MICROBE MISSION(B)/MICROBIOLOGY (C) (potential C stuff in italics)
Dr. Bill Wellnitz, national es Cell Biology, GA director, 2009 National director
Augusta State University, Augusta GA, (wwellnit@aug.edu; 706 731 7993)
I. What is the event: a series of questions that deal with various aspects of things concerning different kinds of microbes (NOT
JUST BACTERIA!)Topic represents about 5 chapters of biology books. Students should be able to think, read graphs, and make
associations. Hey—an event that actually deals with the actual curriculum.
This event will probably become a real event in 2010 in some form, either replacing Cell Biology/Bio Process, and possibly causing
the restructuring of Disease Detectives.
II. What to expect ideally:
a. A series of stations with many questions at each station, in most cases a sit down event.
b. Most of not all questions should be single word, multiple choice or number for quick grade. Long explanations are hard to grade
quickly and fairly.
c. At least 3 graphs/tables with different questions: conclusions, predictions, interpolations, extrapolations,etc or why is graph drawn
incorrectly.
d. Various questions about different kinds of microbes and microscopes
e. Making measurements on microscopic pix if scale is given
f. If calculations are requested, numbers have units and significant figures are important. Also use of exponents
III. Who should be on the team: obviously kids in biology, or if pushed, those who have had biology.
IV. General preparation: For many events, kids should practice doing timed things and moving from station to station. Don’t bring
stuff in except calculator. A good strategy is divide and conquer. At a station or on test as whole, students should begin at two
different parts of questions. Many kids make mistake of both trying to go from front to back simultaneously .
Now specific suggestions for what might appear in event:
1. Difference between eukaryote, and prokaryote. It may be helpful to construct (NOT COPY) table
kind
size
nucleus
Etc.
eukaryote
prokaryote
2. Different organelles—function and recognition. Do not limit pix to those from text. Kids may see pix from microscopes, or
actually look thru a microscope. They MUST look at the scale and be able to make size determinations. High school may be asked to
make some predictions about what might happen if a given organelle is not functioning or what type of organelle may be found in
certain types of cells
_______________
50μ m
___
50μm
A variety of different things about the above pictures:
a. what kind of organism (or cell) in each picture.
b. Various questions about the size: which one is the largest, what is diameter of cell A?
C. Estimate the size of the chloroplasts in fig 3
3. Kids should know parts of light microscope, function of each part. In and ideal situation, kids may actually have to look thru a
scope and answer questions. More likely, they may see pictures from a microscope. What is total magnification of the scope at this
setting?
4. General things about bacteria (more at high school)
Bacteria come in different shapes: Rods (bacilli)
spheres (cocci){{{{{{{ {
spirals (sprilla)O
Arrangements:
Singles, pairs(diplo), chains(strepto) ; clusters(staphylo)
What can be concluded about Streptococcus pneumoniae? Staphylococcus aureus?
5 . Get kids to develop a table that compares and contrasts various kinds or microbes:
Type of
Size range
Two
Habitats
Uses
Diseases?
Other
microbe
properties
Virus
1.
1.
2.
2.
Bacterium.etc
The above table should include info about the Arcahe—critters that typically live in various kinds of harsh environments.
They will be asked a variety of questions on different kind of microbes:
What kind of organism is used to make bread, yogurt, soy sauce, etc.
Now expand the disease section and possibly deal with specific diseases. Match the disease with its kind of causative agent:
AIDS: HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus, NOT HIV VIRUS!!!); Malaria: protozoan
Flu :injfluenza virus; Athletes foot: fungus
Food poisoning (TOO vague—need to be more specific); Red tide: algal blooms etc.
Many fungi are associated with the roots of plants, increasing water absorption, and hence enhancing growth rate.
Lichens: two type of microbes, fungi+algae, or fungi- blue-green algae((bact)
Lots of microbes have been involved in food recalls:
Beef(primarlily( E. coli)
Chicken(Salmonella)
In NC the past 5-10 years, much in news about “the organ ism from Hell” : a protozoan, Pfiesetria.
6. Examining Petri plates and draw conclusions about diversity, number of each kind etc.
7. A variety of things about tables, graphs, etc
Fill in the missing part of the following table.
time
# microbes present
0
50
20 min
100
40 min
200
60 min
400
120 min
?
Now take these numbers on draw a graph of number vs time.
A patient is suspected of being poisoned by a bacterium that is found in his blood. Based on the information in the following table,
what is the probable identification of the bacterium?
ORGANISM
GRAM REACTION TEST A
TEST B
E. coli
+
+
S aureus
+
+
V. cholerae
+
C. botulinum
+
+
Unknown
+
Given the above information, construct two different dichotomous keys.
TEST C
+
+
-
For high school
1. Gram stain
a. used to distinguish between two major groups of bacteria
b. Gram + usually appear purple after the procedure
c. Gram- usually appear pink after the procedure
d. Different antibiotics works better against G+ or G2. Spores: allow cells to resist harsh conditions temporarily (contrast to Arcahe—what happens if environment now changes. Spores
may start to grow, and Archae are now dead. Bacterial spores more resistant then fungal spores. Some protozoans form cysts which
typically are resistant to chlorination treatments.