General Microbiology

Recommended Prerequisites

General Biology and Biochemistry of Proteins, Nucleic Acids and Lipids. Students should have reading profeciency of English because some texts will be in English.

Teaching Methods

Primarily lectures.

Learning Outcomes

Objectives

To obtain basic knowledge of bacteria, archaea and viruses. The course starts with the various interpretations of the Tree of Life and geological time scales, bringing them to structure and metabolism of microorganisms. There is always an evolutionary slant to all topics, such as metabolism and chemical cycles. Several symbiosis are explained with evolution in mind culminating with the mitochondrion and cloroplasts. The final weeks of the course take into account the virus as genetic elements with RNA as the central precept of genetic units.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

The three lines of descent. Bacteria, Archaea, Eukarya. Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Morphology of bacteria and archaea. Walls, membranes and intracellular inclusions. Growth. How to measure growth. Extremophiles. Aerobic, microaerophilic and anaerobic organisms. Nutritional requirements of microbes. Carbon and nitrogen sources. Nutritional categories. Energetics. Oxidation-reduction. ATP and other mechanisms for energy transfer. Fermentations. The Krebs Cycle. Respiration and photosynthesis. Incomplete respirations. Anaerobic respiration. Nitrate-nitrite respiration. Chemolithoautotrophs. Evolution of Life. Ribosomal RNA gene sequence analysis. Properties of viruses, a virus as a genetic element. Structure of viruses.Classification. Types of nucleic acids. Viral multiplication. The lythic and lysogenic cycles. Modes of infection and release of viruses. Retroviruses and oncogenes.

Head Lecturer(s)

Isabel da Silva Henriques

Assessment Methods

Continous Assessment
Frequency: 100.0%

Final Assessment
Exam: 100.0%

Bibliography

L. Prescott, J. Harley and D. Klein (2002) Microbiogy, 5th ed., McG-Hill Pub.

M. Madigan, J. Martinko, D.A. Stahl, D.P. Clark (2010)  Brock Biology of Microorganisms,13th ed., Benjamin Cummings, Prentice Hall International, Inc.

Review articles