Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that can help answer the question.
Query: What can we learn with microbiology?
The branches of microbiology can be classified into pure and applied sciences, or divided according to taxonomy, as is the case with bacteriology, mycology, protozoology, and phycology. There is considerable overlap between the specific branches of microbiology with each other and with other disciplines, and certain aspects of these branches can extend beyond the traditional scope of microbiology
While some fear microbes due to the association of some microbes with various human diseases, many microbes are also responsible for numerous beneficial processes such as industrial fermentation (e.g. the production of alcohol, vinegar and dairy products), antibiotic production and act as molecular vehicles to transfer DNA to complex organisms such as plants and animals. Scientists have also exploited their knowledge of microbes to produce biotechnologically important enzymes such as Taq polymerase, reporter genes for use in other genetic systems and novel molecular biology techniques such as the yeast two-hybrid system.
Freshwater microbes are generally not very well known, even less so for a pristine ecosystem like the Amazon. Recently, metagenomics has provided answers to what kind of microbes inhabit the river. The most important microbes in the Amazon River are Actinobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria and Crenarchaeota.
Based on whole genome sequencing, humans may play a role in moving "B. pseudomallei" from place to place.
A state microbe is a microorganism used as an official state symbol. Several U.S. states have honored microorganisms by nominating them to become official state symbols. The first state to declare an Official State Microbe is Oregon which chose "Saccharomyces cerevisiae" (brewer's or baker's yeast) as the Official Microbe of the State of Oregon in 2013 for its significance to the craft beer industry in Oregon. One of the first proponents of State Microbes was microbiologist Moselio Schaechter, who, in 2010, commented on Official Microbes for the American Society for Microbiology's blog "Small Things Considered" as well as on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered".
A metabolite is the intermediate end product of metabolism. The term "metabolite" is usually restricted to small molecules. Metabolites have various functions, including fuel, structure, signaling, stimulatory and inhibitory effects on enzymes, catalytic activity of their own (usually as a cofactor to an enzyme), defense, and interactions with other organisms (e.g. pigments, odorants, and pheromones). A primary metabolite is directly involved in normal "growth", development, and reproduction. Ethylene is an example of a primary metabolite produced in large-scale by industrial microbiology. A secondary metabolite is not directly involved in those processes, but usually has an important ecological function. Examples include antibiotics and pigments such as resins and terpenes etc. Some antibiotics use primary metabolites as precursors, such as actinomycin which is created from the primary metabolite, tryptophan. Some sugars are metabolites, such as fructose or glucose, which are both present in the metabolic pathways.
Michigan State University, Kellogg Biological Station: Eminent Ecologist (1992)
Clinical Scientist training involves enrolment of graduates (1st or 2nd class honours degree or better is essential due to the high competition for limited training places) into an intensive 3-year training scheme leading to certification and eventual registration before starting the higher career structure. The basic qualification for becoming a Clinical Biochemist, Clinical Immunologist or Clinical Microbiologist is a good Honours degree in an appropriate subject: for Clinical Biochemistry, that subject might be Biochemistry or Chemistry (or another life science subject which contains a substantial Biochemistry component); for Clinical Immunology, that subject might be any life science degree with an immunology component; for Clinical Microbiology that subject might be any life science degree with a microbiology component.
Pasteurization is widely accepted to improve the safety of milk products by reducing the exposure to pathogens. Opponents of pasteurization argue that unpasteurized milk has benefits associated with superior taste, nutritional qualities and certain health benefits over pasteurized milk. While pasteurization of milk kills off bacterial pathogens, other bacteria species with possible health benefits are also destroyed. Pasteurization of cow's milk destroys any potential pathogens and increases the shelf life. During pasteurization, however, these lactic acid bacteria are mostly destroyed. A 2009 systematic review of the food safety of unpasteurized milk concluded that science-based data to substantiate claims of health benefits "are lacking or do not exist" and the risks associated with disease outbreaks as a result of raw milk consumption are "considerably higher".
Septic tank and drain field microorganisms have very limited capability for catabolizing petroleum products and chlorinated solvents, and cannot remove dissolved metals; although some may sorb onto septic tank sludge or drain field soils, and concentrations may be diluted by other groundwater in the vicinity of the drain field. Cleaning formulations may reduce drain field efficiency. Laundry bleach may slow or stop microbial activity in the drain field, and sanitizing or deodorizing chemicals may have similar effects. Detergents, solvents and drain cleaners may transport emulsified, saponified or dissolved fats into the drain field before they can be catabolized to short-chain organic acids in the septic tank scum layer.
