The objective is to introduce major roles of microorganisms in nature, including classification of microorganisms, aerobic and anaerobic metabolism, biogeochemical cycles, interactions of microorganisms with plants and animals, microorganisms in extreme environments, and biomethanogenesis.
 | Viruses (no cellular structure, nucleic acid plus one or more proteins, lack metabolic machinery) |
| Bacteria (procaryotic, regular bacteria, archeans, bluegreen bacteria) |
| Protistans (eucaryotic, no tissue, often single celled; fungi, algae, protozoa) |
| rumen (a) (12-10) (b) (12-11) |
| termites (12-12) |
| diptheria (12-13) |
| syphilis (12-14) |
| plague (12-15) |
| legumes (Rhizobium) (12-16) |
| plant virus infections (12-17) |
| gall tumors on willow (12-18) (caused by plasmid gene transfer from Agrobacterium tumefaciens) |
| cyanobacteria in hot springs (12-20) |
| leaching (12-21) |
| acid mine drainage (12-22) |
| EM of wood digester (12-26) |
| Anaerobic zones in a lake (12-27) |
| Fate of methane in lake ecosystem (12-28) |
| Experimental data of methane production in lakes (12-29) |
| Experimental data of methane production versus sedimentation in lakes (12-30) |
| Sampling sediment through ice (12-31) |
| Gas sampling cone (12-32) |
| Methanogenesis in rumen (12-33) |
| Methane production by termites (12-34) |
| Methane production from wetwood of trees (12-35) |
| Global warming potentials of greenhouse gases (12-36) |
9.1. Define and give five examples of bacteria, bluegreen algae, protozoa, algae, and fungi.
9.2. Define aerobic respiration, anaerobic respiration, and fermentation. Give three examples and discuss the ecological role of each type of metabolism.
9.3. Briefly outline five benefitial and five harmful interactions of microorganisms to plants.
9.4. Briefly outline five benefitial and five harmful interactions of microorganisms to animals.
9.5. Outline the involvement of microorganisms in the carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles.
9.6. What are five exreme environments where bacteria live? Where (be specific) would you go to isolate them.
9.7. What is the role of methanogenic bacteria in nature? What would be the ecological impact of a phage that kills all methanogens?
9.8. How are methanogenic bacteria used by humans in industry?
| archaebacterium | bacterial flagellum | bacteriophage |
| binary fission | chemosynthetic autotroph | rhizosphere |
| endospore | endospore | eubacterium |
| eyespot | heterocyst | heterotroph |
| microbe | multicellularity | protistan |
| photosynthetic autotroph | xenobiotic | symbiosis |
| virus | aerobic | anaerobic |
| facultative | nitrification | denitrification |
| nitrogen fixation | Nitrosomonas | Nitrobacter |
| legume | in situ | in vitro |
| in vivo | Azotobacter | inoculum |
| barophile | halophile | psychrophilic |
| hydrothermal vent | Thiothrix | Desulfovibrio |
| sulfur-oxidizing bacteria | sulfur-reducing bacteria | Rhizobium |
| humus | methanogenesis | volatile acids |
| pyrite oxidation | microbial leaching | micorrhizae |
ENZYME BIOCHEMISTRY REVIEW - S. Crotty @ MIT
[*SELECT*] Enzyme Biochemistry: Chemical energetics, enzyme mechanisms, Michaelis-Menten Kinetics, inhibition.ABE4660 Applied Microbial Biotechnology - D. Chynoweth @ Univ of FL
Environmental Engineering Student Projects - Chemical Engineering at RPI
Great variety of topics: From sedimentation to brewing to aeration to enzymes to fermentation, etc.Saccharomyces Genomic Information Resource - Saccharomyces Genome Database & Stanford DNA Sequence & Technology Center
Yeast Protein Project, World Wide. Links to much of the research activity.
