General Microbiology M122
Friday
Thursday
Tuesday
Big 400 students lecture
Biology/Microbiology majors (JR, SR) + nursing students (SO)
Cell Structure
Evolution
Metabolic pathways
Information flow and genetics
Microbial communities
Impact of Microorganisms
GOAL: To gain some insight into the role of microbial communities in human health
LEARNING OBJECTIVE: To infer the relationship between human gut microbiome
diversity, metabolism and environment
Reading guide +
pre-reading quiz
Friday
Reading guide +
pre-reading quiz
Weekend
Wednesday
Tuesday
Monday
In-class
Out-of-class
Thursday
Clickers, think-pair-share, group
discussion
Practice exam
questions
LEARNING OBJECTIVE: To infer the relationship between human gut microbiome
diversity, metabolism and environment
Learning outcome
T
Learning activity/Formative assessment
To describe how the
gut microbiome is
profiled and how
diversity is measured
Understand
-Reading guide + Pre-reading quiz: sequencing technology and
diversity.
-Clicker question: select population with the highest diversity.
-Think-pair-share: how we can determine taxonomic and
functional “abundance” by sequencing”? board/virtual board.
-Practice exam questions questions during discussion sections
To show one example
of how microorganism
fermentation
promotes food
metabolism and
absorption
Analyze
-Reading guide + Pre-reading quiz: microorganism fermentation
in the gut
-Group discussion: outline how digestible and non-digestible
carbohydrates are metabolized and absorbed, showing
cooperation between human and bacterial enzymes
board/virtual board.
-Clicker question + Think-pair-share: connect sequencing
functional data with metabolic pathways.
-Practice exam questions questions during discussion sections
To interpret data
describing taxonomic
and functional
diversity of the gut
microbiome under
different
environmental
conditions (diet, age,
etc)
Evaluate
-Reading guide + Pre-reading quiz: 2-3 figures from Journal
articles. Answer questions about hypothesis, what graph is
showing, results and conclusion. Bring answers to class.
-Group discussion: discuss figures based on the questions they
have in reading guide
-Clicker + Socratic discussion: questions about experimental
design, what figure from paper is showing, results, conclusions
-Practice exam questions questions during discussion sections
Sum asses
Multiple
choice
quiz/exam
In all the cases shown below, the populations in the
upper panel are more diverse than the ones shown in
the lower panel
A.TRUE
B.FALSE
Microbiome plays some role in obesity
-What is a LF/PP diet?
-What is a Western diet?
-What are humanized gnotobiotic mice?
-How did they run this experiment? Explain the
timeline (what is in X-axis?)
-What are they measuring on Y-axis?
-what is acting as control here?
Turnbaugh et al. 2009. The Effect of Diet on the Human Gut Microbiome: A
Metagenomic Analysis in Humanized Gnotobiotic Mice. Sci Transl Med 1, 6ra14
Your research indicates that bacteria that belong to the phylum Firmicutes have high
capability to ferment refined sugars and digest fats. Bacteroidetes on the other hand, are
better and degrading complex plant carbohydrates. You decide to run an experiment with
humanized mice similar to the one we discussed in class: humanized mice growing in a Low
fat/High plant carbohydrate diet are switched to a Western diet or kept on a Low fat/High
plant carbohydrate diet as control. Based on this, you predict:
A. Bacteroidetes will dramatically increase in the gut of control mice kept in a Low fat/High
plant carbohydrate diet
B. Firmicutes will increase in the gut of humanized mice switched to a Western diet
Bacteroidetes will increase in the gut of humanized mice switched to a Western diet
C. a and b are correct
D. b and c are correct
Our Self Portrait: the Human
Microbiome
Reflection of one’s self in dialogue with its host
Oil on canvas
Two panels, 16 x 16 in
by Joana Ricou , 2011
They are us, too