The History and Scope of

Microbiology
• Microbiology is the study of microorganisms
usually less than 1mm in diameter which
requires some form of magnification
(Microscope) to be seen clearly
• Examples:
• Viruses
• Bacteria
• Fungi
• Algae
• Protozoa's
• Some organisms studies by microbiologists CAN
be visualized without the aid of amplification
[bread molds (fungus) and filamentous algae]
• These organisms are included in the discipline of
microbiology because of similarities in properties and
techniques used to study them
• Techniques necessary to isolate and culture
microorganisms:
• Isolation
• Sterilization
• Culture in artificial media
• Microbiology may be interested in specific types of
organisms:
• Virology - viruses
• Bacteriology - bacteria
• Phycology - algae
• Mycology - fungi
• Protozoology - protozoa
• Microbiologists may have a more applied focus:
• Medical microbiology, including immunology
• Food and Dairy microbiology
• Public Health microbiology (Epidemiology)
• Industrial microbiology
• Agricultural microbiology
• Microbiologists may be interested in various
characteristics or activities of microorganisms:
• Microbial morphology
• Microbial cytology
• Microbial physiology
• Microbial ecology
• Microbial genetics and molecular biology
• Microbial taxonomy
II. Historical
Perspectives
ROBERT HOOKE

• One of the most important discoveries of biology

occurred in 1665;
• with the help of a crude microscope;
• Robert Hooke stated that life’s smallest structural
units were cells.
ANTONY VAN LEEUWENHOEK

• First to observe living

microbes
• His single-lens
magnified 50-300X
magnification
• Between 1674-1723 he
wrote series of papers
describing his
observations of bacteria,
algae, protozoa, and
fungi (Animalcules)
ANTOINE VAN LEEUWENHOEK
III. Spontaneous
Generation
SPONTANEOUS GENERATION

Early belief that some forms of life could arise from

“vital forces” present in nonliving or decomposing
matter, abiogenesis. In other words, organisms can
arise form non-living matter.
LOUIS JABLOT

In 1670 Jablot conducted an experiment in which he

divided a hay infusion that had been boiled into two
containers: a heated container that was closed to the
air and a heated container that was freely open to
the air. Only the open vessel developed
microorganisms. This further helped to disprove
abiogenesis.
REDI’S and JABLOT’S
EXPERIMENTS
• Disproved by:
• Schwann, Friedrich Schroder and von Dusch
(1830s) – Air allowed to enter flask but only
after passing through a heated tube or sterile
wool
• John Tyndall (1820-1893) – Omission of dust
 no growth. Demonstrated heat resistant
forms of bacteria (endospores)
LOUIS PASTEUR (1822 - 1895)
• Disproved spontaneous
generation of microbes by
preventing “dust particles” from
reaching the sterile broth
• In 1861 completes experiments
that lays to rest spontaneous
generation.
• Showed microbes caused
fermentation and spoilage
PASTEUR’S EXPERIMENT

