Microbiology
- Bacterial Identification Technique
- Differential & Selective Media
- Cell Biology Test Questions
- Differential Staining of Bacteria
- Microbiology Review Questions
- Microbiology Test Questions
- Micro Fact: Antibiotics & Viruses
- Micro Fact: Bacteria vs. Virus
- Antibiotic Mode of Action
- Viruses Used to Treat Cancer
Bacterial Identification Technique
Posted by
Tami Port
Tami Port
Use of Gram, Acid Fast & Endospore Stains; MacConkey's, Mannitol Salt, & Blood Agar media as well as the API-20 test strip to identify microbes.
There are several new articles in Suite101’s Microbiology topic related to procedures used in the identification of bacteria. This page provides links to help you find what you are looking for.
Differential Stains
Differential & Selective Media
More Microbiology Resources
For more information on Microbiology, see the SPO Virtual Microbiology Classroom, or Todar’s Online Textbook of Bacteriology.
Differential Stains
Differential & Selective Media
- Differential Bacteria Growth Media
- Selective Bacterial Growth Media
- Mannitol Salt Agar (MSA)
- MacConkey's Agar (MAC)
- Blood Agar (BAP)
More Microbiology Resources
For more information on Microbiology, see the SPO Virtual Microbiology Classroom, or Todar’s Online Textbook of Bacteriology.
Differential & Selective Media
Posted by
Tami Port
Tami Port
Specialized bacterial growth media can provide clues about a microbe’s identity. Here are links to the Suite101 articles on differential and selective types of media.
Selective media only grows certain types of microbes. Differential media exhibits a color change when microbes with certain metabolic capabilities are present. See the following articles for more information on both general and specialized bacterial growth media.
- Selective Bacterial Growth Media
- Differential Bacterial Growth Media
- Mannitol Salt Agar (MSA)
- MacConkey's Agar (MAC)
- Blood Agar (BAP)
Posted by
Tami Port
Tami Port
For students interested in finding practice test questions to help prepare for general biology and cell biology exams, see the Virtual Cell Biology Classroom.
Each lecture topic listed has a main page that offers both practice test questions and review questions that are used in an actual college-level cell biology classroom.
Virtual Cell Biology Classroom Topics Include:
Virtual Cell Biology Classroom Topics Include:
- Scientific Method
- Inorganic Chemistry
- Organic Chemistry
- Prokaryotic Cell Biology
- Eukaryotic Cell Biology
- Enzymes & Catalysts
- Metabolism: Aerobic Cellular Respiration
- Metabolism: Anaerobic Cellular Respiration & Fermentation
- DNA Replication
- DNA Transcription & Translation
- Cell Division: Mitosis
- Cell Division: Meiosis
- Human Genetics: Mendelian Genetics & Probability
Differential Staining of Bacteria
Posted by
Tami Port
Tami Port
A new series of articles clearly explains the technique and use of differential stains for bacterial identification.
Differential Stains
Gram, Acid-fast and Endospore stain don’t identify bacteria down to the species level, but each technique does provide specific information about structural aspects of the stained bacteria that are helpful in choosing appropriate microbial control measures to kill pathogens.
The following links will take you to each article in the differential staining series:
More Microbiology Resources
For more infomration on Microbiology, see the SPO Virtual Microbiology Classroom, or Todar’s Online Textbook of Bacteriology.
Gram, Acid-fast and Endospore stain don’t identify bacteria down to the species level, but each technique does provide specific information about structural aspects of the stained bacteria that are helpful in choosing appropriate microbial control measures to kill pathogens.
The following links will take you to each article in the differential staining series:
More Microbiology Resources
For more infomration on Microbiology, see the SPO Virtual Microbiology Classroom, or Todar’s Online Textbook of Bacteriology.
Posted by
Tami Port
Tami Port
If you are looking for ways to master microbiology and cell biology, the SPO Virtual Classrooms have many resources available.
