1. Introduction to Environmental Microbiology

2. Environmental Microbiology interfaces with many other fields of microbiology

3. Historical review of microbiology
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek: first use of microscope (1684)
observation of protozoa, algae, yeast, bacteria

4. L. Spallazani: first disproval of spontaneous generation
L. Pasteur: demolished the theory of spontaneous generation
(swan-neck flask)
“ No more shall the theory of spontaneous generation
ever rear its ugly head again”

5. fermentation = biological process carried out by microorganisms.
"Imagination should give wings to our thoughts but we always need decisive experimental proof, and when the moment comes to draw conclusions and to interpret the gathered observations, imagination must be checked and documented by the factual results of the experiment."
fermentation = biological process carried out by microorganisms.
Germ theory = foundation of brewing of beer, wine-making, and pasteurization.
Nature of contagious diseases: potato blight, silkworm diseases, and anthrax.
immunization
Louis Pasteur ( )

6. - discovered the Bacillus strains that cause cholera and anthrax
J. Tyndall: sterility of optically clear (particle-free) air
discontinuous heat treatments
R. Koch:
- discovered the Bacillus strains that cause
cholera and anthrax
- agar media for pure cultures (earlier had
tried sliced boiled potatoes  gelatin)
- pure culture paradigm: isolate an organism
and see what it does
Koch’s assistant, Richard Petri; invention of plate

7. Pure Culture Paradigm
extremely important conceptual development in microbiology
1) Find evidence of a microbe in all infected individuals
2) Isolate rod-shaped bacterium from infected individual
3) Introduce bacterium to healthy individual and get same disease
4) Can reisolate the same bacterium from diseased individuals

8. Discovery of Antibiotics (1928) Alexander Flemming
Plate contaminated with Penicillium
Zone of inhibition
Killed Streptococcus
Called substance penicillin

9. Founder of soil microbiology Bacteria: central in element
Sergei Winogradsky ( )
Founder of soil microbiology
Bacteria: central in element
transformations
- isolated nitrifying bacteria
- described oxidation of hydrogen sulfide, sulfur,
ferrous iron
- …all leading to the concept of chemoautotrophy –
deriving energy from chemical oxidation of inorganic
compounds and carbon from CO2

10. Winogradsky column A glass column that simulates the complex
interactions of microbial
biofilms in an aqueous
environment

11. Martinus Beijerinck (1851-1931)
“The way I approach microbiology...can be concisely stated as the study of microbial ecology, i.e., of the relation between environmental conditions and the special forms of life corresponding to them”

12. “a man of science does not marry”
isolated N fixers and S reducers
‘microbial ubiquity’: all microorganisms are everywhere; conditions and resources determine who flourishes
enrichment culture: growth medium tailored to suit particular metabolic function
with Winogradsky, recognized that microbes are the major players in element transformations
led to field of global biogeochemistry

13. Cornelius Bernardus van Niel (1897-1985)
Kluyver’s lecture inspired him to study microbiology
- student of Kluyver, third in the Dutch Delft School
Isolated purple sulfur bacteria

14. van Neil
moved to US in 1928, bringing the Delft school tradition with him
- worked at Hopkins Marine Station, focusing on purple and green bacteria
- Major contribution, chemistry of photosynthesis:
2 H2A + CO2  CH2O + 2 A + H2O
where A can be S or O…
- extended model to photosynthesis in green plants
oxygen from water, not from CO2
- Also, chemistry of denitrification,
definition of prokaryote in 1961 (with R. Stanier)
Never intended to immigrate – didn’t like US materialism
But he was immediately taken with Carmel’s charm, stayed for the rest of his life (even turning down Kluyver’s chair!)
Hopkins Marine Station is the marine laboratory of Stanford University. It is located ninety miles south of the university's main campus, in Pacific Grove, California (USA) on the Monterey Peninsula, adjacent to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

