular biology

Applied Microbiology
 Medical microbiology
 Immunology
 Public health microbiology
 Food and dairy microbiology
 Industrial microbiology
 Agricultural microbiology
 Microbial ecology

The Future of Microbiology

 infectious diseases
 new and improved industrial processes
 microbial diversity and microbial ecology - continuous discovery of novel species

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More challenges and opportunities:

 biofilms - microbial colonies encased in an adhesive (usually polysaccharide) and
attached to a surface
 microbes as model systems
 genome analysis
 assessment

Discovery of Microorganisms

Zacharias Jansen – first compound microscope (3-10x)

Robert Hooke - simple compound microscope (30x); “cells” in cork, “elongated stalks” (fungi)

Anton van Leeuwenhoek – discovered “wee animalcules”

The Conflict
Spontaneous Generation (Abiogenesis) vs. Biogenesis Theory
SG: Life emerges from non-living matter vital force required
BT: Life begets life

Francesco Redi – experiments on decaying meat and maggots

John Needham – boiled mutton broth and sealed flask after boiling (result: microbial growth);
Spontaneous generation - thought that organic matter contained a vital force
that could confer life on non-living matter

Lazzaro Spallanzani – improved on Needham’s experiment (two sets: one left uncovered,
the other covered); proposed that air carried germs to the culture medium
(SG supporters: heating the air destroyed its ability to support life)

Franz Schulze – passed air through strong acids (result: no microbial growth)

Theodor Schwann – passed air through red-hot tubes (result: no microbial growth)
Conclusion: strong acid and heat altered the air so it cannot support microbial growth

Georg Friedrich Schroder and Theodor von Dusch – filtered air through sterile
cotton wool (result: no microbial growth)

Louis Pasteur – Father of modern microbiology; used swan-necked flasks in his

experiments:
FIGURE FOUND ON PAGE 4 OF THIS HANDOUT

 placed nutrient solution in flasks

 created flasks with long, curved necks
 boiled the solutions
 left flasks exposed to air
(Results: no microbial growth)

John Tyndall – demonstrated that dust carries microorganisms (final blow to the
Spontaneous Generation Theory); also provided evidence for the existence of
exceptionally heat-resistant forms of bacteria; proposed Tyndallization (essentially
consists of heating the substance to boiling point and holding it there for 15 minutes,
three days in succession)

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Ferdinand Cohn - discovered the existence of heat-resistant bacterial endospores

The Role of Microorganisms in Disease

Germ Theory of Disease – diseases are caused by specific agents called germs

Girolamo Fracastoro – disease was caused by invisible living creatures

Agostino Bassi – silkworm disease was due to a fungal infection

Miles Joseph Berkeley – proved that Potato Blight of Ireland was caused by a fungus

Heinrich Anton de Bary – showed that smut and rust fungi caused cereal crop diseases

Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis - asepsis in obstetrical wards could prevent the transmission of
childbed fever from patient to patient; instigated a policy for all attending physicians
to wash their hands with chloride of lime (calcium hypochlorite) between patients
- mortality rate dropped from 18% to 2.4%

Joseph Lister – “Father of Antiseptic Surgery”; provided indirect evidence that

microorganisms were the causal agents of disease; used phenol or carbolic acid in
surgical dressings and heat-sterilized surgical instruments

Louis Pasteur – pebrine disease of silkworms was due to a protozoan parasite

Robert Koch – gave the first direct demonstration of the role of bacteria (Bacillus anthracis)
in causing disease based on his study of anthrax; used criteria developed by his
teacher Jacob Henle

Koch’s Postulates:
1. The microorganism must be present in every case of the disease but absent from
healthy organisms
2. The suspected microorganism must be isolated and grown in a pure culture
3. The same disease must result when the isolated microorganism is inoculated into a
healthy host
4. The same microorganism must be isolated again from the diseased host

Koch’s works led to the development of microbiological techniques:

1. solid culture medium (boiled potato slices; gelatin; agar)
2. aseptic technique
3. pure culture maintenance
4. the petri plate (Julius Richard Petri)

The development of vaccines

Variolation
Edward Jenner – used a vaccination procedure to protect individuals from smallpox; pus
from cowpox blisters
* Last smallpox case in Somalia in 1977; WHO declared smallpox as officially
eradicated in 1979

Pasteur and his co-workers

– developed vaccines for chicken cholera, anthrax, and rabies
– discovered that incubation of cultures for long intervals between transfers caused
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pathogens to lose their ability to cause disease; growing the pathogen in an unnatural host
also weakens it

The discovery of viruses

Charles Chamberland – developed porcelain bacterial filter used to isolate first viruses
studied

Antimicrobial compounds

Paul Ehrlich (in chemotherapy) - developed 606th compound SALVARSAN

Alexander Fleming – discovered the “miracle drug” penicillin from Penicillium

Industrial Microbiology and Microbial Ecology

Louis Pasteur – fermentations were the result of microbial activity; developed the process
of pasteurization to preserve wine

Eduard Buchner – cell-free fermentation

Sergei Winogradsky and Martinus Beijerinck – studied soil; enrichment cultures and
selective media

PASTEUR’S EXPERIMENTS (Madigan, Martinko &Brock, 2006)

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KOCH’S POSTULATES

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