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Basic Microbiology and Immunology
(Micro 402) - Fall 2017
Course Objectives

(Detailed Intended Learning Outcomes, ILOs)

Learning Objectives

Module I

Chapter 1: The Development of Microbiology:

At the end of this chapter, each student should be able to:

·      Describe the world-changing scientific contributions of Leeuwenhoek.

·      Define microbes in the words of Leeuwenhoek and as we know them today.

·      Identify the scientists who argued in favor of spontaneous generation.

·      Compare and contrast the investigations of Needham, Spallanzani, and Pasteur to disprove spontaneous generation.

·      Discuss the significance of Pasteur's fermentation experiments to our world today.

·      Explain why Pasteur is known as the Father of Microbiology.

·      List at least three contributions made by Koch to the field of microbiology.

·      List Koch’s postulates.

·      Describe the contribution of Gram to the field of microbiology.

Chapter 2: Classification and Identification:

At the end of this chapter, each student should be able to:

·      Discuss the purposes of classification and identification of organisms.

·      Define binomial nomenclature.

·      Describe the three- and five-kingdom systems for microbial classification.

·      List and describe the three domains proposed by Carl Woese.

·      Describe the five procedures used by taxonomists to identify and classify microorganisms.

·      List the main characteristics of the following microbial classes: bacteria, fungi, algae, cyanobacteria, and protozoa.

·      Compare and contrast chlamydiae, rickettsiae, and mycoplasma.

·      Define viruses and virions.

·      Discuss whether viruses should be considered living organisms.

·      Define prions and list their two structural forms.

Chapter 3: Prokaryotic cell Structure:

At the end of this chapter, each student should be able to:

·      Compare and contrast prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.

·      Describe the composition, function, and relevance to human health of glycocalyx.

·      Distinguish between capsules and slime layers.

·      Discuss the structure and function of prokaryotic flagella.

·      List and describe four prokaryotic flagellar arrangements.

·      Compare and contrast the structures and functions of fimbriae, pili, and flagella.

·      Compare and contrast the cell walls of Gram-positive and Gram-negative prokaryotes in terms of structure and Gram staining.

·      Describe the clinical implications of the structure of the Gram-negative cell wall.

·      Compare and contrast the cell walls of acid-fast bacteria with typical Gram-positive cell walls.

·      Diagram a phospholipid bilayer and explain its significance in reference to a cytoplasmic membrane.

·      Describe the functions of the cytoplasmic membrane as they relate to permeability.

·      Compare and contrast the passive and active processes by which materials cross the membrane.

·      Define osmosis and distinguish among isotonic, hypertonic, and hypotonic solutions.

·      Describe prokaryotic cytoplasm and its basic contents.

·      Define inclusion bodies and give two examples.

·      Describe the formation and function of bacterial endospores.

·      Describe the structure and function of ribosomes.

Chapter 4: Nutritional Requirements:

At the end of this chapter, each student should be able to:

·      Describe the roles of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, other macronutrients, trace elements, and growth factors in microbial growth and reproduction.

·      Define nitrogen fixation and explain its importance.

·      Compare the four basic categories of organisms based on their carbon and energy sources.

·      Compare and contrast organotrophs and lithotrophs.

·      Describe three types of culture media available for bacterial culture.

·      Discuss the use of special culture methods including animal, tissue, and enrichment cultures.

·      Define unculturable organisms and give two examples of unculturable pathogens.

Chapter 5: Environmental Factors:

At the end of this chapter, each student should be able to:

·      Distinguish among anaerobes, aerobes, aerotolerant anaerobes, facultative anaerobes, microaerophiles, and capnophiles.

·      Explain how oxygen can be fatal to organisms by discussing singlet oxygen, superoxide radical, peroxide anion, and hydroxyl radical

·      Describe how organisms protect themselves from toxic forms of oxygen.

·      Explain how extremes of temperature, pH, and osmotic and hydrostatic pressure limit microbial growth.

·      Explain how psychrophiles, thermophiles, halophiles, and barophiles can survive in extreme conditions of cold, heat, salt concentration, and hydrostatic pressure, respectively.

Chapter 6: Microbial Metabolism:

At the end of this chapter, each student should be able to:

·      Distinguish among metabolism, anabolism, and catabolism.

·      Explain the meaning of the universality of life reactions.

·      List four important features of cellular metabolism.

·      Contrast reduction and oxidation reactions.

·      Compare and contrast substrate-level phosphorylation and oxidative phosphorylation.

·      Draw a table listing the six basic enzyme classes, their activities, and an example of each.

·      Define enzyme, and describe the roles of cofactors and coenzymes in enzyme activity.

·      Compare the pentose phosphate pathway and the Entner-Doudoroff pathway with glycolysis in terms of energy production and products.

·      Discuss the roles of glycolysis, the Krebs cycle, and electron transport in carbohydrate catabolism.

·      Contrast electron transport in aerobic and anaerobic respiration.

·      Describe the role of chemiosmosis in oxidative phosphorylation of ATP.

·      Describe fermentation and contrast it with respiration.

·      Identify three useful end products of fermentation, and explain how fermentation reactions can be used in the identification of bacteria.

·      Define photosynthesis.

·      Compare and contrast the bacterial and plant photosynthesis.

·      Define amphibolic reaction, mentioning two examples.

Chapter 7: Microbial Growth and Population Dynamics:

At the end of this chapter, each student should be able to:

·      Describe logarithmic growth and logarithmic progression.

·      Explain what is meant by the generation time of bacteria.

·      Draw and label a bacterial growth curve.

·      Describe what occurs at each phase of a population's growth.

·      Contrast direct and indirect methods of measuring bacterial growth.

