General Microbiology

(Biol 3209)

Chapter: One
Introduction & History of Microbiology

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Instructor : Yeshaneh Adimasu (M.Sc.)
 1.1 What is Microbiology?
• The word Microbiology comes from Greek word
 Micro:- too small (tiny)
 Bio:- life
 Logos:- study
• What are microorganisms?
• Are too small to be seen with the naked eye.
• They are also referred to as microbes.
• Observed with the help of microscope.
• Microorganisms are ubiquitous
• The majority of microbes are useful & few are
harmful.
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 1.1.1 Microbes studied in Microbiology
1. Bacteria:- Bacteriology 4. Algae:- Phycology
• Unicellular • Simple plants
• Light microscope • Exist as unicell and clusters
• chlorophyll – Photosynthesis
2. Fungi:- Mycology • Soil, water
• Multicellular (mold) or 5. Viruses:- Virology
unicellular (Yeast) • Obligate parasite & can infect
• No chlorophyll human, animal, plant & bacteria
3. Protozoan:- • Electron microscope
Protozoology • Intracellular
• Single animal cell
• Human and animal
diseases
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• All organisms are classified into two very broad classification
based on individual cell characteristics.
1. Eukaryotic 2. Prokaryotic
• True nucleus • Lack true nucleus
• Single and multicellular • Simplest form
• Complex internal structure • Single internal structure
• Possess membrane bound • Peptidoglycan
structures • E.g.: bacteria & archaea
E.g.: fungi, plant, animal..
 1.1.2 Kingdom of organisms
1. Animalia: multicellular; no cell wall; chemoheterotrophic
2. Plantae:- multicellular; cell wall made from cellulose; usually
photoautotrophic.
3. Fungi – eukaryotes, chemoheterotrophic; unicellular or
multicellular; cell walls of chitin; develop from spores or hyphal
fragments
4. Protista- unicellular eukaryotes (protozoan)
5. Monera – unicellular prokaryote (bacteria & cyanobacteria).
 1.2. Scope of Microbiology

• Microbiology is a dynamic field of study that includes many

specific area of research:-
 Medical microbiology
 Industrial microbiology
 Agricultural microbiology
 Environmental microbiology
 Immunology
 Food microbiology
 Biotechnology
etc……
1.3 The history of microbiology

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 1.3 The history of microbiology
1.3.1 Discovering of organisms
 Robert Hooke- In 1665 said
that living things were
composed of little boxes he call
them “CELLS”

 Anton van Leeuwenhoek’s 1632 - 1723

He discovered “microorganisms
 He called these tiny living organisms
“animalcules”.
 He first described bacteria, protozoans and
many cells of the human body.
300X
 Leeuwenhoek’s drawings of bacteria
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Courtesy of Royal Society, London
 1.3.2 Spontaneous generation
 According to Aristotle, it was readily
observable that All Living things come from
non-living things
“aphids arise from the dew which falls on plants, Aristotle: 384 – 322 B.C.
fleas from putrid matter, mice from dirty hay.”

A B
1.3.3 The controversy over spontaneous generation

• Controversy similar to one concerning the origin of life was

witnessed in the case of the origin of microbes.
• The theory of “spontaneous generation” was believed by
many scientists for centuries.
• They believed that life arose spontaneously from non-living
things; which is “abiogenesis” theory.
• Meanwhile, there were opponents of this idea. The
controversy was on for over 100 years.
• In 1868, an Italian scientist, Francesco Redi, after many
smart experiments, disproved the theory of abiogenesis.
• Francesco Redi - Experiments on flies

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 Materials
used

Meat Jar
 Experiment

Jar-1 Jar-2 Jar-3

• Left open • Sealed • Covered with net
• Maggot formed • No maggot • Maggot on surface

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Q. What causes tiny living things to appear in decaying
broth?
1. Needham’s Hypothesis: Support spontaneous generation
2. Spallazani’s Hypothesis: Microbes come from the air, boiling
will kill them.

Needham
1713 - 1781

Spallazani
1729 - 1799
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 Louis Pasteur; the father of modern Microbiology.
• He described vaccine and vaccination to protect against
microbial activity.
• Performed series of brilliant researches and experiments for
the wine industry.
• Through his several experiments in the wine industry, was
able to debunk the spontaneous generation hypothesis.
• Pasteur’s swan- neck flasks used in his experiments on the
spontaneous generation of microorganisms.