15. taught famous lab course focusing on studying
microbes from nature
(first course in microbial ecology?)
Lecture + experiments
Excellent faculty:student ratio
Philosophy of hypothesis testing, falsification
“moving from clearly erroneous to more ‘correct’,
but never immutable conclusions”

16. Robert E. Hungate (1908-2004) - student of van Niel
- methods for isolating anaerobes
- culture methods – select using
natural substrates, rather than
guesses about what organisms eat
- microbiology of guts of rumen,
termites
ASM president when “Environmental Microbiology”
and “Microbial Ecology” formally recognized

17. 1960s: Ronald Atlas, Richard Bartha - studies of petroleum degradation
- led to new field of bioremediation,
- extended to many other pollutants:
DDT, PCBs, mercury, selenium,
industrial solvents

18. Current trends in microbial ecology:
a. space exploration – microbes in extreme environments (hot springs, thermal vents, lithosphere)
b. molecular techniques – diversity of microorganisms (Carl Woese), new methods to assess presence/abundance of individual species in situ
c. realization that with pure culture/enrichment techniques, we know somewhere between 1-10% of existing microbial species – lots to learn!
d. biology of climate change, global biogeochemistry

19. Initial scientific focus of environmental (public health) microbiology
(위생미생물학 발전의 발단)
Protection of Public Health
Water quality
Fate of pathogen in the environment

20. History of sanitary microbiology
Early 19C, 런던의 상수공급 능력에 대한 우려 확산
: 콜레라 발병으로 London의 sanitary system에
대한 연구 시작
1834- : water company는 sand filter 설치를 의무화
: 유행병 발생 후 가정 하수구를 공중하수구로 연결
 분뇨 구덩이의 실제적인 제거
: 콜레라 발생의 원인이 묘지와 오물구덩이라는 것을
확인  public sewage system의 필요성 정착
: slow sand filter의 water purification 효과 확인
Koch’s gelatin culture method by Perry Frankland
1894: Metropolitan Commission of Sewer 설립

21. 생물학적 하수 처리과정의 발달 1860년대: sewage farm- 농경지 전역에 광역관개에 의하여 침전
1869: intermittent downward filtration 개발
다공성 토양을 통해 하수 여과
돌을 감싸고 있는 biological slime에 의한 처리 확인
19C 말: 하수로부터 고형물질의 분리, 부패조에서 처리
 혐기성 소화공정의 시초 (H.W.Clark, Mass)
aeration에 의한 방류 수질의 향상
Film growth에 필요한 표면적 증가위해 돌 대신 나무판 사용
1913: 하수처리에 M7이라는 세균종을 처음으로 도입 (침전 촉진)
1914: humus solid의 cycling  activated sludge공정의 시작
1933: activated sludge가 미생물의 활성에 의한 것이라 주장

22. 1960년대까지: 수인성 전염병 완전제어 확신 Wrong !! viruses, protozoa 음식물에 의한 전염
Determination of presence and significance of pathogenic organisms in food, water, and air
Fate and movement

23. West Nile encephalitis
Influenza A virus (H5N2)
Avian influenza A
Escherichia coli O57:H7
bloody diarrhea
West Nile virus
West Nile encephalitis
Determination of presence and significance of pathogenic organisms in food, water, and air
Fate and movement
SARS
Corona virus
Invasive group A Streptococcus
extensive tissue damage
Prion (infectious protein)
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy

24. Chemical pollutants in the environment
Profound effects on human population
: potential diseases, economic impact of cleaning up

25. Cost of cleanup of the contaminated sites in the US
> $ 1 trillion
to get economic advantages
: biological cleanup alternatives (bioremediation)
Role of environmental microbiologists
- a better understanding of ways to stimulate organisms
- addition of microbes to the environment
- new technique to monitor microbial behavior

26. Modern Environmental Microbiology
Problems addressed by environmental microbiologists
discovery and identification of new microbes and microbial products
• protection of the environment
• protection of human health
• commercial application
Characterization
Application