·      Compare and contrast chemostat and turbidostat

·      Describe how quorum sensing can lead to formation of a biofilm.

·      Define the field of sociomicrobiology and mention two examples of the heterogenic behavior of bacteria within a population.

·      Define the term consortium and give two examples of consortia.

Module II

Basic Microbial Genetics:

At the end of this chapter, each student should be able to:

·      Describe the structure of DNA and discuss how it facilitates the ability of DNA to act as genetic material.

·      Describe the structure and function of plasmids.

·      Compare and contrast prokaryotic and eukaryotic chromosomes.

·      Compare and contrast the synthesis of leading and lagging strands in DNA replication.

·      Explain how the genotype of an organism determines its phenotype.

·      State the central dogma of molecular biology and explain the roles of DNA and RNA in polypeptide synthesis.

·      Describe three steps in RNA transcription mentioning the following: DNA, RNA polymerase, promoter, 5' to 3' direction, and terminator.

·      Describe the genetic code in general and identify the relationship between codons and amino acids.

·      Describe the translation of polypeptides, identifying the roles of the three types of RNA.

·      Explain the operon model of transcriptional control in prokaryotes.

·      Contrast the regulation of an inducible operon with that of a repressible operon. Give an example of each.

·      Define mutation.

·      Define and describe three types of point mutations.

·      List three effects of mutations.

·      Discuss the relative frequency of deleterious and useful mutations.

·      Describe the Ames test and discuss its use in discovering carcinogens.

·      Define genetic recombination.

·      Contrast vertical gene transfer with horizontal gene transfer.

·      Explain the role of an F factor, F+ cells, and Hfr cells in bacterial conjugation.

·      Describe the structures and actions of simple and complex transposons.

·      Compare and contrast crossing over, transformation, transduction, and conjugation.

Recombinant DNA and Genetic Engineering:

At the end of this chapter, each student should be able to:

·      Identify the three main goals of recombinant DNA technology.

·      Explain the function and use of reverse transcriptase in synthesizing cDNA.

·      Describe the importance and action of restriction enzymes.

·      Define a vector as the term applies to genetic manipulation.

·      Describe the purpose and application of the polymerase chain reaction.

·      Explain how researchers use DNA probes to identify recombinant cells.

·      List and explain three artificial techniques for introducing DNA into cells.

·      Describe six potential medical applications of recombinant DNA technology.

·      Identify five applications of recombinant DNA technology.

Microbial Genomes:

At the end of this chapter, each student should be able to:

·      Compare and contrast the genomes of prokaryotes and eukaryotes.

·      Describe genome mapping and genomics and explain their usefulness.

Module III

Host-Parasite Relationships:

At the end of this chapter, each student should be able to:

 ·      Classify microorganisms according to host-parasite relationship.

·      Define infection.

·      Define virulence.

·      List the factors contributing to bacterial pathogenicity.

·      Compare and contrast endotoxins to exotoxins

Immunology- Innate Immunity:

At the end of this chapter, each student should be able to:

·      List two lines of defense in the human body.

·      Contrast the first and second lines of defense against disease

·      Explain the different mechanisms contributed to non-specific lines of defense.

·      Discuss the components of blood and their functions.

·      Identify the cells and phases of phagocytosis..

·      Discuss the process and benefits of inflammation.

Adaptive Immunity:

At the end of this chapter, each student should be able to:

·      Identify the characteristics of effective antigens.

·      Define epitopes and haptens

·      Contrast active versus passive acquired immunity and naturally acquired versus artificially acquired immunity.

·      Describe the cells, tissues and organs involved in the immune response.

·      Describe the importance of red bone marrow, the thymus, lymph nodes, and other lymphoid tissues.

·      Describe the characteristics of B lymphocytes.

·      Describe the basic structure of an antibody (immunoglobulin) molecule.

·      Contrast the structure and function of the five classes of immunoglobulins.

·      Describe the mechanisms by which antibodies can induce resistance to infection.

·      Describe the basic characteristics of T lymphocytes.

·      Compare and contrast three types of T cells.

·      Describe the two classes of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins with regard to their location and function.

·      Describe the of clonal selection theory.

·      Contrast primary and memory immune responses.

·      Describe the role of eosinophils and NK cells in extracellular killing.

·      Describe cell-mediated immune response.

·      Describe the complement system, including its classical and alternate pathways.

·      Define immunological tolerance.

·      Compare between naturally acquired and specifically induced tolerance.

Immunopathology:

At the end of this chapter, each student should be able to:

·      Compare between immediate and delayed types of hypersensitivity.

·      Describe the mechanism, methods of diagnosis and management of type I hypersensitivity.

·      Compare and contrast the four types of hypersensitivity and their mechanisms.

·      Describe the mechanisms and treatment of hemolytic disease of the newborn.

·      Describe the significance of the tuberculin test.

·      Discuss the etiology, mechanisms, diagnosis and management of autoimmunity and autoimmune diseases.

·      Classify with examples autoimmune diseases.

·      Differentiate between primary and secondary immunodeficiency diseases and provide two examples of each form of disease.

·      Identify types of grafts

·      Describe the types and the mechanisms of graft rejection.

·      Describe how to prevent graft rejection

Applied Immunology:

At the end of this chapter, each student should be able to:

·      Define serology.

·      Identify the types and uses of serological tests.

·      Contrast agglutination and precipitation tests.

·      Contrast viral hemagglutination inhibition test with hemagglutination test.

·      Identify and briefly explain the phenomenon that is the basis for a complement fixation test.

·      Describe the use of the complement fixation test.

·      Compare and contrast direct and indirect fluorescent antibody tests and uses for these tests.

·      Describe the mechanisms and uses of ELISA.