Microbiology Intro
1) What is microbiology?
-The study of microorganisms, and microbes, invisible to the human eye.
6) 1% of microbes are pathogens. The other 99% of microbes can be "the opportunistic pathogens".
-Many opportunistic pathogens co-exist with other microbes in the body, until conditions change such as
weakened immune system.
11) When do we use compound light microscope?
-When viewing objects, or organisms, with the size ranging 1 micron - 1000 microns
16) Some microbes, like tapeworm, are visible to the human eye, why tapeworms are considered microbes?
Microbes are a size of micron in general. If an organism is large enough, and is a microbe, then...
-Part of its life cycle[eggs] are microscopic, and therefore, the organism is a microbe due to eggs.
20) Microbes in Disease Research
Understanding how diseases are caused, how the host tries to fight back, what factors increase susceptibility etc.
Define Micron
- The measure of the size of a regular microorganism, 10^-6 meters, 1/1000 mm.
-one millionth of the meter
-one thousandth of the millimeter
-one nanometer
7) Who discovered the first microscope?
- Zacharis Janseen created the first compound microscope in the late 1500s.
12) Prove to me, an example of living microbes?
- Bacteria, archaea, fungi, protists, and helminths
17) Microbes, such as bacteria, yeast, etc... are practically used in...
-Health Care(develop vaccines)
-Agriculture(promoting plant growth, improving soil health, making dead land = alive)
These microorganisms play a crucial role in industries like food production, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and construction materials.
Fun fact: Human body is estimated to have up to 10x
times more microbes than human cells!
Common ratio of human cells to microbes:
1:3
1:5
1:10
3) What is the typical length of the microorganism?
0.2 microns - 750 microns
Exceptional cases: 0.05 microns, and 2000 microns
8) What made possible to observe microbes?
- Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, originally the maker of the lens, created the "simple compound microscope".
- Antonie created the magnifying glass up to 200x times.
- He then observed the microscopic life.
13) Prove to me, an example of non-living microbes?
- Non-living/noncellular entities such as viruses and prions (infectious proteins)
18) Give ME examples of microbes to make food, electronics, fuel, chemicals, pharmacy, etc...
-Microbes like bacteria and yeast are used in biogas production, cheese making, yogurt making, baking, brewing, winemaking, and the production of organic acids, enzymes, biofertilizers, vaccines, antibiotics, vitamins, and other bioactive molecules.
Define Bioremediation
Bioremediation- clean up of oil spills, chemical spills, sewage to return nature to original state.
4) How many kinds of microbes are there?
Infinite.
-It's important to know, only 1% of microbes are a bacteria-pathogen type.
9) What is the common feature of all microorganisms?
-The common feature of all microorganisms is their microscopic size, requiring magnification to be seen.
14) Define Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria
-Bacteria, that evolved resistance against antibiotics.
-Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria projected to be leading killer by 2050-more than heart attacks, cancer..
19) Microbial uses are distinctive, and multiple:
Food chain: Autotrophs make their own food.
Decomposers breakdown food and other organic material.
Foods and fermentation: Yogurt, Cheese, Beer
Fun fact #2: Each site in the body has its own signature, of microbial species-its unique microbiota
For example, Digestive System has...
"Gut microbiota"
5) Expand your definition of a microbe
-Any organism, or life cycle[eggs of fly, eggs of tapeworm], that is not visible to the human eye.
10) What three main types of microscopes exist?
-Compound Simple Microscope, allows to magnify the slide up to 200x times.
-Compound Light Microscope, allows to magnify the slide up to 1 000x times.
-Transmission Electron Microscope, allows to magnify the slide up to 300 000x times.
15) Define Antibiotic
- Substances produced by microorganism to kill other microorganisms. Natural defense systems.
19.2) Microbial use of Biotechnology
-Human modified microbes used to make products many lifesaving drugs like insulin.
21) Cell structure was originally described back in 1665 by...
a) Anton Van Leeuweenhoek b) Robert Hooke
c) Louis Pasteur d) Galinochka
Robert Hooke was first to publish the description of the cell structure...