trapped airborne organisms in cotton; he also heated the necks of

flasks, drawing them out into long curves, sterilized the media, and left
the flasks open to the air.
In this way Pasteur disproved the theory of spontaneous generation
 IV. Role of
Microrganisms in Disease
Demonstrations that micoorganisms cause
disease
• Oliver Holmes (1773 - 1843)
• showed that sepsis could be transmitted by hands of
medical student and may cause disease
• M. J. Berkeley (ca. 1845)
• demonstrated that the Great Potato Blight of Ireland
was caused by a Fungus
• Louis Pasteur (1822 - 1895)
• showed that the pébrine disease of silkworms was
caused by a protozoan parasite
• Edward Jenner (ca. 1798): Develop the first
Vaccine and used a vaccination procedure
to protect individuals from smallpox
• Louis Pasteur
• developed other vaccines including those for
chicken cholera, anthrax, and rabies
• 1796 – Edward Jenner First vaccine (smallpox)
History
• 1885 - Louis Pasteur
Vaccine against Rabies
• Robert Koch (1843 - 1910),
• using criteria developed by his teacher, Jacob
Henle (1809-1895), established the
relationship between Bacillus anthracis and
anthrax.
• His criteria became known as Koch’s
Postulates and are still used to establish the
link between a particular microorganism and
a particular disease:
 History
• 1884 Koch’s Postulates of
Disease Transmission
Robert Koch
Koch’s Postulates
• The causative (etiological) agent must be
present in all affected organisms but
absent in healthy individuals
• The agent must be capable of being
isolated and cultured in pure form
• When the cultured agent is introduced to
a healthy organism, the same disease
must occur
• The same causative agent must be
isolated again from the affected host
Development of Culture Media
• Why?
• To enable the isolation of pure cultures (only one type of organism)
• Especially important during Koch’s period
• Gelatin not useful as solidifying agent (melts at >28 ºC and some
bacteria hydrolyze it with enzymes)
• Fannie Hesse, the wife of one of Koch’s assistants, proposed using
agar
• Not digested by most bacteria
• Melts at 100 ºC
• Used today - ~2% in solid media
• Richard Petri, another of Koch’s assistants, developed the Petri
dish
Development of Vaccines and
Antisera
• Edward Jenner in 1796 discovered that cowpox
(vaccinia) induced protection against human
smallpox
• Called procedure vaccination
• Vaccination:
• Inoculation of healthy individuals with weakened (or
attenuated) forms of microorganisms, that would
otherwise cause disease, to provide protection, or
active immunity from disease upon later exposure.
• Pasteur and Roux reported that incubating
cultures longer than normal in the lab resulted in
ATTENUATED bacteria that could no longer
cause disease.
• Working with chicken cholera (caused by Pasteurella
multocida), they noticed that animals injected with
attenuated cultures were resistant to the disease.
• Pasteur and Chamberland developed other
vaccines:
• Attenuated anthrax vaccine
• Chemical and heat treatment (potassium bichromate)
• Attenuated rabies vaccine
• Propagated the virus in rabbit following injection of
infected brain and spinal cord extracts
• Passive immunization
• Work by Emil von Behring (1845-1917) and
Shibasaburo Kitasato (1852-1931)
• Antibodies raised to inactivated
diphtheria toxin by injection different
host (rabbit) with the toxin (a toxoid
form)
• Antiserum recovered
• Contains antibodies specific for the toxin
• Protection from disease when injected non -
immune subject.
John Tyndall
 JOHN TYNDALL (1820 – 1893)

• In 1876 discovered that there were two different types of

bacteria.
• a) Heat sensitive or heat labile forms (vegetative cells)
easily destroyed by boiling
• b) Heat resistant types known as an endospore
• Tyndall demonstrated that alternate process of heating &
cooling if repeated five times, can kill all the endospores.
• This is known as Sterilization process or Tyndallization
FERDINAND COHN

In 1876, a German botanist, Ferdinand Cohn, also

discovered “heat-resistant forms of bacteria”. This
bacteria are now termed endospores.( Bacillus
species and Clostridium species)
Anthrax bacillus
GERM THEORY OF
DISEASE
GOLDEN AGE OF MICROBIOLOGY

• The period from 1860 to 1900 is often named the

Golden Age of Microbiology.
• During this period, rapid advances, spear-headed by
Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch, led to the
establishment of microbiology as a science.
LOUIS PASTEUR

• In 1864 Pasteur established the relationship between

microbes and disease in preventing wine from
spoiling by using the process termed pasteurization.
• This process kills bacteria in the alcohol by heat,
thus preventing the formation of acetic acid
(vinegar).
LOUIS PASTEUR

• His discover of pasteurization, lead Pasteur to

introduce the “germ theory of disease” in 1864.
• Pasteur stated that diseases are caused by the
growth of microbes in the body and not by sins, bad
character, or poverty, etc.
 Louis Pasteur
1822 – 1895

*Developed the germ

theory in 1798
*Also developed vaccine
against anthrax.
*Pasteurization technique
*Developed the germ theory
of disease

“Father of bacteriology and immunology”

• Joseph Lister (1827 - 1912)
• developed a system of surgery designed to
prevent microorganisms from entering
wounds – phenol (Carbolic Acid) sprayed in
air around surgical incision
• Decreased number of post-operative
infections in patients
• his published findings (1867) transformed
the practice of surgery
Joseph Lister
Robert Koch
1843 – 1910
• In 1860 developed an
elaborate technique to
isolate & identify specific
Pathogens that cause
specific diseases.
• He isolated the anthrax
bacterium.
ROBERT KOCH

• Developed pure culture methods.

