Download Early Microbiology

Bacteria were first observed by Anton van
Leeuwenhoek in 1676 using a single-lens microscope of his
own design. The name "bacterium" was introduced much
later, by Ehrenberg in 1828, derived from the Greek
βακτηριον meaning "small stick". While van Leeuwenhoek is
often cited as the first microbiologist, the first recorded
microbiological observation, that of the fruiting bodies of
molds, was made earlier in 1665 by Robert Hooke.
The field of bacteriology (later a subdiscipline of
microbiology) is generally considered to have been founded
by Ferdinand Cohn (1828–1898), a botanist whose studies
on algae and photosynthetic bacteria led him to describe
several bacteria including Bacillus and Beggiatoa. Cohn was
also the first to formulate a scheme for the taxonomic
classification of bacteria. Pasteur (1822–1895) and Robert
Koch (1843–1910) were contemporaries of Cohn’s and are
often considered to be the founders of medical
microbiology. Pasteur is most famous for his series of
experiments designed to disprove the then widely held
theory of spontaneous generation, thereby solidifying
microbiology’s identity as a biological science. Pasteur also
designed methods for food preservation (pasteurization)
and vaccines against several diseases such as anthrax, fowl
cholera and rabies. Koch is best known for his contributions
to the germ theory of disease, proving that specific diseases
were caused by specific pathogenic microorganisms. He
developed a series of criteria that have become known as
the Koch's postulates. Koch was one of the first scientists to
focus on the isolation of bacteria in pure culture resulting in
his description of several novel bacteria including
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of
tuberculosis.
While Pasteur and Koch are often considered the
founders of microbiology, their work did not accurately
reflect the true diversity of the microbial world because of
their exclusive focus on microorganisms having direct
medical relevance. It was not until the work of Martinus
Beijerinck (1851–1931) and Sergei Winogradsky (1856–
1953), the founders of general microbiology (an older term
encompassing aspects of microbial physiology, diversity and
ecology), that the true breadth of microbiology was
revealed. Beijerinck made two major contributions to
microbiology: the discovery of viruses and the development
of enrichment culture techniques.While his work on the
Tobacco Mosaic Virus established the basic principles of
virology, it was his development of enrichment culturing
that had the most immediate impact on microbiology by
allowing for the cultivation of a wide range of microbes with
wildly different physiologies. Winogradsky was the first to
develop the concept of chemolithotrophy and to thereby
reveal the essential role played by microorganisms in
geochemical processes. He was responsible for the first
isolation and description of both nitrifying and nitrogenfixing bacteria.
The science of microbiology started with the invention
of the microscope. The English scientist Robert Hooke is
credited with being the first person to use a microscope for
academic study. That was in the early 1660's. In 1665
Hooke published his landmark book Micrographia, which
described the microscopic world for the first time. Hooke
studied plant sections, in particular cork and he drew what
he saw, which was a matrix of tiny cylindrical-like structures
he called cells. Later researchers saw such structures in
all types of living organism and Hooke's naming remained.
Today it is considered to be a foundation stone in the
understanding of microbiology.
Meanwhile in continental Europe others, such
as Marcello Malpighi in Italy and Antonie van
Leeuwenhoekin the Netherlands, were using microscopes to
look at animal and plant tissue. Van Leeuwenhoek
examined a drop of rainwater and noticed it contained tiny
creatures he called "animalicules" or little eels. These
were in fact bacteria and so van Leeuwenhoek became the
first person to study bacteria.
Some form of microbiological treatment was practiced
by many people, throughout the two hundred year period
after Hooke and van Leeuwenhoek, but this was with very
little understanding of the microbial processes
involved. Primitive forms of smallpox inoculation developed
in Turkey in the seventeenth century were brought to
England around 1720. This involved creating reasonably
large open wounds in the arm with a knife and pasting in
serum taken from the pusy sores of victims. It was
effective - sometimes - and even some members of the
royal family underwent the procedures. Elsewhere in
England, particularly atYetminster in Dorset, cowherds and
milkmaids had noticed the immunizing effects of cowpox in
apparently preventing smallpox, and they too practiced a
form of open-wound inoculation on local people.
