Introduction to M.

Microbiology

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 Introduction

 Microbiology and Medical microbiology

 Study of organisms which are microscopic in size
(individually).
 Deals with pathogenic microorganism
- pathogenesis, transmission, diagnosis, treatment,
epidemiology, and control of microbial infections
 Fields included mycology, bacteriology, virology and
immunology.

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 Found every where/ cosmopolitan

 Found in the air we breath, water we drink, food we
eat, on or in our body, soil
 Characteristics which make them to be found every
where:-
 Different forms (spore)
 Small in size
 Easy adaptation
 Rapid reproduction
 Easy transmission
 Diverse metabolism

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Why we study about microorganisms ?
1. Beneficial to man
2. Enemy of human kind (Pathogenic)

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Discovery of microorganism
Antony van Leewenhoek (1632 – 1723)
 Invented the first microscope
 Father of Microbiology
 Observed “animalcules” using simple microscope with one lens.
 He was the first who properly described the different shapes of
bacteria.
 Question raised - where did they originate ?
Theories on the origin of microorganisms
 Aristotle (384–322BC)- abiogenesis
 John Needham:- supporter of abiogenesis
 Francisco Redi (1626-1679)- disprove spontaneous
generation(exposed and paper closed meat= magotts)
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Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)

 He was the first person who gave (dead end) final
disprove for spontaneous generation.
 He constructed special flask with long and narrow
opening called “goose necked” or “swan-necked”
flask that would admit air but not microbes.
 He prepared sterile broth.
 He allowed unfiltered or untreated air to enter into
the solution.

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 In ‘A’ air freely moved through the tube, but dust particles
were trapped in the curved portion of the flask.
 And no microbial growth was observed.

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 Therefore, Pasteur proved that microorganisms entered to the

broth with the air and micro organisms did not evolve
spontaneously.
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The Germ Theory of diseases
 Pasture has also developed the germ theory of
diseases, which states that a specific disease is caused
by a specific type of microorganism.
 Robert Koch, in 1876 established an experimental
procedure to prove the germ theory of disease, which
states that specific disease is caused by specific
pathogen.
 The scientific procedure is known as Koch’s
Postulate.

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Robert Koch (1843-1910)

 Father of Bacteriology
 Established the relationship between Bacillus
anthracis and anthrax and proved that microbes can cause
disease.
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 Koch’s postulates
1. The causative agent of the disease must be
present in every diseased animal
2. The organism can be isolated from the diseased
animal and grown in pure culture
3. The pure culture will produce the disease when
inoculated into a susceptible animal.
4. The same infectious agent must be re-isolated
from the experimentally infected animal.

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 Limitations
 Many healthy people carry pathogens and don’t
exhibit symptoms of the disease.
 Some microbes are very difficult or impossible to
grow in the laboratory.
 Many pathogens are species specific.
 Eg. Brucella abortus cause abortion in animals but
not in humans.

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Fig. Koch’s postulate
 Bacterial classification and Nomenclature

 Taxonomy is the science of identifying, grouping and

naming organisms.
 Modern classification of living things

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Criteria for classification of bacteria

1. Phenotypic classification
 Morphology in microscope( shape, size, staining rxn)
 Morphology of colony (when grown on solid media)
 Biochemical activity( type of enzyme, waste
product)
 Antibiogram (susceptibility to drugs)
 Serotyping (antibody production)

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 Cont…

2. Genotypic classification
 Guanine plus cytosine ration(G+C)
 Nucleic acid sequence analysis
 Plasmid analysis
 Genome Size

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Binomial nomenclature
 Genus & species
 E. g:- Escherichia coli
 Genus name (1st letter) is always capitalized
 Species name is never capitalized coli
 Both names are always either italicized or underlined
 Genus name Can be abbreviated:- E. coli

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 Eukaryotic and Prokaryotic cells
 Prokaryote

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 Eukaryotic cell

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Bacterial morphology and cytology
 Bacteria are differentiated into major categories
based on:
 Microscopic observation of their morphological
features such as shape, size, patterns of cell
arrangement and staining characteristics.
 Most bacteria range in size from 0.2- 1.2 um in
width and 0.4 -14 um in length.

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 Bacteria has three common shapes

A) Cocci : are spherical organisms with a wide variety
of arrangements e.g
1-Diplococci ; pairs of cells .
2- Irregular grape – like clusters, e.g staphylococci .
3- Chains of four or more e.g . Streptococci
B- Bacilli : are rod – shaped organisms
C- Spiral bacteria

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 Bacterial Structures
A. Appendages
Flagella
Pilli (fimbriae)
B. Cell envelope
Capsule (slime layer)
Cell wall
Cell membrane
C. Cytoplasm
Ribosome
Granules
plasmids, chromosomes

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1. Capsule or Slime Layer

 Commonly made of Polysaccharide and rarely with

proteins.
 Found on next to cell wall
 Function
 Adhere bacteria to surface
 Prevents Phagocytosis
 Used for Identification/classification

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 Cont…

2. Cell wall :
 The bacterial cell wall is the structure that
immediately next to the plasma membrane .
 It is 10- 25 nm thick , strong and relatively rigid ,
though having some elasticity.

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Functions
 Provide shape to the bacterium
 Gives rigidity to the organism
 Protection of the weak cytoplasm
 Provides staining characteristics to the bacterium
(classification).
 Contain components toxic to the host cell.

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 Four groups based on cell wall composition
1. Gram positive cells (e.g. Bacillus subtilis)
2. Gram negative cells (e.g. E. coli)
3. Bacteria without cell walls (e.g. Mycoplasma
genitalium)
4. Bacteria with chemically unique cell walls (e.g.
Mycobaceterium tuberculosis)

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2.1 Cell wall of Gram positive bacteria

 Thick, multilayered peptidoglycan

 Peptidoglycan contain TA, LTA, M proteins, C
polysaccharide
 TA and LTA antigenic (classification)
 Initiate host response
 used as attachment organ (virulent factor)

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 2.2 Cell wall of gram negative
 Structurally more complex
 Contain thin peptidoglycan
 Contain outer membrane
 No TA/LTA
 Contain periplasmice space that posses variety of
hydrolytic enzyme (phosphatase, Beta lactamase etc.,

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 3. Cell wall deficient bacteria:
 Mycoplasma:- naturally occurring bacteria with out
cell wall
 Protoplast
Derived from Gram positive bacteria, totally lack cell
wall.
Produced due to action of certain drugs or enzymes.
 Spheroplast :-
- Gram negative bacteria
- Contains some reminant of cell wall.
- Produced due to action of drugs or enzymes

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4. Cell wall of Acid fast Bacteria

 Resembles the cell wall of Gram positive bacteria

but more complex
 It is lipid rich ( 60% of the cell wall)
 This cell wall is responsible for many of
characteristics properties of the bacteria
e.g. Acid fastness, slow growth, resistance to
common antibiotics , resistance to phagocytosis and
detergents

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 Lipoarabinomannan

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 Bacterial spores
 Under conditions of limited supply of nutrition,
vegetative forms of certain bacteria especially
gram-positive bacilli and actinomycets form
highly resistant and dehydrated forms, which are
called endospores.
 These endospors are capable of survival under
adverse conditions such as heat, drying, freezing,
radiation, and actions of toxic chemicals.
 Spores are usually smooth walled and avoid, in
some species it is spherical.

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 Summary

 Differentiate b/n microbiology and medical

microbiology
 Who disprove spontaneous generation theory
 Koch’s postulate
 The four main cell wall based classification of
bacteria.
 Differentiate Gram+ve and Gram –ve bacteria

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