Introduction to

microbiology.

Classification and nomenclature of

microorganisms.
Course Introduction
 Course objectives

 List major groups of microorganisms and

their habitats.

 Overview and history of Microbiology.

 Describe the system of scientific

nomenclature used to name
microorganisms.
 Definition
 Microbiology (mikros bios logos –
small, live, study) study
microorganisms and their activities.

 Microbiology is the study of

microorganisms usually less than
1mm in diameter which requires
some form of magnification to be
seen clearly.

 Microbiology - study the organisms

that can exist as single cells, contain
a nucleic acid genome for at least
some part of their life cycle, and are
capable of replicating that genome
themselves or getting replicated with
the help of host cells
 Branches of
Microbiology
 Bacteriology: study of bacteria
 Mycology: study of fungi
 Virology: study of viruses
 Beijerinck, NE: discovered intracellular
reproduction of TMV; coined the term
“virus” (1899)
 Parasitology: study of protozoa and
parasitic worms
 Branches of
Microbiology
 Immunology: study of immunity
 Edward Jenner, UK: developed vaccination (1798)
 Metchnikoff, RU: discovered phagocytes (1884)
 Paul Ehrlich, DE: theory of immunity (1890)
 Chemotherapy
 Treatment of disease by using chemical means
 Antibiotics produced naturally
 Synthetic drugs
 Paul Ehrlich (1878) – used arsenic compounds
to fight disease
 Branches of
Microbiology
 Chemotherapy
 Alexander Fleming, Scotland (1928) discovered
penicillin
 Selman Waksman, Ukraine (1944) discovered
streptomycin
 Problems
 Toxicity of drugs => Selective toxicity
 Resistance of bacteria to drugs
 Microorganisms are
everywhere, but why is so
important to learn about
them?

Affect our lives in many

different ways.
 Microbes are capable of growing in a wide
variety of environments.

 Bacteria will grow in frigid glaciers to

boiling volcanic springs, dry sands to the
open ocean.
 IMPORTANCE OF
MICROORGANISMS

 Microorganisms are the oldest forms of life.

 Nutrient production & energy flow
 Production of foods
 Decomposition (bioremediation)
 Without certain microorganism life could not exist;
produce O2 and N2
 Production of drugs & vaccines
 Genetic engineering
 Causing disease
Microorganisms have killed more people than have ever
been killed in war.
 Why Study Medical
Microbiology?
 The majority of serious diseases in humans (especially those of
early childhood) are due to microbial infections.

 Prior to the discovery of antibiotics and vaccines, a large

proportion of children died before adulthood because of
infectious disease.

 Till 1900, the average life expectancy in the United States was
40 years of age.

 In 2000 - 80 years, largely due to the near eradication of most

serious early childhood diseases.

 This trend is seen in the gap between developed and developing

countries in terms of causes of death (mortality).
 MICROBES
 MICROBES includes all those living
organisms that can not be viewed (seen) in
any detail by the human eye.

 Alternatively, a MICROBE is any living

creature that must be examined with a
magnifying lens in order to see its unique
physical characteristics (size, shape,
motility, color).
 Microbes
 Pathogen or pathogenic - capable of producing
disease.
 Though only a minority of microorganisms are pathogenic,
practical knowledge of microbes is necessary for their treatment
so is highly relevant to medicine and related health sciences.
 Normal flora [normal microbiota] - not typically-
disease-causing
 microorganisms normally found in and on healthy individuals.
• on the skin,
• in the eyes,
• in the nose,
• in the mouth,
• in the upper throat,
• in the lower urethra,
• in the lower intestine.
 the Bacterium
Escherichia coli;
a photosynthetic
cyanobacterium

a fungus
Ebola virus

the malaria
parasite (a
protozoan
A, Influenza virus;
B, West Nile
Virus;

C, Staphylococcus aureus;

D, Streptococcus
pneumoniae.
Microbiologists may be interested in
various characteristics or activities of
microbs and may study:

 Microbial morphology
 Microbial cytology
 Microbial physiology
 Microbial ecology
 Microbial genetics and molecular biology
 Microbial taxonomy
Classification of life
 For many years, living organisms were
divided into two kingdoms:

 Animalia (animal) and

 Plantae (vegetable).
Classification Schemes
Two kingdoms

Plantae

Plantae Animalia
 But after 1800s, scientists realized that these
two kingdoms could not adequately express the
diversity of life.