However, the credit for the invention of inoculation
now goes to Edward Jenner who in 1796 injected
cowhand James Phipps with cowpox. Jenner gets the credit
because he carried out his work using accepted scientific
method and wrote it up afterwards, though the ethics of
deliberately injecting the experimental subject with
smallpox some six weeks later is questionable!
Fortunately, the boy did not develop smallpox and Jenner
became rich and famous as a result. It was from this risky
beginning that the science of immunization developed.
Smallpox (Variola virus) was declared officially
eliminated in 1979 - the only microbial disease ever
deliberately eradicated.
While many scientists of the eighteenth and nineteenth
century studied plant and animal structures under the
microscope, the real science of microbiology only began in
the latter half of the nineteenth century, when highmagnification microscopes of good optical quality became
more widely available. The most notable person
was Ferdinand J Cohn who in 1875 effectively founded the
science of bacteriology (a branch of microbiology which
studies bacteria). His main contribution was the
classification of bacteria, and he coined the term Bacillus.
Louis Pasteur was probably the greatest biologist of
the nineteenth century. He developed the germ theory of
disease, which was a significant breakthrough in medicine
that ultimately improved the health of everyone on the
planet. He was also able to prove that life itself did not
"spontaneously come into being" through a series of
experiments using a sterilized flask. He successfully
showed that life can only be generated from existing life,
thus closing debate - so he thought - that had obsessed
science and theology for a long time (though current ideas
and successes in the field of "creating life" has re-opened
the issue). Pasteur also showed that fermentation - a
process used in baking and brewing - was caused by
microorganisms. As a result of this work he went on to
develop the process for sterilizing milk and this was named
after him - pasteurization. He is also credited with the
development of vaccines, most notably for rabies and
anthrax. In addition, he identified and eliminated disease in
silkworms. He was also interested in the idea
of panspermia that was promoted by Lord Kelvinin 1871,
and went on to examine the Orgeuil meteorite for signs of
life.
Since the time of these pioneers, almost every year
major breakthroughs in microbiological science have been
made. Both individuals and, more recently, teams of
people have contributed to our understanding of the
science. They have taken it from being primarily a branch
of medicine to become a means of food production, a
branch of study for engineers, an integral part of
understanding ecology and the environment, a foundationstone of the chemical and biochemical industries, and of
tremendous interest to those engaged in all aspects of
space research and exploration.
BACTERIA & ARCHAEA
Ferdinand J Cohn published an early classification
of bacteria (genus name Bacillus) for the first time in
1875.
Ilya Ilich Metchnikoff received the Nobel Prize in
1908 with Ehrlich, for demonstrating phagocytosis - the
consumption of foreign particles and bacteria by the body's
own antibodies.
Alice Catherine Evans (1881-1975). Her work in
Wisconsin Dept. of Agriculture led to the identification of
bacteria in fresh milk. Her later research, at the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), improved the treatment of
epidemic meningitis and she became first female president
of the American Society for Microbiology in 1928.
Ruth Ella Moore (1903-1994). The first African
American to gain a PhD in microbiology in 1933 at Ohio
State University, where she researched the tuberculosis
bacterium. Later she became the first woman to chair a
medical school department at Howard University.
Rebecca Craighill Lancefield (1895-1981).
Developed a system of classification for Group
Astreptococcal bacteria - the Lancefield Grouping which identifies bacteria including those causing scarlet
fever, sore throat and erysipelas. She received the Lasker
Award and was elected to the National Academy of
Sciences.
Holger Jannasch was one of the world's leading
experts on life around mid-ocean hydrothermal vents. His
team discovered Pyrolobus fumarii, an Archaea, at the
mid-Atlantic ridge in 1996. Holger died in 1999.
IMMUNIZATION & TREATMENT
Louis Pasteur (1822 -1895). Developed a method
of immunizing against a disease (chicken cholera) using a
weakened (attenuated) strain of the pathogen in 1880. In
1885 he carried out successful, but unethical, experiments
with rabies on a child. The term virus (poison) was coined
by Pasteur.
