You and your oral microflora A module in seven parts…

Overall learning objectives -why are we doing this?

At the end of this module, you will be able to do the following: describe (some of) the microbes that live in and on the human body. explain the roles that microbes play in both human and health and disease, in particular the role that microbes play in immunity differentiate between DNA replication as it occurs within a cell and as it occurs inside of a test tube. navigate sources of information about microorganisms and be able to discriminate between accurate and inaccurate sources.

Learning objectives for today… You will be able to describe (some of) the microbes that lie in and on the human body Just to become comfortable working and thinking about microbes

Find a background image of bacteria adhering to a surface for this slide; good source: Science Photo Library or the ASM Microbe Library What Are Microbes?

Types of microbes Find a good Electron micrograph image of each category here… – Could also use this opportunity to get student responses for examples of each Prokaryotes – Bacteria – Archaea Eukaryotes – Fungi – Protists – Green Algae Viruses

There are LOTS of microorganisms Insert fun cartoon of bacteria here (e.g. search for “The fantastic world of Microbiology”) Number of galaxies: ~ 350 billion Stars in the Milky Way: billion US National Debt: 15.9 trillion (as of 8/2012) Cells in the human body: trillion Number of visible stars: Number of Microorganisms: % of microorganisms are uncharacterized!

Yes, microbes cause disease… Insert pie chart of Infectious Disease Deaths Worldwide…good sources include CDC or WHO, but others also useful – tsheets/fs310/en/ tsheets/fs310/en/ – nderfive.php nderfive.php Second leading cause of death worldwide Dental plaque is the most widespread Tuberculosis affects 1/3 of world A child dies of malaria every minute! – (some estimate 1 every 30 seconds)

…but most microbes are BENEFICIAL! Help their hosts – Insert image of intestines here Aid digestion Make vitamins Detoxify chemicals Develop the immune system Fight off invaders Maintain ecosystems – Insert lovely landscape Cycle nutrients Cycle metals Decompose Fix O 2, CO 2 and N 2 Food source Bioremediation Alter climate – Insert storm image here Seed clouds Nucleate ice crystals Produce O 2 Sequester CO 2

To the module!