1) Microbiology Definition

a) Branch of biology that deals with the study of microorganisms

2) Branches
a) Bacteriology
i) Bacteria (bacteruim) - minute unicellular organisms that have all the
necessary protoplasmic equipment for growth and self-multiplication at
the expense of available foodstuffs
ii) Distribution
iii) Normal flora
iv) Pathogens
b) Virology
i) Viruses
ii) Obligate intracellular parasites
iii) DNA or RNA
iv) Capsid
v) bacteriophage
c) Mycology
i) Fungi
ii) Yeast or mold
iii) Monomorphic
iv) Dimorphic
v) Malassezia furfur - tinea versicolor
d) Parasitology
i) Parasites
ii) Flagellates, amoebae, sporozoans, nematode, trematodes, cestodes
e) Immunology
i) Cells, molecules, and mechanisms
ii) Immunity

3) Basic Cell Types

a) Protists
i) Undifferentiated unicellar organisms that do not form the specialized
tissues and organ systems of higher plants and animals
ii) Theodore Schwann and Matthias Swhleiden developed the theory that all
living things are composed of cells
iii) Cells are living entities surrounded by a membrane, that are capable of
growing, reproducing, responding, and metabolizing
b) Prokaryotes
i) Distinctive structural feature is not what they have but what they lack
ii) LM reveals that they do not have a membrane surrounding their DNA,
they do not have a nucleus - nucleoid
iii) EM reveals that they also lack various types of membrane-bound
structures present in eukaryotes
 iv) Simple and smaller in size
v) Types: Bacteria and Archaea
vi) Differ in:
(1) Nucleotide sequence of their ribosomal RNA
(2) Type of lipids in their cytoplasmic membranes
(3) Chemistry of their cell walls
c) Eukaryotes
i) Have a membrane surrounding their DNA forming a nucleus
ii) Have numerous other internal membrane-bound compartments referred
to as organelles
iii) Cells of algae, protazoa, fungi, animals and plants are eukaryotic
iv) Larger in size and more complex than prokaryotes
d) Domain
i) Using nucleotide sequence of rRNA, Carl Woese discovered three basyc
types of ribosomes which led to the proposal of a new classification
scheme in which a new taxon, called domain, contains the Linnaean
taxon of kingdom
ii) Eukarya, Bacteria, Archaea

4) Taxonomy
a) Classification
i) Taxa - Organization of microorganisms that share similar morphologic,
physiologic, and genetic traits into specific groups
ii) Nomenclature - according to established rules and guidelines that provide
the accepted labels by which organisms are universally recognized
iii) Binomial System - Carolus Linnaeus developed this system where each
organism is given 2 names, the Genus name and the specific epithet.
Together, the 2 names refer to the species
 iv) Genus - comprised of different species that have several important
features in common but differs sufficiently to still maintain their status as
individual species
v) Species - collection of bacterial strains that share many common
physiologic and genetic features and as a group differ notably from other
bacterial species
(1) Subspecies
(2) Biotype, serotype, phagotype - designation given to groups below
the subspecies level that share specific but relatively minor
characteristics
5) Identification
a) Categories
i) Genotypic characteristics
(1) Criteria
(a) DNA base composition ratio - G + C content
(b) Nucleic acid base sequence analysis or homology - nucleic
acid hybridization
ii) Phenotypic characteristics
(1) Criteria
(a) Microscopic morphology
(b) Staining characteristics
(c) Environmental requirements
(d) Nutritional requirements
(e) Macroscopic morphology
(f) Subcellular properties
(g) Resistance profiles
(h) Antigenic properties