 Since the 1960s, the most widely used scheme -

five kingdoms.

 Viruses are separate group of biological entities,

although not organisms in the same sense as
Eukaryotes, Archaea and Bacteria.
 Classification schemes,
5 kingdoms

Plantae

Monera Protista Plantae Fungi Animalia

Prokaryotes

Domain Domain Eukaryotes

Bacteria Archaea
(Eubacteria) (Archaeabacteria)
 Classification of Life

 3 major Domains of
life
 Bacteria
 Archaea
 Eukaryota (Eukarya)
 The first two are Prokaryotes
(Bacteria and Archaea)-
without true nucleus, while
the Eukaryotes all have a true
nucleus in each cell.

The 3 Domains. Source:

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/alllife/images/domains_small.gif
 Kingdom Monera

 All organisms in the Kingdom Monera are prokaryotes.

 lack nuclei and organelles
 most of their cell walls are made of peptidoglycan (the exceptions
are the archaebacteria).

 The archaebacteria have cell walls that lack peptidoglycan, cell

membranes that utilize different lipids, and ribosomes similar to
those found in eukaryotes.

 The bacteria (eubacteria-true bacteria) are characterized by how

they metabolize resources, their means of motility, and their
shape.

 Most organisms in the Kingdom Monera reproduce through

binary fission (asexual) or conjugation (sexual).
 Bacteria
 Most utilize flagella for movement.

 Digestion is extracellular (outside the cell) and

nutrients are absorbed into the cell.

 Circulation and digestion in Kingdom Monera is

accomplished through diffusion.
Bacterial Classification

by
 Metabolism
 Morphology (shape)
 Staining, etc
 According the
metabolism
 Autotrophs manufacture their own organic
compounds.
 Heterotrophs obtain their energy by feeding
on other organic substances.
 Saprophytes, a special kind of heterotroph,
obtain energy by feeding on decaying matter.
 According the symbiotic
relationships with other organisms:

 In parasitism, harm is caused to the host.

 In commensalism, one organism benefits

while the other is unaffected.

 In mutualism, both organisms benefit.

According the respiration:

 In obligate aerobes, the prokaryotes must

have oxygen to live.

 In obligate anaerobes, the organisms cannot

survive in the presence of oxygen.

 And in facultative anaerobes they can

survive with or without oxygen.
According the shapes:
 cocci (spherical),

 bacillus (rod shaped), and

 spirillum (spirals).
Classification of bacteria
• Cocci
 Micrococcus
 Staphylococci
• Irregular clusters of cocci
 Diplococci
• Pairs of cocci
 Streptococci
• Chains of cocci
Classification of bacteria
 Bacilli
 Rod like
 Diplobacilli
• Pairs of bacilli
 Streptobacilli
• Chains of bacilli

 Spirochetes
• Spiral
 Size of bacteria

 Unit of microbial
measurement
  micrometers (um)
• 1 um being 10-6  m   or
0.000001 m(1/25,000
inch)
 nanometers 
• 1 nm being 10-9 or
0.000000001 m.
 
 Pathogenic bacterial
species vary from
approximately 0.4 to 2
um in size
 Taxonomy
 Taxonomy is the classification of organisms. The
most common system in use today is the Five
Kingdoms:
 Monera (Prokaryota),
 Protista,
 Fungi,
 Plantae, and
 Animalia.

 Organisms in each kingdom are divided into phyla.

 In each phylum, organisms are separated into classes.
 In each class, organisms are segregated into orders.
 In each order, organisms are divided into families.
 In each family, organisms are separated by genus.
 And finally, in each genus organisms are divided into species.