Microbiology Review
For students interested in finding review questions to help prepare for microbiology exams, see the Science Prof Online Virtual Microbiology Classroom.
Each lecture topic listed has a main page that offers practice test questions, review questions and PowerPoint lecture presentations that are used in an actual college-level microbiology class.
Topics Include:
For students looking for help reviewing cell biology topics, see the SPO Virtual Cell Biology Classroom.
As with the Virtual Micro Classroom, each lecture topic listed has a main page that offers practice test questions, review questions and PowerPoint lecture presentations that are used in an actual college-level cell biology class.
Topics Include:
For students interested in finding review questions to help prepare for microbiology exams, see the Science Prof Online Virtual Microbiology Classroom.
Each lecture topic listed has a main page that offers practice test questions, review questions and PowerPoint lecture presentations that are used in an actual college-level microbiology class.
Topics Include:
- History of Microbiology
- Chemistry of Microbiology
- Prokaryotic Cells & Taxonomy
- Eukaryotic Cells & Taxonomy
- Viruses & Other Acellular Particles
- Microbial Growth
- Microbial Metabolism
- Microbial Genetics
- Cellular & Acellular Agents of Infectious Disease
For students looking for help reviewing cell biology topics, see the SPO Virtual Cell Biology Classroom.
As with the Virtual Micro Classroom, each lecture topic listed has a main page that offers practice test questions, review questions and PowerPoint lecture presentations that are used in an actual college-level cell biology class.
Topics Include:
- Scientific Method
- Inorganic Chemistry
- Organic Chemistry
- Prokaryotic Cell Structure & Function
- Eukaryotic Cell Structure & Function
- Enzymes
- Metabolism: Aerobic Respiration
- Metabolism: Anaerobic Respirtation & Fermentation
- Genetics: DNA Replication, Transcription & Translation
- Genetics: Mitosis & Meiosis
- Human Genetics
Posted by
Tami Port
Tami Port
If you are looking for ways to master microbiology, the SPO Virtual Microbiology Classroom has many resources available.
For students interested in finding practice test questions to help prepare for microbiology exams, see the Virtual Microbiology Classroom.
Each lecture topic listed has a main page that offers both practice test questions and review questions that are used in an actual college-level microbiology classroom.
Topics Include:
Each lecture topic listed has a main page that offers both practice test questions and review questions that are used in an actual college-level microbiology classroom.
Topics Include:
- History of Microbiology
- Chemistry of Microbiology
- Prokaryotic Cells & Taxonomy
- Eukaryotic Cells & Taxonomy
- Viruses & Other Acellular Particles
- Microbial Growth
- Microbial Metabolism
- Microbial Genetics
- Cellular & Acellular Agents of Infectious Disease
Micro Fact: Antibiotics & Viruses
Posted by
Tami Port
Tami Port
Micro Facts is a new blog series that will address basic and interesting microbiology questions. The first explains why antibiotics don’t work against viral infections.
Antibiotics and Bacteria
If you go to the doctor with a viral infection, you will generally not be sent home with a prescription for antibiotics. Antibiotics are only effective against bacteria, and should only be prescribed when a bacterial infection is suspected.
Different antibiotics have different modes of action (MOA), each class very specifically targeting some aspect of the bacterium’s physiology or structure in a way that kills or disables the pathogen without harming out cells. There are vaccines to prevent some bacterial infections.
Antivials and Viruses
There are ways to fight viral infections. We can be vaccinated against some of the more serious viral infectious diseases. For a few others there are antiviral drugs that don’t cure, but do help slow down the virus or relieve our symptoms. Most common viral infections that are brief and not potentially life-threatening usually just have to run their course before our own immune system either suppresses or evicts them.
See Suite101 Microbiology topic or SPO's Virtual Microbiology Classroom for more information on microbes and infectious disease.
If you go to the doctor with a viral infection, you will generally not be sent home with a prescription for antibiotics. Antibiotics are only effective against bacteria, and should only be prescribed when a bacterial infection is suspected.
