HISTORY OF MICROBIOLOGY

Microbiology is the study of microbes

What are microbes?

Microbes are minute living things too tiny to be seen with the unaided eye.
 Why is it important to study them?

Beneficial Harmful
Environment:
• Decompose natural wastes and dead animal and Diseases such as:
plant matter
• Produce nutrients for plants
• Gonorrhoea (Bacterium)
Food • Malaria (Protozoa)
• Beer, yogurt, bread, cheese, chocolate
Bodily • Pneumonia (Bacterium)
• Gut flora, regulate production of nutrients • Meningococcal meningitis
Medical
(Bacterium)
• Vaccines, Gene therapy (AAV, bacteriophage!)
Technology • Yellow fever (Flavivirus)
• CRISPR Cas9 gene editing!
Learning objective of this lecture

• Identify the contributions made by Leeuwenhoek and Pasteur in

the field of Microbiology

• Enumerate the basic categories of microorganisms

• List basic properties of each category of microorganism

Reading list

• Tortora’s “ Microbiology: An Introduction”. 11th Edition. Pages 2-

11
• Tortora’s “ Microbiology: An Introduction”. 11th Edition.( ebook):
Page 20-29
The Early Years of Microbiology- 1600’s-1700’s
The Early Years of Microbiology- 1600’s-1700’s

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (Dutch)( 1632-1723)

• Reported the existence of protozoa (1674)
and of bacteria (1676)
• Using simple microscopes
• Visualized tiny animals, “animalcules”
 in a drop of water and teeth!!

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek

Simple microscope made by

Leeuwenhoek
The Early Years of Microbiology- 1600’s-1700’s
Classifying microorganisms
• Carolus Linnaeus ( 1707-1778): Classified
organisms into plant and animal kingdom.
• Classification undergone several changes since
then
• Basic categories of microorganisms include
• Fungi
• Protozoa Eukaryotic
• Algae
• Bacteria
• Archaea Prokaryotic
• Viruses Image from
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/_0/en
dosymbiosis_03
Fungi grow as molds and yeasts

A daughter cell
MOLDS are MULTICELLULAR, grows off the
YEASTS are UNICELLULAR
LONG, FILAMENTOUS AND mother cell
REPRODUCE by BUDDING
REPRODUCE by FORMING e.g. Saccharomyces
SPORING STRUCTURES cerevisiae: Causes bread to
e.g. Penicillium chrysogenum- rise
produces penicillin

Image from Bauman’s Microbiology: Diseases by taxonomy

 SELF STUDY SLIDE

Some fungi here. Find out if they are molds

or yeasts. What is their significance? Are
they harmful or helpful?
• Candida albicans
• Neurospora crassa
• Fusarium oxysporum
• Aspergillus fumigatus
 Protozoa

Amoeba proteus Euplotes

• Single-celled eukaryotes
• Most are capable of
locomotion by
pseudopodia, cilia,
flagella
• Live freely in water;
Trypanosoma some live in animal hosts
Image from Bauman’s Microbiology: Diseases by taxonomy
Prokaryotes and viruses

• Prokaryotes
• Unicellular and lack nuclei
• Much smaller than eukaryotes
• Most contain a cell wall
• Two kinds: Bacteria, archaea
• Archaea: Lack peptidoglycan in cell
wall, live in extremes
• Viruses
• Smaller than bacteria
• not capable of independent
replication
• Visualised by electron microscope
Image from Bauman’s Microbiology: Diseases by taxonomy
Development of the science of microbiology-
1800’s; The golden age of Microbiology

• Key questions that were being addressed:

• Is spontaneous generation of microbial life
possible?
• What causes fermentation?
• What causes disease?
• How can we prevent infection and disease?
Spontaneous generation?
• Aristotle proposed spontaneous generation – living things can
arise from nonliving matter ( Abiogenesis)
• Redi’s ( 1626-1697) experiments led to doubts

• Spallanzani’s experiments( 1729-1799):

• Boiled infusions and sealed them
• When he broke the seals – the infusion became cloudy
Image from Bauman’s Microbiology: Diseases by taxonomy
 Louis Pasteur( 1822-1895)

Image from Bauman’s Microbiology: Diseases by taxonomy

Figure 1.11
Pasteur's experiments : “ Never will spontaneous generation recover from
the mortal blow of this simple experiment”