• Identified cause of anthrax
( Bacillus anthrax) , TB
( Mycobacterium tubercullosis) , &
cholera ( Vibrio cholera).
PAUL EHRLICH
• In the 1890’s Ehrlich proposed a theory of immunity in
which antibodies were responsible for
immunity( Antitoxin).
• In addition, he is known as the father of modern
chemotherapy.
• He speculated about some “magic bullet” that would
selectively find and destroy pathogens but not harm the
host (Selective Toxicity).
• He also develop a staining procedure to identify tubercle
bacilli.
ALEXANDER FLEMING

• In 1928 Fleming observed that the growth of the

bacterium staphyloccus aureus was inhibited in the
areas surrounding the colony of a mold that had
contaminated a Petri plate.
• The mold was identified as Penicillium notatum,
and its active compound was named penicillin.
• 1929 Discovery of Penicillin (first
antibiotic) by Alexander Fleming.
 History
• Walter Hesse ( 1846-1911): Used Agar as a solidifying
agent to harden media. Agar is extracted from seaweeds
red algae.
• Rechard Petri ( 1852-1921): Used agar dish to provide a
large area to grow.
• Christian Gram ( 1853-1935): Staining method that
demonstrate bacteria and distinguish between Gram
positive and Gram negative bacteria.
 History
• Raymond Sabouraud ( 1890-1910): Develop culture media
to study yeast and molds.
• Dimitri Ivanovski (1892): Tobacco mosaic virus could
pass through filters used to remove bacteria.
• Selman Waksman (1940): Discovered a number of
antibiotic such as Tetracycline and Streptomycin.
 History
• Reska (1938) – First Electron
Microscope

• The electron microscope is capable of

magnifying biological specimens up to one
million times. These computer enhanced
images of
• 1. smallpox,
• 2. herpes simplex, and
• 3. mumps are magnified, respectively, 150,000,
150,000 and 90,000 times.
• To study detail structures of viruses.
 WATSON and CRICK, FRANKLIN, and
WILKINS

• In 1953 Watson and Crick determined the structure

of DNA.
• They used their research, together with the research
of Franklin and Wilkins to determine the structure
of the DNA molecule.
DNA
 V. How Microorganism
Affect Their Environment
• Louis Pasteur
• demonstrated that alcoholic fermentations were the
result of microbial activity,
• that some organisms could decrease alcohol yield and
sour the product, and
• that some fermentations were aerobic and some
anaerobic;
• he also developed the process of pasteurization to
preserve wine during storage
• VI. Microorganisms in the 20th
Century
Important Early Discoveries
• George W. Beadle and Edward L. Tatum (ca. 1941)
• studied the relationship between genes and enzymes
using the bread mold, Neurospora
• Precursor ornithine  citrulline  arginine
• One gene, one polypeptide hypothesis
• Salvadore Luria and Max Delbruck (ca. 1943)
• Demonstrated spontaneous gene mutations in bacteria
(not directed by the environment)
• Oswald T. Avery, Colin M. MacLeod, and Maclyn
McCarty (1944)
• Following initial studies by Frederick Griffith
(1928) they provided evidence that
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was the genetic
material and carried genetic information
during transformation
• Worked with Streptococcus pneumoniae
(rough and smooth)
• In the 1970s new discoveries in microbiology led
to the development of recombinant DNA
technology and genetic engineering
• There are two types of microorganisms:
• Prokaryotes
• have a relatively simple morphology and lack a
true membrane-bound nucleus
• Eukaryotes
• are morphologically complex and have a true,
membrane-bound nucleus
• Organisms can be divided into five kingdoms:
• the Monera or Procaryotae,
• Protista,
• Fungi,
• Animalia, and
• Plantae