Chapter 1

The Microbial World:

Surprising and Stunning

Objectives: After reading Chapter One, you should understand…

• How the microbial world impacts our world.
• The contributions that microbes make to the quality of our lives.
• The origins of microbiology.
• The contributions of Pasteur and Koch to the development of microbiology.

The Microbial World

Microorganisms make up 98% of the Earth’s diversity and are characterized in the broadest
sense as:

Prokaryotes, or

Eukaryotes…What is the difference?

Bacteria

Gut bacteria at ~500,000 X magnification.

…have existed on Earth for over 3.5 billion years.

How old is the Earth?

How long have humans existed?

…have adapted to occupy every imaginable niche on the planet.

§ Outer reaches of the atmosphere

§ Bottoms of oceans
§ Dry valleys of Antarctica
§ Deserts of Africa
§ Sub-surfaces of alpine rocks

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 In other words…VERY adapted…why?

They are diverse…two examples:

1. They obtain energy in various ways

Chemotrophs – energy from decomposition of organic or inorganic

compounds.

Phototrophs – energy from light compounds.

What are humans?

2. They have various ways of metabolizing oxygen

Animals require oxygen. Do bacteria?

Most species utilize oxygen in metabolism (aerobic bacteria), but some

need very little O2 (microaerophilic) or none at all (anaerobic).

Anaerobic bacteria are important in oxygen-poor environments.

Compacted landfills – important for anaerobic degradation of

pollutants.

From:www.groundwateruk.uk

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Public health importance of bacteria:

Disease-causing organisms are called pathogens.

Why are bacteria so powerful in causing disease?

1. Fast reproduction (how fast?)

2. Exhibit effective defense mechanisms.
3. Opportunistic nature
4. Some can produce toxins

Methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

Viruses

You can likely name a virus that has been in the news…but do you really know anything about
these viruses?

A virus is essentially nucleic acids surrounded by a protein coat…so is it alive?

Viruses need a host in order to reproduce = obligate parasite.

We think of viruses as pathogens, but…viruses can be beneficial:

Viruses that cause common colds have been genetically modified to be less
virulent, and then altered to carry genes that help to relieve the symptoms of
cystic fibrosis (CF). What is CF?

The altered virus carries the helpful genes to the respiratory tract cells.

Why use a virus as a vector for dissemination of these genes?

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Protozoa

Differ substantially from bacteria and viruses.

Protozoa contain nuclei, organelles, different energy metabolism mechanisms (so, are
they prokaryotic or eukaryotic?).

Protozoa at ~500X magnification

A trypanosome ~6,250X magnification

Photosynthetic protozoa are important as primary producers in the ocean food chain.

Protozoa can also be detrimental:

Cryptosporidium spp. caused more than 100 deaths in Milwaukee in 1993 when
sewage entered the water supply.

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Algae

Plantlike, and contain photosynthetic pigments.

Algae up close (Chlorella)… … and from afar (freshwater algal bloom)

Several different types of photosynthetic algae inhabit oceans in high numbers.

Form the basis of aquatic food chains (again, a primary producer).

Using light as an energy source, photosynthesis creates carbohydrates

(sugars) from CO2 and H2O (while producing O2), which becomes food
for higher trophic levels.

It is estimated that microscopic algae in oceans trap more energy, use more CO2
and liberate more O2 than all land plants and macroscopic algae combined.

Algae as a human food source.

Single cell protein – algae are cultivated in massive tanks, then dried and added
to food such as ice cream and yogurt to enhance their nutrient content.

Fungi

The most important decomposers on Earth.

Often filamentous – why is this structure

important to the fungus?

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Yeasts are fungi

Important for brewing and baking.

Beneficial fungi:

Aspergillus niger – used in sake production, fading blue jeans, and spot removers.

Claviceps purpurea– used to produce a drug to help with migraine headaches.

Harmful fungi:

Agricultural pests

Ergot of rye (Claviceps spp.)

Dollar spot of turfgrass

(Sclerotinia homoecarpa)

Water mold caused the Great Famine in Ireland in 1845.

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 The Roots of Microbiology

Advances in the study of microorganisms are closely coupled with methodological advances.

Most advances have been made in the past 40 years.

Technology was much more primitive during the early years of microbiology.

First magnifying lenses were constructed in 1267 by Roger Bacon.

Useful to view detail on small macroorganisms, but not useful for microbiology

In the early 1600s, Zacharius Janssen, a spectacle maker, found that two lenses were
better than one – the first compound lens system.

Magnified approximately 3-9X

The “microscope”, as we know it today, was perfected in the 1620s by Galileo Galilei.

