What is microbiology

1
What is microbiology?

• Levels of Hierarchy and Organization in Living
  Systems
• What are the functional characteristics of life?

2
Wiki Brainstorm

• What are characteristics of Life? What makes
  something alive?

3
Primordial Soup

• Early 70s experiments to show possibility for
  spontaneous generation of life molecules
• Today several labs working on assembling de
  novo micro-oranisms, from scratch or or from
  others (links coming)

4
Molecules of Life
5
Microbiology in the Hierarchy of Life

• Molecules
• Cells
• Tissues
• Organisms
• Environment

6
Levels of Organization

• Molecular Level (Molecular Biology
• Chemical Level (Organic Chemistry and
  Biochemistry)
• Cellular Level (Intro. or Cell Biology)
  organelles, genes, mitosis, meiosis
• Tissue Level (Histology) groups of cells with
  common function, living together, usually of same
  speciescolony form and structure, division of
  cell types, formation of multicellular
  structures.
• Organism (Physiology and Genetics) Single cell
  or grouping of cells working together in
  environment)
• Environment (Ecology, Epidemiology)
  Relationship between microbes and environment,
  other organismsincluding humansin environment.

ALL MICROBIOLOGY!!
7
History of Microbiology

• History of Microbiology link
• Important events

8
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1670s)
9
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)

• No spontaneous generation of life
• Life comes from other life

10
Other key events

• Early 1900ssterile technique
• Florence Nightengaleaseptic technique in nursing
  starting in 1850s
• Edward Jenner (1789)vaccines (note early date!)
• Modern times
• Avery, Beadlerole of genes, DNA
• Linus Pauling, Carl WoeseDNA sequence and
  evolutionary relationships
• Recombinant DNA technologynow widespread
• What is to come?

11
The importance of Diffusion

• Diffusion versus Osmosis (diffusion across a
  membrane)
• Diffusion fast and effective across microscopic
  distance
• Virtually all living processes involve diffusion
  and/or osmosis
• Cell membranes control diffusion and allow for
  life chemical reactions to take place
• Diffusion allows cells to tissues to functionor
  is how cells function

Cell membranes and Diffusion