What are microorganisms? - ANSWER a diverse, microscopic group of
organisms that exist as single cells or cell clusters; not able to see with
the naked eye
What is the role and impact of microorganisms on Earth? - ANSWER
Microorganisms are responsible for recycling nutrients, shaping how
habitats are developed and how organisms evolve. When looking for
new life forms, scientists first look for microorganisms
How have humans manipulated microorganisms for our use? - ANSWER
Biotechnology: human manipulation of microorganisms for industries,
genetics engineering: manipulation of the genetics of microbes, plants,
and animals to create new products, and bioremediation: introduce
microbes into an environment to restore stability or clean up toxic
pollutants
What's the relative burden of human disease caused by microbes? -
ANSWER Most microbes cause no harm, but infectious diseases are
among the most common causes of death, increasing number of
emerging and reemerging diseases (some advances in eradication),
increasing number of drug resistant strains
Describe Bacteria - ANSWER Prokaryotic, cell walls contain
peptidoglycan, reproduce asexually, smaller than eukaryotes, and lack
various organelles
Describe Archaea - ANSWER prokaryotic, lack various organelles,
reproduce asexually, found in extreme environments
Describe Fungi - ANSWER eukaryotic, have cell walls, but no
peptidoglycan, can be further broken down into categories (Molds and
Yeast)
, Describe Mold - ANSWER typically multicellular, have hyphae, and
reproduce by sexual and asexual spores
Describe Yeast - ANSWER unicellular and reproduce asexually by
budding and sexually by spores
Describe Protozoa - ANSWER single-celled eukaryotes, no cell wall,
mostly asexual, some have complex life cycles (more than one host),
capable of locomotion (cilia, flagella, pseudopodia)
Describe Algae - ANSWER unicellular and multicellular eukaryotes,
photosynthetic, found near surface of salt or fresh water, categorized
based on color and composition of cell wall, important to global ecology
Describe Helminths - ANSWER study the microscopic eggs and
eukaryotic
Compare and contrast the relative sizes of microbes - ANSWER Viruses
- range from 20nm - 450nm
Prokaryotic cells (Bacteria/Blue-Green Algae) - range from 250nm -
2000nm(or more)
Eukaryotic cells - range from 2000nm - 10,000nm (or more - ostrich eggs
are a cell; some nerves are a single cell (can be a long as 1m)
Who were the scientists involved in study of spontaneous generation
and what did they contribute? Why is this important? - ANSWER
Aristotle proposed this; Redi confirmed it by keeping decaying meat from
flies and showing maggots never developed; Needham determined that
there needed to be a "life force" to cause inanimate objects to come to
life (boiled beef gravy and plant infusions); Spallanzani concluded
microorganisms exist in the air and contaminate experiments and
spontaneous generation of microorganisms does not occur; Pastuers
used the swan neck experiment to prove that spontaneous generation
does not occur ever. Led to scientific method
Explain scientific method and why it's important? - ANSWER Ask a
question, Make a hypothesis, Conduct an experiment, accept, deny, or
modify your hypothesis; important for all experiments
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