In 1660s, Robert Hooke, an English philosopher and inventor, first used the microscope
to look at cork, fungi that were infecting plants, and mold.

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 Hooke also developed the universal joint, respirator.

Primarily a tinkerer, not a microbiologist.

1670s - Microbes first described by Anton van Leeuwenhoek.

Van Leeuwenhoek’s early microscope ca. 1670.

van Leeuwenhoek was a true scientist and chronicled his observations.

§ Microbes in wine and beer (important later)

§ Impact of pepper on microbes (environmental impact)

§ Asked Hooke to confirm findings (review)

§ Microbes in rainwater (habitat study)

The diversity was fascinating to van Leuwenhoek, but what he saw were likely protozoa
and not bacteria…why?

These represented the first real microbiology studies

Revolutionary for the 1600s

Van Leeuwenhoek expanded the field of microbiology by communicating many of his

results including the first formal discussion of bacteria in the late 1600s.

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Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)

In the 1800s the French were wondering why their wines were turning sour.

Today we know that this occurs because the sugars in the wines ferment.

What is fermentation?

Prevailing theory: fermentation was purely a chemical process with no input by

living organisms.

Pasteur used experimentation to provide evidence against this…

• Pasteur showed that tiny organisms were found in the wine.

• Sour wines contained populations of the microorganisms described by van

Leeuwenhoek.

• When the organisms were killed through heating, no fermentation would

take place.

• When the organisms were added back, fermentation would again occur.

While this was an important issue for French pride, a more important question was at the
scientific forefront:

Could microorganisms play a role in human health?

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 In the 1850s, Louis Pasteur thought that microbes might cause disease. This spurred
massive re-interest in microbes.

Technology advanced accordingly.

Based on Pasteur’s observations of microbes in the environment, he reasoned that

they could be transmitted to humans. This led him to propose the germ theory of
disease, which stated that microorganisms play significant roles in the
development of infectious disease.

Led to the development of pasteurization, which ironically ended the

sour wine problem.

But…Pasteur’s critics held another point of view – spontaneous

generation.

Spontaneous generation (proposed by Pasteur's critics)

From where do microbes that spoil food or cause disease originate?

Two prominent theories:

1. “Seeds” or germs from the air (was not a widely accepted theory).

2. Arose spontaneously via a “life force”.

Surprisingly, this theory was widely accepted!

Pasteur provided evidence against spontaneous generation.

First, he showed that by filtering air, he could trap organisms similar to

those growing in rotten food.

He also thought that if food was treated to render microbes inactive, then it
should not spoil.

So, Pasteur heated the food to kill microbes…no spoilage!

However, critics were not satisfied with Pasteur’s experiment…so Pasteur

performed more elaborate experiments to support his point.

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 So, he modified his experiments to include a “swan-necked” flask…

Take Home Message – Pasteur is responsible for the ideas and theories that today drive
efforts to promote food safety and prevent communicable diseases.

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Nature of Infectious Disease (Robert Koch 1843-1910)

In the 1500s it was known that disease involved transmission of some vector between
people…but what was it?

Even after the discovery of microorganisms, there was no proof that implicated
them in causing disease.

Koch worked with the bacterial disease anthrax (Bacillus anthracis), which, at the time,
was associated with a blood infection in cattle and sheep.

But was it the cause or the result of the disease?

Koch used two steps of analysis of anthrax in mice to answer the question.

First, Koch drew blood from a diseased mouse and injected it into a healthy
mouse – the mouse became diseased.

This was repeated several times to show that B. anthracis caused the
disease.

Additionally, microscopy showed that B. anthracis was always present in

diseased blood.

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 Bacillus anthracis bacteria (purple
rods) in cerebrospinal fluid sample.
The other cells are white blood cells

Second, Koch showed that B. anthracis cultured from the mouse retained its
pathogenicity.

These findings led to the development of Koch’s Postulates, which are

the fundamental principles used to relate a single microbe to a single
disease –this solidified Pasteur’s germ theory of disease.

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 Pasteur and Koch ushered in the Golden Age of Microbiology (1850s – early 1900s)

Pasteur also described the principle for vaccine development.

The transmission of several diseases was characterized:

Mosquitoes – malaria
Tsetse flies – sleeping sickness
Rat fleas – bubonic plague

Into the twentieth century

Invention of electron microscope (when do you think that was?)

Light microscope image of cocci bacteria (400X) SEM image of cocci bacteria on skin.
(100,000X)

The electron microscope facilitated the development of virology.

Antibiotics were developed in the 1950s

Age of Molecular Genetics

Bacteria engineered to destroy pollutants

Gene therapy
Genetically modified plants

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