Emil von Behring received the Nobel Prize in 1901 for
his work with Shibasaburo Kitasato on the antitoxin serum
for diptheria.
Paul Ehrlich in 1912, announced the discovery of an
effective cure for syphilis, the
firstchemotherapeutic agent for a bacterial disease.
Margaret Pittman (1901-1995). Identified the cause
of whooping cough, which led to the development of an
improved vaccine. She became the first woman to direct a
laboratory at the NIH and was cholera consultant to the
World Health Organization and a leader in the
standardization of vaccines.
Gerhard J Domagk used a chemicallyproduced antimetabolite to kill streptococci in mice, in
1935. It was later used on human patients and he received
the 1939 Nobel Prize for his work.
Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928
whilst working at St Mary's Hospital in London and
published the first paper on it the following year. He
received the Nobel Prize in 1945, with Howard Florey and
Ernst Chain, for their work on Penicillium notatum.
William A Hinton (1883-1959). Directed the
Massachusetts State Wasserman Laboratory from 1915 and
taught for 30 years at Harvard University Medical School,
becoming full professor there in 1949. He developed a
widely-used test for diagnosing syphilis. He was
instrumental in establishing the Eisenhower Scholarship at
Harvard University.
Albert Shatz, E Bugie and Selman
Waksman discovered streptomycin in 1944, which was
then used to counter tuberculosis. Selman Waksman
received the Nobel Prize in 1952.
PLANTS & SOIL
Sergei Winogradsky, in 1890, isolated nitrifying
bacteria in soil and described the organisms which are
responsible for nitrification.
Dmitri Ivanowski published the first evidence
of tobacco mosaic virus, in 1892.
CB Van Niel, by his work on photosynthetic
bacteria, in 1931 explained the fixation of carbon-dioxide
in plants and suggested that plants use water as a source of
electrons and release oxygen.
Wendell Stanley, in 1935, demonstrated
the tobacco mosaic virus remains active even after
crystallization. He received the Nobel Prize in 1946 with
Northrop and Sumner.
VECTORS
Theobald Smith and F L Kilbourne, in 1893 provided
evidence of a zoonotic disease (in this case animal host
and arthropod vector) by establishing that ticks
carry Babesia microti.
Walter Reed worked on the viral agent for yellow
fever being transmitted to humans by mosquitoes, which
inspired mosquito eradication and the Yellow Fever
Commission in 1900.
VIRUSES & PRIONS
Frederick Twort, between 1915 and 1917, first
discovered a bacterial virus which was also independently
described and named as a bacteriophage by Felix
d'Herrelle.
Francis Peyton Rous was awarded the 1966 Nobel
Prize for work he carried out on chickens in 1911, that gave
the first experimental proof of a virus causing cancer.
Stanley Prusiner found evidence in 1982 that a class
of infections he called "prions" cause scrapie, a fatal
neurodegenerative disease of sheep and was awarded the
Nobel Prize in 1997.
Luc Montaigner and Robert Gallo announced in
1983 the discovery of the human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV) believed to cause AIDS.
CELLS & CULTURES
Joseph Lister published his study of lactic
fermentation of milk in 1878, using a method of isolating
a pure culture of the bacterium responsible.
Martinus Beijerinck developed an enrichment
culture to create the best conditions for growth of required
bacterium in 1889. Whilst working on tobacco mosaic virus
in 1899, he discovered that a filtrate free of bacteria can
still transmit the disease, by some other agent.
Robert Koch published a paper on
the bacterium which causes anthrax in 1876. In 1881 he
developed the use of gelatin on glass plates as a means
for culturing bacteria colonies for experiments. He was
awarded the Nobel Prize in 1905 for his work on the
Tubercule bacillus of tuberculosis.
Albert Jan Kluyver and Hendrick Jean Louis
Donker in 1926 proposed a model suitable for aerobic and
anaerobic organisms, for metabolism in cells based on
the transfer of hydrogen atoms.
