BIOL 302 BACTERIA, VIRUSES..
SHORT RESPONSES: The replies should contribute to learning. Ask thought-provoking questions, add new and relevant information, and/or correct misconceptions and inaccurate information provided. STUDENT 1: Robert Koch made significant contributions to the field of microbiology, particularly with his discovery of the causative agents of major diseases and the development of bacteriological techniques. His most important work includes identifying Bacillus anthracis as the cause of anthrax in 1876, Mycobacterium tuberculosis as the cause of tuberculosis in 1882, and Vibrio cholerae as the cause of cholera in 1883. Additionally, Koch formulated “Koch’s postulates,” criteria that are still used to establish the link between a microbe and a disease (OpenStax, 2024). He is best known for his discovery of the bacteria responsible for anthrax, tuberculosis, and cholera, and for developing Koch’s postulates (Blevins, 2020). His most important contribution was identifying Mycobacterium tuberculosis. He noted tuberculosis prevalence and lung lesions, hypothesizing that the bacterium should be present in diseased individuals but absent in healthy ones. He used control and experimental groups, with the independent variable being the presence of the bacterium and the dependent variable being tuberculosis symptoms. Koch shared his findings through publications and presentations, notably in 1882 at the Physiological Society of Berlin (Blevins, 2020). References: Blevins, S. M. (2020). Robert Koch and the discovery of the tuberculosis bacillus. Infection and Immunity, 88(4), e0011420. https://doi.org/10.1128/IAI.00114-20 OpenStax. (2024). Foundations of Modern Cell Theory. OpenStax CNX. https://openstax.org/details/books/foundations-modern-celltheory STUDENT 2: Francesco Redi was an Italian physician living between the years 1626 and 1697 and was a large contributor in the effort to disprove the theory of Spontaneous Generation. The theory of Spontaneous Generation was previously widely accepted in the field of medicine stating that “living organisms could emerge from inanimate matter” (Pegasus, 2023). The notion that life could come from the nonliving was predominantly propelled by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, who proposed that any material containing “pneuma” or spirit had the ability to create new life without the intervention of what today is know as microorganisms. The culmination of Redi’s work took place in 1668 when he hypothesized and conducted experiments to refute the idea that “maggots (the larvae of flies) spontaneously generate on meat left out in the open air.” (Openstax, 2024). In order to properly test his theories Redi put meat into six jars under the same conditions. He implemented a control group by leaving the meat uncovered and in the open air, and two experimental groups: one being that the jar as tightly sealed and the other covered with a layer of gauze (Pegasus, 2023). As a result, Redi’s hypothesis proved true with the result of the meat in the open-air jars being covered in maggots and flies, the meat in the tightly sealed jar having no flies or maggots, and the jar covered in gauze having maggots and flies present; but only on the gauze, the meat was unaffected. Due to the success of the experiment, Redi concluded that living organisms were not spontaneously generated and ultimately disproved the theory all together. However, his findings were ignored and the theory of spontaneous generation was the prominent school of thought for more than 200 more years. What I found most interesting about this research is that even though Francesco Redi is not credited with being the first to disprove Spontaneous Generation, his work undoubtably impacted the future works of Louis Pasteur and changed the course of Microbiology as a whole. References: OpenStax. (2024). Spontaneous Generation. OpenStax CNX. https://openstax.org/books/microbiology/pages/3-1spontaneous-generation Pegasus. (2023). Famous Scientists: The Art of Genius. Francesco Redi. https://www.famousscientists.org/francesco-redi/ RESPONSE TO THE ORIGINAL DISCUSSION, STUDENT 3: How do you think the scientific community’s acceptance of Pasteur’s and Koch’s discoveries shaped public health policies at the time, and what parallels can we draw to today’s challenges with emerging diseases? References: Blevins, S. M. (2020). Robert Koch and the discovery of the tuberculosis bacillus. Infection and Immunity, 88(4), e00114-20. https://doi.org/10.1128/IAI.00114-20 ORIGINAL DISCUSSION: Louis Pastеur’s Contributions to Microbiology Louis Pastеur is considered to be one of the most influеntial pеrson in the field of microbiology. His outstanding work in the 19th century was the basis for our current knowledge of microbial life and its function in different procеssеs such as fеrmеntation and disеasе transmission. According to the tеxtbook Microbiology: An Introduction, Pastеur’s most significant contributions occurred in the 1860s and 1870s (Tortora et al., 2015). In my web search, I found an interesting article from the American Museum of Natural History that explained Pasteur’s part in disproving the theory of spontaneous generation. The article stated that Pasteur’s swan-neck flask experiment, which was made in 1859, proved that microbial growth did not happen in the sterilized nutrient solutions as long as the air entering the flasks was filtered. This result was a considerable setback to the old-fashioned idea of the spontaneous generation (Mather, 2018). Pasteur’s swan-neck flask experiment is considered a significant achievement in microbiology. The scientific method behind this experiment entails observations, hypothesis, control and experimental groups, independent and dependent variables, and finally, sharing the discovery. Pasteur noticed that microbial growth happened in the nutrient solutions exposed to air but not in the heated and sealed solutions. Pasteur assumed that microbial growth was not spontaneous but a reaction to the microorganisms in the air. The control group comprised the heated and sealed nutrient solutions, while the experimental group had the solutions in contact with the air through the swan-neck flasks. The independent variable was the exposure to air (filtered or not), and the dependent variable was the occurrence or non-occurrence of microbial growth. Pasteur delivered his findings on the swan-neck flask experiment at the French Academy of Sciences in 1860, thus rejecting the theory of spontaneous generation and proving the principle of biogenesis (life comes from life). Pasteur’s work on disproving the method of spontaneous generation and the germ theory of disease was a milestone and a basis for modern microbiology. He conveyed his results through publications and presentations, enabling the scientific community to use his discoveries as a base for further research and deepening the knowledge about microorganisms and their role in various processes. References Mather, V. (2018, October 4). The father of microbiology: Pasteur’s scientific methods revolutionized biochemistry and biology. American Museum of Natural History. https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/pasteur Tortora, G. J., Funke, B. R., & Case, C. L. (2015). Microbiology: An Introduction, Global Edition.
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