A few strains from organisms genetically identified as other "Clostridium" species have caused human botulism: "C. butyricum" has produced type E toxin and "C. baratii" had produced type F toxin. The ability of "C. botulinum" to naturally transfer neurotoxin genes to other clostridia is concerning, especially in the food industry, where preservation systems are designed to destroy or inhibit only "C. botulinum" but not other "Clostridium" species.
"mazEF", a toxin-antitoxin locus found in "E. coli" and other bacteria, was proposed to induce programmed cell death in response to starvation, specifically a lack of amino acids. This would release the cell's contents for absorption by neighbouring cells, potentially preventing the death of close relatives, and thereby increasing the inclusive fitness of the cell that perished. This would be an example of altruism and how bacterial colonies could resemble multicellular organisms. However, the ""mazEF"-mediated PCD" has largely been refuted by several studies.
In 1961, Jacques Monod, Jean-Pierre Changeux and François Jacob discovered the lac operon in the bacterium "Escherichia coli". It was a cluster of genes, arranged in a feedback control loop so that its products would only be made when "switched on" by an environmental stimulus. One of these products was an enzyme that splits a sugar, lactose; and lactose itself was the stimulus that switched the genes on. This was a revelation, as it showed for the first time that genes, even in an organism as small as a bacterium, were subject to fine-grained control. The implication was that many other genes were also elaborately regulated.
Many governmental officials and the majority of public health organizations hold to the need for pasteurization. Before pasteurization, many dairies, especially in cities, fed their cattle on low-quality food, and their milk was rife with dangerous bacteria. Pasteurizing it was the only way to make it safely drinkable. As pasteurization has been standard for many years, it is now widely assumed that raw milk is dangerous. The Cornell University Food Science Department has compiled data indicating that pathogenic microorganisms are present in between 0.87% and 12.6% of raw milk samples.
Recognition of antibiotic tolerance dates back to 1944 when Joseph Bigger, an Irish physician working in England, was experimenting with the recently discovered penicillin. Bigger used penicillin to lyse a suspension of bacteria and then inoculated culture medium with the penicillin-treated liquid. Colonies of bacteria were able to grow after antibiotic killing. The important observation that Bigger made was that this new population could again be killed by penicillin except for a small residual population. Hence the residual organisms were not antibiotic resistant mutants but rather a subpopulation of what he called ‘persisters’. The formation of persisters is now known to be a common phenomenon that can occur by the formation of persister cells prior to the antibiotic treatment or in response to a variety of antibiotics.
One example of glycoproteins found in the body is mucins, which are secreted in the mucus of the respiratory and digestive tracts. The sugars when attached to mucins give them considerable water-holding capacity and also make them resistant to proteolysis by digestive enzymes.
Metabolites are the intermediates and products of metabolism. Within the context of metabolomics, a metabolite is usually defined as any molecule less than 1 kDa in size. However, there are exceptions to this depending on the sample and detection method. For example, macromolecules such as lipoproteins and albumin are reliably detected in NMR-based metabolomics studies of blood plasma. In plant-based metabolomics, it is common to refer to "primary" and "secondary" metabolites. A primary metabolite is directly involved in the normal growth, development, and reproduction. A secondary metabolite is not directly involved in those processes, but usually has important ecological function. Examples include antibiotics and pigments. By contrast, in human-based metabolomics, it is more common to describe metabolites as being either endogenous (produced by the host organism) or exogenous. Metabolites of foreign substances such as drugs are termed xenometabolites.
Person-to-person transmission is exceedingly unusual; and patients with melioidosis should not be considered contagious. Lab workers should handle "B. pseudomallei" under BSL-3 isolation conditions, as laboratory-acquired melioidosis has been described.
Pasteurization is a sanitation process in which milk is heated briefly to a temperature high enough to kill pathogens, followed by rapid cooling. While different times and temperatures may be used by different processors, pasteurization is most commonly achieved with heating to 161 degrees Fahrenheit (71.7 degrees Celsius) for 15 seconds. Milk is tested following pasteurization to confirm that bacteria have been killed to an acceptable level. Pasteurization kills pathogenic bacteria which occasionally may be present in milk, including those causing tuberculosis ("Mycobacterium bovis"), listeriosis ("Listeria monocytogenes"), Q fever ("Coxiella burnetii"), brucellosis ("Brucella"), campylobacteriosis ("Campylobacter"), salmonellosis ("Salmonella"), and several other foodborne illnesses (e.g., ). Pasteurization may not kill some resistant bacteria, which can eventually cause souring and spoilage of fresh milk. UHT pasteurization (Ultra High Temperature) is a more extreme form of pasteurization heating milk to a temperature high enough to kill spoilage organisms also.