John Franklin Enders, Thomas H
Weller and Frederick Chapman Robbins were awarded
the Nobel Prize in 1954 for developing a technique to grow
the poliovirus in test tube cultures of human tissue, thus
enabling the isolation and study of viruses in the laboratory.
Peter Mitchell proposed the chemiosmotic theory in
1959, which explains ATP synthesis, solute
accumulations/expulsions, and cell movement. He was
awarded the Nobel Prize in 1978.
George Kohler and Cesar Milstein in 1975,
produced specific antibodies that can survive indefinitely
in tissue culture, which can then be used for diagnostic
tests and to study cell function. With Jerne, they were
awarded the Nobel Prize in 1984.
GENETICS
Frederick Griffith discovered transformation in
bacteria in 1928 and established the foundation
ofmolecular genetics.
Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod and Maclyn
McCarty in 1944 took up Griffith's work and showed
thatStreptococcus pneumoniae could transform from an
avirulent to a virulent phenotype by the transfer of DNA.
George Beadle and Edward Tatum published a
paper in 1941 on fungus experiments, which demonstrated
that specific genes are expressed through action of
designated enzymes the "one gene - one enzyme"
concept. They were awarded the Nobel Prize with
Lederberg in 1958.
Joshua Lederberg and Edward Tatum published the
first paper on conjugation in bacteria in 1946. Joshua
Lederberg and Norton Zinder showed that a phage
of Salmonella typhimurium can carry DNA from one
bacterium to another and reported
on transduction (transfer of genetic information by
viruses) in 1952.
Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase suggested in
1952 that only DNA is required for viral replication, after
using radioactive isotopes to track protein and DNA.
Max Delbruck and Salvador Luria, demonstrated
statistically in 1943 that inheritance in
bacteriafollow Darwin's principles and that mutant
bacteria occurring randomly can still bestow viral resistance
without the virus being present. They received the Nobel
Prize with Hershey in 1969.
Sydney Brenner, Francois Jacob and Matthew
Meselson used phage-infected bacteria to confirm the
existence of messenger RNA in 1961.
Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins and James
Watson were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962 for
describing the double-helix structure of DNA. This was
based on the X-ray crystallography of DNA done by
Rosalind Franklin, who had died of cancer four years earlier.
Charles Yanofsky and colleagues in 1964, defined
the relationship between the order of mutatable sites in
the gene coding for Escherichia coli.
Francois Jacob and Jacques Monod (together
with David Perrin and Carmen Sanchez) proposed
the operon concept for control of bacteria gene action.
Jacob, Monod and Lwoff were awarded the Nobel Prize in
1965.
Marsha Nirenberg and J H Matthaei realized in
1961 that the triplet UUU must code for phenylalanine and
thus started to decipher the genetic code. Nirenberg,
Robert Holley and Har Gorbind Khorana were awarded the
Nobel Prize in 1968.
Stanley Cohen, Annie Chang, Robert
Helling and Herbert Boyer in 1973, showed
that recombinant DNA molecules will reproduce if inserted
into bacteria cells, this paved the way for gene
modificationand cloning.
Howard Temin and David Baltimore independently
discovered reverse transcriptase in RNA viruses in 1970,
establishing a pathway for genetic information flow
from RNA to DNA. With Dulbecco they were awarded the
Nobel Prize in 1975.
Carl Woese in 1977, used ribosomal RNA analysis to
identify Archaea whose genetic makeup is distinct from,
but related to, both Bacteria and Eucarya.
Frederick Sanger was the first British scientist to be
awarded two Nobel Prizes. He received his first Nobel Prize
in 1958 for discovering the sequence of amino acids in the
hormone insulin. Sanger, Walter Gilbert and Berg received
the Nobel Prize in 1980 for their work on the chemical
structure ofgenes.
Kary Mullis used a heat-stable enzyme to
establish Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technology
andamplify target DNA in 1986. He received the Nobel
Prize in 1993.
Craig Venter, Hamilton Smith, Claire Fraser and
colleagues determined the first complete genome
sequence of a microorganism - Haemophilus influenzae
RD, in 1995.