Different antibiotics have different modes of action (MOA), each class very specifically targeting some aspect of the bacterium’s physiology or structure in a way that kills or disables the pathogen without harming out cells. There are vaccines to prevent some bacterial infections.
Antivials and Viruses
There are ways to fight viral infections. We can be vaccinated against some of the more serious viral infectious diseases. For a few others there are antiviral drugs that don’t cure, but do help slow down the virus or relieve our symptoms. Most common viral infections that are brief and not potentially life-threatening usually just have to run their course before our own immune system either suppresses or evicts them.
See Suite101 Microbiology topic or SPO's Virtual Microbiology Classroom for more information on microbes and infectious disease.
Micro Fact: Bacteria vs. Virus
Posted by
Tami Port
Tami Port
Micro Facts is a new blog series that will address basic and interesting microbiology questions. The first contrasts bacteria and viruses.
New Resource for Quick Micro Answers
Most people looking for information on the internet want to be able to quickly reach straightforward explanations that specifically address their question. This Microbiology blog will be frequently updated with answers to common cell and microbiology questions.
What Is the Difference Between Bacteria and Viruses?
Bacteria
Bacteria are single-celled living prokaryotic organisms. Prokaryotes are evolutionarily ancient, simple cells. But simple and primitive certainly doesn’t mean unsuccessful. These microbes are found nearly everywhere. Some bacteria live independently, others exist in symbiotic relationships that can be beneficial to humans (such as the normal flora that exists in our GI tract and helps us digest food and produce vitamins). Other types of bacteria are pathogens which cause illness (such as Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA is a particularly virulent strain of this species).
Viruses
These infectious agents are not alive and all are parasites. Viruses are not considered a life form because they are not made of cells; they do not grow; they cannot reproduce on their own; and they don’t transform energy (metabolize nutrients).
Viruses must infect a living cell in order to make more viruses. A viral particle is composed of at least genetic material (DNA or RNA) and a protective protein coat called a capsid. There are no viruses that are directly beneficial to us, although we have found ways to use viruses to our benefit, such as viral cancer therapy.
See Suite101 Microbiology topic or SPO's Virtual Microbiology Classroom for more information on microbes and infectious disease.
Most people looking for information on the internet want to be able to quickly reach straightforward explanations that specifically address their question. This Microbiology blog will be frequently updated with answers to common cell and microbiology questions.
What Is the Difference Between Bacteria and Viruses?
Bacteria
Bacteria are single-celled living prokaryotic organisms. Prokaryotes are evolutionarily ancient, simple cells. But simple and primitive certainly doesn’t mean unsuccessful. These microbes are found nearly everywhere. Some bacteria live independently, others exist in symbiotic relationships that can be beneficial to humans (such as the normal flora that exists in our GI tract and helps us digest food and produce vitamins). Other types of bacteria are pathogens which cause illness (such as Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA is a particularly virulent strain of this species).
Viruses
These infectious agents are not alive and all are parasites. Viruses are not considered a life form because they are not made of cells; they do not grow; they cannot reproduce on their own; and they don’t transform energy (metabolize nutrients).
Viruses must infect a living cell in order to make more viruses. A viral particle is composed of at least genetic material (DNA or RNA) and a protective protein coat called a capsid. There are no viruses that are directly beneficial to us, although we have found ways to use viruses to our benefit, such as viral cancer therapy.
See Suite101 Microbiology topic or SPO's Virtual Microbiology Classroom for more information on microbes and infectious disease.
Posted by
Tami Port
Tami Port
See the new article series exploring how Aminoglycosides, Beta-lactams, Macrolides, Quinolones, Sulfonamides and Tetracyclines kill bacteria without hurting you.
How in the world do antibiotics kill bacteria without harming our cells? Why are there so many different types of antibiotics? What do these chemotherapeutics do to disable microbes? Find the answers to these and other questions in Suite101’s new article series exploring the mode of action of some of the main classes of antibiotics.
