MICRB 265 - General Microbiology

3 Credits

MICRB 265 is the key prerequisite for advanced studies in microbiology and is needed for several advanced level courses in other fields. The course is of interest to students in agriculture and forestry, arts, elementary and secondary education, human or veterinary medicine, pharmacy, and science.

Prerequisites: BIOL 107  and CHEM 161  
Corequisites: None

Course Learning Outcomes:
A student who successfully completes the course will have reliably demonstrated the ability to

Cognitive Skills

1. Distinguish cells based on their ultrastructural and biochemical components in the three domains and six kingdoms of life.
2. Classify bacteria, archaeans, viruses, viroids, prions, some fungi and protistans based on structural, biochemical, nutritional, toxin-resistance tests, or molecular signature sequences.
3. Explain the target of stains of subcellular components such as inclusions, including taxonomic stains, such as the christian gram stain, and various types of microscopic imaging techniques.
4. Epitomize the nomenclature (latin, genus, species), based on classical cell shape and biochemical methods, or on molecular dna or rna signature sequences.
5. Outline microbial defenses against osmotic shock (peptidoglycan), chemical lysis, or predator and host attacks (capsule, m-protein); adhesion to substrates (fimbriae, capsule) and host cells.
6. Describe the prokaryotic cytoskeleton and cellular motor (basal body) control, chemotaxis, the diversity of cell motility via flagella, axial filaments, gliding, twitching (type iv pili), ratcheting, slime propulsion, or gas vesicles.
7. Compare the peptidoglycan wall chemistry, the periplasmic space in gram negative versus gram positive bacteria, and the action of penicillin antibiotics or lysozyme enzyme.
8. Contrast cytoplasmic membrane with the gramnegative outer membrane lipids, porin protein permeability, pyrogenic lipopolysaccharide endotoxins; biofilms, extra- and intracellular pathogens.
9. Itemize robert Koch’s postulates that link a pathogenic organism to an infectious disease (tuberculosis), nosocomial infections, antimicrobial agents and widespread resistance.
10. Discuss the primary nutritional types based on carbon and energy source, the function of enzymes in anabolism and catabolism, bioassay growth optima, thermophiles, psychrophiles, acidophiles, halophiles.
11. Assign reactants or products to metabolic pathways, such as glycolysis, Entner-doudoroff pathway, fermentation (e.g. Mixed acid, 2,3-butanediol, homolactic), Krebs cycle, Calvin cycle, electron transport chain, chemiosmosis, hydrothermal vents.
12. List atp-generating reactions as substrate-level, oxidative or photophosphorylation, in aerobic or anaerobic respiration and oxygenic or anoxygenic photosynthesis, relative to the presence or production of oxygen.
13. Specify microbial sewage treatment processes, obligatory anaerobic respiration, autotrophy, and methanogenesis, rumen cellulytic syntrophy and h₂ transfer, bioremediation of oil spills, oxygenases in aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbon degradation.
14. Quote the bacterial growth curve (lag, log, stationary phase, death and lysis), quorum sensing, binary fission, recombination, antibiotic secondary metabolites, cell differentiation, endospores.
15. Define autotrophy, endosymbiosis, methanogens and methylotrophs, gene expression, operons, rhizobium nitrogen fixation and legume root nodules, agrobacterium and plant crown gall tumors.
16. Formulate procedures in bioengineering, molecular cloning, biotechnology, biodegradable plastics, probiotics, botox, Bacillus thuringensis insecticide.

