Microbiology

Microbiology is the <a href="/facts/Branches_of_science/tKykGyUj">scientific study</a> of <a href="/facts/Microorganisms/pysJYcE2">microorganisms</a>, those being of <a href="/facts/Unicellular_organism/9PQsRuHU">unicellular</a> (single-celled), <a href="/facts/Multicellular_organism/rk8QBF7o">multicellular</a> (consisting of complex cells), or <a href="/facts/Non-cellular_life/IWDHeDv1">acellular</a> (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including <a href="/facts/Virology/doDESmsB">virology</a>, <a href="/facts/Bacteriology/51CGDSh6">bacteriology</a>, <a href="/facts/Protistology/xpt2xkMr">protistology</a>, <a href="/facts/Mycology/rzC12BLF">mycology</a>, <a href="/facts/Immunology/vylm0L8e">immunology</a>, and <a href="/facts/Parasitology/8UzTjlH8">parasitology</a>.
The organisms that constitute the microbial world are characterized as either prokaryotes or eukaryotes; <a href="/facts/Eukaryote/SkwyPLMA">Eukaryotic</a> microorganisms possess membrane-bound <a href="/facts/Organelle/vhDFnGbs">organelles</a> and include <a href="/facts/Fungi/BHo5DP59">fungi</a> and <a href="/facts/Protists/NYVfaGVz">protists</a>, whereas <a href="/facts/Prokaryote/oYyvaDDH">prokaryotic</a> organisms are conventionally classified as lacking membrane-bound organelles and include <a href="/facts/Bacteria/wC8xSCsU">Bacteria</a> and <a href="/facts/Archaea/Adxh0aHw">Archaea</a>. <a href="/facts/Microbiologist/cqEyJwNK">Microbiologists</a> traditionally relied on culture, staining, and <a href="/facts/Microscopy/GpHlElDS">microscopy</a> for the isolation and identification of microorganisms. However, less than 1% of the microorganisms present in common environments can be cultured in isolation using current means. With the emergence of <a href="/facts/Biotechnology/8eFnI6FB">biotechnology</a>, Microbiologists currently rely on <a href="/facts/Molecular_biology/YgqU35ub">molecular biology</a> tools such as <a href="/facts/DNA/nB89Iauz">DNA</a> sequence-based identification, for example, the <a href="/facts/16S_ribosomal_RNA/XCgSahoy">16S rRNA</a> gene sequence used for bacterial identification.
<a href="/facts/Virus/mf88Bcbl">Viruses</a> have been variably classified as organisms because they have been considered either very simple microorganisms or very complex molecules. <a href="/facts/Prion/UJfG9EfS">Prions</a>, never considered microorganisms, have been investigated by virologists; however, as the clinical effects traced to them were originally presumed due to chronic viral infections, virologists took a search—discovering "infectious proteins".
The existence of microorganisms was predicted many centuries before they were first observed, for example by the <a href="/facts/Jainism/h0glxhjH">Jains</a> in India and by <a href="/facts/Marcus_Terentius_Varro/k5okbKrf">Marcus Terentius Varro</a> in ancient Rome. The first recorded microscope observation was of the fruiting bodies of moulds, by <a href="/facts/Robert_Hooke/T5sEElp5">Robert Hooke</a> in 1666, but the Jesuit priest <a href="/facts/Athanasius_Kircher/049o9hE5">Athanasius Kircher</a> was likely the first to see microbes, which he mentioned observing in milk and putrid material in 1658. <a href="/facts/Antonie_van_Leeuwenhoek/HQ9dH9oo">Antonie van Leeuwenhoek</a> is considered a <a href="/facts/List_of_people_considered_father_or_mother_of_a_scientific_field/aJ8aBWcI">father of microbiology</a> as he observed and experimented with <a href="/facts/Microscopic_organisms/pysJYcE2">microscopic organisms</a> in the 1670s, using simple <a href="/facts/Microscope/ldJp0CI3">microscopes</a> of his design. Scientific microbiology developed in the 19th century through the work of <a href="/facts/Louis_Pasteur/lboGfpy0">Louis Pasteur</a> and in medical microbiology <a href="/facts/Robert_Koch/cUDapauh">Robert Koch</a>.

Microbiology open-in-new

Microbiology