The genus "Neisseria" is named after the German bacteriologist Albert Neisser, who in 1879 discovered its first example, "Neisseria gonorrheae", the pathogen which causes the human disease gonorrhea. Neisser also codiscovered the pathogen that causes leprosy, "Mycobacterium leprae". These discoveries were made possible by the development of new staining techniques which he helped to develop.
In biology, cell theory is the historic scientific theory, now universally accepted, that living organisms are made up of cells, that they are the basic structural/organizational unit of all organisms, and that all cells come from pre-existing cells. Cells are the basic unit of structure in all organisms and also the basic unit of reproduction. With continual improvements made to microscopes over time, magnification technology advanced enough to discover cells in the 17th century. This discovery is largely attributed to Robert Hooke, and began the scientific study of cells, also known as cell biology. Over a century later, many debates about cells began amongst scientists. Most of these debates involved the nature of cellular regeneration, and the idea of cells as a fundamental unit of life. Cell theory was eventually formulated in 1839. This is usually credited to Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann. However, many other scientists like Rudolf Virchow contributed to the theory. It was an important step in the movement away from spontaneous generation.
Group C
This enzyme belongs to the family of oxidoreductases, specifically those acting on paired donors, with O2 as oxidant and incorporation or reduction of oxygen. The oxygen incorporated need not be derived from O2 with 2-oxoglutarate as one donor, and incorporation of one atom o oxygen into each donor. The systematic name of this enzyme class is N6,N6,N6-trimethyl-L-lysine,2-oxoglutarate:oxygen oxidoreductase (3-hydroxylating). Other names in common use include trimethyllysine alpha-ketoglutarate dioxygenase, TML-alpha-ketoglutarate dioxygenase, TML hydroxylase, 6-N,6-N,6-N-trimethyl-L-lysine,2-oxoglutarate:oxygen oxidoreductase, and (3-hydroxylating). This enzyme participates in lysine degradation and L-carnitine biosynthesis and requires the presence of iron and ascorbate.
A medical microbiologist studies the characteristics of pathogens, their modes of transmission, mechanisms of infection and growth. Using this information, a treatment can be devised. Medical microbiologists often serve as consultants for physicians, providing identification of pathogens and suggesting treatment options.
Other tasks may include the identification of potential health risks to the community or monitoring the evolution of potentially virulent or resistant strains of microbes, educating the community and assisting in the design of health practices. They may also assist in preventing or controlling epidemics and outbreaks of disease.
Not all medical microbiologists study microbial pathology; some study common, non-pathogenic species to determine whether their properties can be used to develop antibiotics or other treatment methods.
Ninurta assigns various fates to the minerals that have been conquered in his cosmic battle. The "kurgarrānum"-stone is destined to be raw material for funerary figurines, “May you be made beautiful at [the festival] of ghosts, […for] nine [days] may the young men in a semi-circle make for you a doorway,” whereas the unfortunate "šagara"-stone is doomed to be discarded, "You will be throne onto your bed", where no one will miss it and none will complain of its loss. In Ninurta’s blessing of the (diorite) "esi"-stone, the material of statues: “When the king who “sets” his name for long days (to come) fashions those statues for future days, when he places them at the libation place in the Eninnu, the house filled with rejoicing, may you (=the diorite) then be present for that purpose as befits you,” the king being recalled may be an explicit allusion to Gudea. The parallels with many of Gudea’s inscriptions have suggested that the work mythically retells his campaigns against Anšan and Elam. The work may have been composed during or shortly after his reign (ca. 2150 BC) to honor Ningirsu, the titulary deity of Lagaš, and then transferred to Nippur when subsumed by Ninurta.
Diagnostic microbiology is the study of microbial identification. Since the discovery of the germ theory of disease, scientists have been finding ways to harvest specific organisms. Using methods such as differential media or genome sequencing, physicians and scientists can observe novel functions in organisms for more effective and accurate diagnosis of organisms. Methods used in diagnostic microbiology are often used to take advantage of a particular difference in organisms attain information about what species it might be, often through a reference of previous studies. New studies provide information that other scientists can reference back to so scientists can have a baseline knowledge of the organism he or she are working with.