Introduction to Microbiology

Introduction to Microbiology Instructor: Pham The Hai What is Microbiology? • Microbiology is the study of … microorganisms • Microorganisms: all microscopic cellular organisms and include the viruses, which are microscopic but not cellular The size of a microbial cell What is Microbiology? • Microbiology is the study of microorganisms but what is it all about? - Microbial cells and how they work - Diversity and evolution of microbial cells - What impacts microbes to the environment: in soil, water, animals, plants and human  Microbiology is the most fundamental biological science What is Microbiology? • Microbiology: As a basic science: understanding the living world of microscopic organisms -> chemical/physical basis of life (why?) As an applied science: at the center of many important aspects of human and veterinary medicine (infectious diseases), agriculture (soil fertility), and industry (antibiotics, proteins, food, etc.) The role of microorganisms smallest forms of life, but • constitute the bulk of biomass on Earth • carry out many necessary chemical reactions for higher organisms • play vital role in cycles of material The world cannot exist without microbes! How microbial cells look like? What are properties of cellular life? What are properties of cellular life? • Cells as Biochemical Catalysts: Cells contain enzymes • and as Genetic Entities: Cells contain genes Microorganisms and Their Environments • In nature, microbial cells live in populations • Habitat: the environment the population lives in • Microbial community: consists of different microbial populations interacting with each other • A microbial community + its habitat  an ecosystem  The study of interactions of microbes with other organisms and the whole ecosystem: microbial ecology The Modern Era of Microbiology • Microbial genetics  “Modern biology” Driven by: Molecular biology Genetic engineering Genomics • Genomics revolution  many advances in microbiology today  we are currently in the era of MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY E coli genome A metagenomic analysis Taxonomy • The science of classifying organisms • Provides universal names for organisms • Provides a reference for identifying organisms Taxonomic Hierarchy Domain Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species Dumb Kings Play Chess On Funny Green Squares Basic techniques in Microbiology Why you need to know clearly about basic techniques in Microbiology ? • Difficult to see and to work with microbes • Wrong practices  wrong work results • Safety reasons