 Just remember that King Philip Can Order For Genial Students.
Naming micoorganisms

 Binomial (scientific) nomenclature

 Gives each microbe 2 names

 Genus - noun, always capitalized and may be abbreviated
 species - adjective, lowercase, never abbreviated
 A genus name may be used alone to indicate a genus
group; a species name is never used alone
• eg: Bacillus subtilis
      B. subtilis

 Both italicized or underlined

 Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus)
 Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis)
 Escherichia coli (E. coli)
 Nomenclature

 Common or descriptive names

(trivial names)
 Names for organisms that may be in
common usage, but are not taxonomic
names
• eg: tubercle bacillus
        (Mycobacterium tuberculosis)
• meningococcus
(Neiserria meningitidis)
• Group A streptococcus
(Streptococcus pyogenes)
Eukaryotes
 Prokaryotes
 Kingdom - Monera
 Domain - Bacteria
 Phylum – Proteobacteria
 Class – Gammaproteoba
 Order – Enterobacteriale
 Family – Enterobacteriace
 Genus – Escherichia
 Species – Escherichia coli
 "The role of the
infinitely small in
nature is infinitely
large"
Louis Pasteur
Historical Perspectives
 Historical
YEAR NAME ACHIEVEMENT
1st century BC Varo Concept of “Animalia
minuta”
1546 Fracostorius Contagion- Cause of
syphilis
1590 Jensen Hand lens
1683 Antony van First Microscope
Leeuwenhoek “Animalcules”
1678 Robert Hook Compound microscope
1745 Needham (Priest) Abiogenesis
1836 Schulze & Schwan Air contains microbes
1840 Oliver Homes, Poet Contageousness &
physician Puerperal fever
1846 Ignaz Semmelweis Cause, concept &
prophylaxis of child-bed
fever
1853 Augustino Bassi Silk worm disease due to
a fungus
Pioneers of Microbiology

 Robert Hooke, UK (1665)

 Proposed the Cell Theory
 Observed cork with crude microscope
 All living things are composed of cells
 Spontaneous generation
 Some forms of life could arise spontaneously from
non-living matter
 Francesco Redi, IT (1668)
 Redi’s experiments first to dispprove S.G.
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

 First to observe living

microbes
 his single-lens
magnified up to 300X

(1632-1723)
 Louis Pasteur
 French chemist
 Father/Founder of Modern
Microbiology
 Fermentation – a
microbiological process
 Beer/Wine not produced
without microbes
 Showed microbes caused
fermentation & spoilage
 Disproved spontaneous
generation of m.o.
 Developed aseptic techniques.
 Developed a rabies vaccine.

(1822-1895)
 Louis Pasteur 1822-95
 Methods & Techniques of cultivation
 Introduced sterilization
 Tyndalization (Tyndal-1877)
 Studied Silkworm disease, anthrax,
chicken cholera, hydrophobia.
 Introduced live vaccines – Jenner (Cow-
pox vaccine)
 Antirabic vaccine
 Pasteur Institutes
 Joseph Lister 1867
 Prof of Surgery,
Glasgow Royal
Infirmatory
 Introduced Antiseptic
Surgery
 Called Father of
Antiseptic Surgery
 Robert Koch
 German general practitioner
 Perfected bacteriological
techniques
 Isolated pure cultures of
bacteria for the first time
 Discovered Anthrax bacilli,
Cholera vibrio, M. tuberculosis
 Father of Medical Microbiology
 Hypersensitivity
 Established a sequence of
experimental steps to show
that a specific m.o. causes a
particular disease.

(1843-1910)
 Koch’s postulates
The organism must be present in every case of the
infectious disease.
It should be possible to isolate the organism in
pure culture from the lesion.
Inoculation of the pure culture into suitable lab
animal should produce a similar disease.
It should be possible to re-isolate the organism in
pure form from the lesions produced in the
experimental animal.
Specific antibodies to the organism should be
demonstrable in patients suffering from the
disease.
 Highlights in the History of
Microbiology
1887 1900
 Invented Petri Dish  Proved mosquitoes carried

(R.J. Petri) the yellow fever agent

(Walter Reed)
1892
 Discovered viruses (Dmitri 1910
Iosifovich Ivanovski)  Discovered cure for syphilis
1899 (Paul Ehrlich)
 Recognized viral 1928
dependence on cells for  Discovered Penicillin
reproduction (Martinus (Alexander Fleming)
Beijerinck)
 Highlights in the History of
Microbiology
 1977
Developed a method to
sequence DNA (W. Gilbert
& F. Sanger)
 1983
Polymerase Chain
Reaction invented (Kary
Mullis)
 1995
First microbial genomic
sequence published (H.
influenzae) (TIGR)