BASICS OF MICROBIOLOGY

Introduction
• Microorganisms and environment
• Omnipresent
• Bacteria in newborn and gastrointestinal track
• Bacteria convert the bile salt cholic acid to
deoxycholic acid
 Prokaryotes
• Prokaryotes are organisms that lack a cell nucleus and the
other membrane bound organelles. They are almost always
unicellular
• prokaryotes are the most diverse and abundant group of
organisms on Earth and inhabit practically all environments
where the temperature is below +140 °C.
• They are found in water, soil, air, animals'
gastrointestinal tracts, hot springs and even deep beneath the
Earth's crust in rocks
• Practically all surfaces that have not been specially sterilized
are covered by prokaryotes.
• The number of prokaryotes on Earth is estimated to be
around five million trillion trillion, or 5 × 10 30, accounting for
at least half the biomass on Earth.
 Eukaryotes

• Most living things that are visible to the naked eye in

their adult form are eukaryotes, including humans
• eukaryotes contain organelles such as the cell nucleus,
the Golgi apparatus and mitochondria in their cells.
The nucleus is an organelle that houses the DNA that
makes up a cell's genome. DNA (Deoxyribonuclaic
acid) itself is arranged in complex chromosomes.
• Mitochondria are organelles vital in metabolism as
they are the site of the citric acid cycle and oxidative
phosphorylation
 Bacteria
• They lack a nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles, and
can function and reproduce as individual cells, but often
aggregate in multicellular colonies
• Their genome is usually a single loop of DNA, although they can
also harbor small pieces of DNA called plasmids.
• Bacteria are surrounded by a cell wall, which provides strength
and rigidity to their cells
• They reproduce by binary fission or sometimes by budding, but
do not undergo meiotic sexual reproduction
• Some species form extraordinarily resilient spores, but for
bacteria this is a mechanism for survival, not reproduction.
• Under optimal conditions bacteria can grow extremely rapidly
and can double as quickly as every 20 minutes
• Fungi, Viruses
 Extremophiles
• Microorganisms are found in almost every habitat present
in nature. Even in hostile environments such as the poles,
deserts, geysers, rocks, and the deep sea. Some types of
microorganisms have adapted to the extreme conditions
and sustained colonies; these organisms are known as
extremophiles
• Thermophiles: Temperature: as high as 130 °C (266 °F)
• Psychrophiles :as low as −17 °C (1 °F)
• Acidophiles : Acidity/alkalinity: less than pH 0,up to pH 11.5
• Halophiles: Salinity: up to saturation
• Barophiles : Pressure: up to 1,000-2,000 atm, down to 0
atm (e.g. vacuum of space)
Structure of microorganisms
 Growth and metabolism of microorganisms
• O2 Relations of Microorganisms.
• Obligate aerobes require O2 for growth; they use O2 as a final
electron acceptor in aerobic respiration.
• Obligate anaerobes (occasionally called aerophobes) do not need
or use O2 as a nutrient. In fact, O2 is a toxic substance, which either
kills or inhibits their growth. Obligate anaerobic procaryotes may
live by fermentation, anaerobic respiration, bacterial
photosynthesis, or the novel process of methanogenesis.
• Facultative anaerobes (or facultative aerobes) are organisms that
can switch between aerobic and anaerobic types of metabolism.
Under anaerobic conditions (no O2) they grow by fermentation or
anaerobic respiration, but in the presence of O2 they switch to
aerobic respiration.
• Anabolism and catabolism
 Role of microorganisms in ecosystem
• Nutrient Cycling and the Cycles of Elements that Make Up Living
Systems

At an elemental level, the substances that make up living material

consist of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), nitrogen (N), sulfur
(S), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), iron (Fe), sodium (Na), calcium
(Ca) and magnesium (Mg).
• The primary constituents of organic material are C, H, O, N, S, and P.
• An organic compound always contains C and H and is symbolized as
CH2O (the empirical formula for glucose).
• Carbon dioxide (CO2) is considered an inorganic form of carbon.
• The most significant effect of the
microorganisms on earth is their ability to
recycle the primary elements that make up all
living systems, especially carbon (C), oxygen
(O) and nitrogen (N). These elements occur in
different molecular forms that must be shared
among all types of life. Different forms of
carbon and nitrogen are needed as nutrients
by different types of organisms. The most
important aspects of microbial metabolism
that are involved in the cycles of nutrients
 Primary production
• Primary production involves photosynthetic organisms
which take up CO2 in the atmosphere and convert it to
organic (cellular) material. The process is also called CO 2
fixation, and it accounts for a very large portion of organic
carbon available for synthesis of cell material.
• Although terrestrial plants are obviously primary producers,
planktonic algae and cyanobacteria account for nearly half
of the primary production on the planet.  These unicellular
organisms which float in the ocean are the "grass of the
sea", and they are the source of carbon from which marine
life is derived.
 Decomposition or biodegradation
• Decomposition or biodegradation results in the
breakdown of complex organic materials to forms of
carbon that can be used by other organisms. There is no
naturally-occurring organic compound that cannot be
degraded by some microbe,
• some synthetic compounds such as teflon, styrofoam,
plastics, insecticides and pesticides are broken down
slowly or not at all.
• The metabolic processes of fermentation and respiration,
organic molecules are eventually broken down to CO 2
which is returned to the atmosphere.
• Humus formation
 Nitrogen fixation
• Nitrogen fixation is a process found only in
some bacteria which removes N2 from the
atmosphere and converts it to ammonia (NH3),
for use by plants and animals.
• Some bacteria fix nitrogen in symbiotic
associations in plants.
• Other Nitrogen-fixing bacteria are free-living
in soil and aquatic habitats.
Biological treatment process
Identification and its importance
Gram structure of microorganisms
 Staining techniques
• Gram staining
• Negative staining
• Monochrome staining
 IDENTIFICATION OF BACTERIA
• The criteria used for microscopic identification of procaryotes
include cell shape and grouping, Gram-stain reaction, and motility.
• Bacterial cells almost invariably take one of three forms: rod
(bacillus), sphere (coccus), or spiral (spirilla and spirochetes).
• Rods that are curved are called vibrios.
• Bacilli may occur singly or form chains of cells
• cocci may form chains (streptococci) or grape-like clusters
(staphylococci); cocci are almost never motile
• spiral shape cells are almost always motile
• This nomenclature ignores the actinomycetes, a prominent group of
branched bacteria which occur in the soil. But they are easily
recognized by their colonies and their microscopic appearance.