1822-1895 14
Conclusion
 Microbes are not spontaneously generated from inanimate
matter, but are produced by other microbes.
  Pasteur’s contributions
 Demonstrated lactic acid fermentation
 Pasteur- why did wine sour? (converted sugars into alcohol)
 Yeasts do the work of fermentation
 Bacteria cause spoilage
 Pasteurization
 Pasteur developed anthrax vaccine
 Pasteur (1861) conflict over spontaneous generation – birth of
microbiology as a science.
• John Tyndall(1820-1883):- different infusions require different
boiling times to be sterilized.
• Joseph Lister(1867):- he discover the use antiseptic technique.
• Robert Koch(1843-1910):- (father of medical microbiology),
discovered that bacteria caused diseases such as tuberculosis,
anthrax etc.
• With his assistant, Ehrlich (who worked on dyes), they were
able to stain bacteria and viewed them on the microscope.
• He introduced agar as gelling agent for culture media.
• He was the pioneer in laboratory technique.
• Koch established the microbial etiology of 3 important
diseases of his day.
1. Cholera (fecal-oral disease)
 Caused by Vibrio cholerae
2. Tuberculosis (pulmonary infection)
 Caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis
3. Anthrax (sheep and cattle)
 Caused Bacillus anthracis

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 • Bacillus anthracis
• Gram (+), non-motile, aerobic, spore forming rod
• Streptobacilli with central spores
• Livestock
• Sheep, cattle, goats
• Handle hides, wool, goat hair, handicrafts made
from infected animal

 Robert Koch develop germ theory of disease

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Germ theory of disease
 Exceptions to Koch’s Postulates
1. Some organisms have never been grown in pure culture on
artificial media.
 Mycobacterium leprae causative agent of Leprosy, never
grown in artificial media.
 Diseases associated with bacteria that live only within
cells, such as the rickettsia and chlamydia, and diseases
caused by some viruses and protozoan parasites.
2. In exclusively human diseases, it is not morally acceptable to
inoculate a deadly pathogen into a “human guinea pig”. E.g. HIV
3. The causative agents of several human diseases do not cause
disease in any known experimental animals.

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 1.3.4 The development of microbiology
• In the late 1800s and for the first decade of the 1900s,
scientists seized the opportunity to further develop the germ
theory of disease as enunciated by Pasteur and proved by
Koch.
• There emerged a Golden Age of Microbiology during which
many agents of different infectious diseases were identified.
• Many of the etiologic agents of microbial disease were
discovered during that period, leading to the ability to halt
epidemics by interrupting the spread of microorganisms.
• Despite the advances in microbiology, it was rarely possible
to render life‐saving therapy to an infected patient.

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• Then, after World War II, the antibiotics were introduced to
medicine.
 The incidence of pneumonia, tuberculosis, meningitis,
syphilis, and many other diseases declined with the
use of antibiotics.
• Work with viruses could not be effectively performed until
instruments were developed to help scientists see these
disease agents.
• In the 1940s, the electron microscope was developed.
• In that decade, cultivation methods for viruses were also
introduced, and the knowledge of viruses developed rapidly.
 With the development of vaccines in the 1950s and
1960s, such viral diseases as polio, measles, mumps,
and rubella came under control.
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• Modern microbiology reaches into many fields of human
endeavor, including
 the development of pharmaceutical products
 manufacture many foods, including fermented dairy
products sour cream, yogurt, buttermilk, pickles,
sauerkraut, breads, and alcoholic beverages.
 the use of quality‐control methods in food and dairy
product production.
 control of disease‐causing microbes in consumable water.
 Microorganisms are used to produce vitamins, amino
acids, enzymes, and growth supplements.
 the industrial applications of microbes.

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 1.4 Important events in the development of microbiology

Date Microbiological History

1676 Leeuwenhoek discovers "animalcules"
1857 Pasteur shows that lactic acid fermentation is due to microbes
1861 Pasteur shows that microorganisms do not arise by
spontaneous generation
1867 Lister publishes his work on antiseptic surgery
1869 Miescher discovers nucleic acids
1876-1877 Koch demonstrates that anthrax is caused by B. anthrax
1880 Laveran discovers Plasmodium, the cause of malaria
1881 Koch cultures bacteria on gelatin Pasteur develops anthrax
vaccine 24
1884 Koch's postulates first published Metchnikoff describes
phagocytosis Gram stain developed
1944 Avery shows that DNA carries information during
transformation Waksman discovers streptomycin Watson and Crick
propose the double helix structure for DNA
1961-1966 Cohen use plasmid vectors to clone genes in bacteria
1980Development of the scanning tunneling microscope
1983-1984 The polymerase chain reaction developed by Mullis
1990 First human gene-therapy testing begun
1997 Discovery of Thiomargarita namibiensis, the largest known
bacterium, Escherichia coli genome sequenced
2000 Discovery that Vibrio cholerae has two separate chromosomes
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 1.5 Benefits of Microbiology
1- Antibiotics • In 1928 by Alexander Fleming
discover the first antibiotic
2- Vaccine
3- Biological weapons
4- Pathology
Penicillin from a mold called
5- Cosmetic and food Penicillium notatum
6- knowing these microbes can
protect us form disease
7- Bioremediation
8- Help scientific of genetic
engineers to understand DNA
and RNA