– Used “swan-necked” flasks to ensure air entry

– When the “swan-necked” flasks remained upright, no
microbial growth appeared
– If flask tilted, dust from the bend in the neck seeped back
into the flask and made the infusion cloudy with microbes

Image from Bauman’s Microbiology: Diseases by taxonomy Figure 1.12

Pasteur's other contribution: Linking fermentation to
microorganisms

 In 1800’s, meaning of
fermentation: production of
alcohol from sugar, spoilage of
meat
 Yeasts observed: thought to be
living, non living etc?
 Pasteur through a series of
experiments linked fermentation
to yeasts
 Era where the scientific method
was applied

Image from Bauman’s Microbiology: Diseases by taxonomy

Figure 1.14
Pasteur's other contribution: Linking fermentation to
microorganisms

Scientific method begins with observations and setting up a hypothesis,

experimenting and then accepting, rejecting or modifying the hypothesis

Step 1: Reject spontaneous fermentation

Image from Bauman’s Microbiology: Diseases by taxonomy Figure 1.14

Pasteur's other contribution: Linking fermentation to
microorganisms

Step 2 and 3: Reject air as a cause of fermentation, bacteria

produce acid
Bacteria cause of spoilage
Spoilage could be avoided by heating ( Pasteurization)
Image from Bauman’s Microbiology: Diseases by taxonomy Figure 1.14
Pasteur's other contribution: Linking fermentation to
microorganisms

Step 4: Yeasts ferment grape juice into alcohol

Yeasts are facultative anaerobes- live +/- O2

Image from Bauman’s Microbiology: Diseases by taxonomy Figure 1.14

Contribution of Robert Koch in the field of
SELF STUDY SLIDE
microbiology

• Helicobacter pylori is a bacteria commonly

found in the stomach. You are hypothesizing
that this bacteria could be a cause of gastric
cancer. Read about Robert Koch’s contribution
to Microbiology and then find out how his
contributions would have helped you achieve
this goal.

• To be discussed in Lecture 4: Microbial

Metabolism

Image from Bauman’s Microbiology: Diseases by taxonomy

What about contributions from other
backgrounds?
Early 1700s A significant contribution to the field of
infection control came from a African man sold into
slavery in the 1700s. While his birth name has been lost
to history, he was given the name Onesimus by his
owner, theologian Cotton Mather. Despite owing nothing
to a nation that had so viciously stolen him from his
homeland and taken away his freedom, Onesimus played
a pivotal role in helping Boston avoid a massive smallpox
outbreak. His detailed descriptions of how he had
undergone a medical procedure as a child that exposed
him to smallpox and thereby protected him from further
infection was so convincing and accurate, that it was put
in place by Mather and local doctors. This mass
inoculation - vehemently opposed at the time - saved the
lives of hundreds of Bostonians decades before Edward
Jenner discovered the vaccine in 1796.
 • early detection was critical to avoid permanent physical and
neurological damage.
Test of Syphilis • Diagnosis was very difficult because, unlike most other
infectious bacteria, Treponema pallidum could not be cultured
in a lab.
• Until Hinton's test, technicians would attempt to find the
bacteria through microscopic examination of fluid samples,
resulting in highly unreliable results.
• Hinton discovered a way to inject fluid samples into a serum
that, in the presence of T. pallidum, would flocculate, or form
flakes, resulting in a highly reliable diagnosis.
• In the words of a 1929 analysis, the test was "simple to
perform, and, what is even more important, easy to read."
• By improving the accuracy of diagnosis with what became
known as the Hinton test, he equipped doctors with a tool to
detect the disease while it was still in early stages and begin
Dr William Augustus Hinton
treatment immediately.
• He compiled his research into a textbook in 1936, the first
medical textbook authored by an African-American.
 Summary
• Anton van Leeuwenhoek, using a simple microscope, was the first to
observe microorganisms.
• There are several categories of microorganisms that are known to
humans
• 1800’s was the golden age of microbiology
• Key questions answered include
• Several debates about “spontaneous generation” until mid 1880’s.
Louis Pasteur demonstrated that microorganisms are in the air
everywhere and offered proof of biogenesis.
• Pasteur proved that fermentation was caused by yeasts
• The golden age set the pace for the diversification of Microbiology
and the development of modern disciplines