Click on the following links to go to the article describing how each class of antibiotic exerts its effect:
Click on the following links to go to the article describing how each class of antibiotic exerts its effect:
- Aminoglycosides
- Cephalosporins (a Beta-lactam)
- Macrolides
- Penicillins (a Beta-lactam)
- Quinolones (Fluoroquinolones)
- Sulfonamides (Sulfa Drugs)
- Tetracyclines
Posted by
Tami Port
Tami Port
Korean researchers have recently created an artificial virus that can transport genes and drugs into cancer cells. Humans putting infectious parasites to work for us!
Viral Gene and Drug Therapy
Viruses are parasites that specialize in getting their genetic material into living cells. And science is now finding a way to put the talents of viruses to good use. Dr. Myongsoo Lee and his team of researchers at Yonsei Univeristy, recently published an article in Angewandte Chemie in which they reported successfully using an artificial virus to transport genes and drugs into cancer cells.
Natural & Artificial Viruses
Naturally occurring viruses are good at moving genes into cells and have been used for gene therapy, but natural viruses can trigger the body’s immune response and some can even cause cancer.
Artificial viruses don’t have these side effects, but have not been shown to be particularly effective so far because their size and shape (features vital to a viruses’ effectiveness) have been hard to control. It looks like Myongsoo Lee has developed a new strategy that allows the artificial viruses to maintain the shape the require in order to work in gene therapy.
Moving Genes and Therapeutics into Cancer Cells
Lee performed trials using human cancer cells and demonstrated that his artificial viruses could effectively transport RNA (a nucleic acid similar to DNA) into a cancer cell and block the expression of a target gene.
These researchers were also able to attach other molecules to the artificial viruses that then transported these molecules into the nuclei (the genetic command center) of tumor cells, where many antitumor drugs exert their effects.
Author of Study: Myongsoo Lee, Yonsei University, Seoul (Korea)
Title: Filamentous Artificial Virus from a Self-Assembled Discrete Nanoribbon
Journal: Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2008, 47, No. 24, 4525
To learn more about viruses in general, see these Suite101 articles:
Viral Lysogenic Replication
What is a Bacteriophage?
Viral Lytic Cycle Replication
Viral Phage Replication & Bacteria
Pneumonia Caused by Viruses
Viruses are parasites that specialize in getting their genetic material into living cells. And science is now finding a way to put the talents of viruses to good use. Dr. Myongsoo Lee and his team of researchers at Yonsei Univeristy, recently published an article in Angewandte Chemie in which they reported successfully using an artificial virus to transport genes and drugs into cancer cells.
Natural & Artificial Viruses
Naturally occurring viruses are good at moving genes into cells and have been used for gene therapy, but natural viruses can trigger the body’s immune response and some can even cause cancer.
Artificial viruses don’t have these side effects, but have not been shown to be particularly effective so far because their size and shape (features vital to a viruses’ effectiveness) have been hard to control. It looks like Myongsoo Lee has developed a new strategy that allows the artificial viruses to maintain the shape the require in order to work in gene therapy.
Moving Genes and Therapeutics into Cancer Cells
Lee performed trials using human cancer cells and demonstrated that his artificial viruses could effectively transport RNA (a nucleic acid similar to DNA) into a cancer cell and block the expression of a target gene.
These researchers were also able to attach other molecules to the artificial viruses that then transported these molecules into the nuclei (the genetic command center) of tumor cells, where many antitumor drugs exert their effects.
Author of Study: Myongsoo Lee, Yonsei University, Seoul (Korea)
Title: Filamentous Artificial Virus from a Self-Assembled Discrete Nanoribbon
Journal: Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2008, 47, No. 24, 4525
To learn more about viruses in general, see these Suite101 articles:
Viral Lysogenic Replication
What is a Bacteriophage?
Viral Lytic Cycle Replication
Viral Phage Replication & Bacteria
Pneumonia Caused by Viruses
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