Applied Skills

1. Recognize the colony morphology of pure and mixed bacterial cultures by their form, elevation, margin, surface, color and transparency on TCS, MCA, and EMB agar plates.
2. Name the parts of the microscope, and correctly adjust a light microscope, bright or dark field, phase-contrast, live or stained bacterial smears, which includes the use of immersion oil.
3. Draw or photograph bacteria viewed under the microscope, calculate their real size using micrometer scales, the magnification of the image, and the resolution of the lens.
4. Isolate, streak out and culture bacterial cells on solid agar medium or in liquid broth culture, using an inoculation loop or Pasteur pipet, flaming the flask lip, replacing lid or cotton plug under sterile conditions.
5. Perform various bacterial staining techniques to reveal subcellular structures, for example Gram stain, acid fast stain (demo), malachite green endospore stain, Einar Leifson flagellum stain, or capsule stain.
6. Interpret taxonomic tables to identify to genus some of the more common microorganisms according to cell shape, arrangement, Gram-positive or Gram-negative staining, size, specific enzymatic reactions in tests, and growth on differential solid media.
7. Search bioinformatics databases such as genebank (BLAST) or Ribosomal Database Project, to match a DNA sequence for 16S rrna of known and named species to a signature sequence new unknown isolate.
8. Calculate original total microbial cell numbers from direct Petroff-Hausser cytometer counts or indirect turbidity measurements, and cell viability by counts of colony-forming units of microbial cells cultured at serial dilution.
9. Tabulate cell shape, cell size, and cell arrangement of Gram-stained microbes from biofilms, such as dental plaque, rock or leaf surfaces, gut lining, and from plain or probiotic yogurt.
10. Write laboratory reports that include title, abstract, introduction (hypothesis), methods, results (graphs, standard curves, tables), discussion (conclusions) citations in APA format from database searches or secondary sources.
11. Incubate aseptic alfalfa Melilotus sativus seeds in plastic pouch cultures inoculated with rhizobia (Sinorhizobium meliloti), observe root nodulation and bacteroids; set up anaerobic bacterial cultures.
12. Aseptically perform pour plate method using prepared molten agar and sterile Petri-dishes.
13. Monitor fecal indicators in ground beef by standard plate counts of Escherichia coli CFU, and count of Enterobacter faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella after enrichment culture; exo- and enterotoxin predictions.
14. Determine the relative effectiveness of various antimicrobial agents against common bacteria in the human environment by the zone of inhibition in the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion assay, and the use- dilution method using phenol solution as a standard.
15. Decrease of ammonification by increased acidity in Peptone broth cultures of soil samples (unknown bacteria), known bacteria (Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas putida), and sterile control plates, tested with the Nessler reagent.
16. Detect and quantify antigens using enzyme-antibody complex assays.

Biology of Microorganisms (16th ed.). Pearson Education Inc.

McCutcheon, J. (2024-2025). Microbiology 265, Introductory Microbiology.

Laboratory manual. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta.

Optional Resource Materials:
Garrity, G.M.(Editor-in-Chief). 1984-2012. Bergey’s manual of systematic Bacteriology 2nd ed.

Volume 1, Archaea and basal phototrophs, R.D. Boone. (Editor)

Volume 2, Proteobacteria, D.JBrenner, N.R. Krieg, J.T. Stanley. (Editor).

Volume 3, Firmicutes, A.C. Parte. (Editor).

Volume 4, Bacteroides, Spirochetes, Chlamydiae, Planctomycetes, A.C. Parte. (Editor).

Volume 5, Actinobacteria, A.C. Parte (Editor). Springer, New York, NY.

Holt, J.G. (Editor). 1994. Bergey’s manual of determinative Bacteriology. 9th ed. Lippincott,

Williams, and Wilkins, Baltimore.

Conduct of Course:
This is a 3 credit course with 3 hours of lecture and 4 hours of lab per week. (3-0-4).

Lectures - Three hours per week

The lectures are supported by PowerPoint data projection, white board, and occasionally by a movie, animation or web-based simulation. The electronic files placed on the learning management system Desire-2-Learn must be supplemented by notes taken by the students. The library can be used to access biological literature and on-line databases. Students are expected to do the assigned reading in the textbook and lab manual on a weekly basis.

Labs - Four (3+1) hours per week

In the laboratory the students perform experiments on their own or they work in small groups. Chemical and biological safety rules must be adhered to, and lab coats must be worn when in the lab. The objective is to train the students in the safe handling, culture, and containment of potentially pathogenic bacteria, and to let them perform biochemical tests. For some procedures students must wear dust masks, face shields, goggles, surgical gloves, and they must be familiar with oil-immersion microscopy, containment hoods, inoculation, incubation, processing and storage of bacterial cultures. The scheduled lab time is often insufficient to complete the experiments, and students are expected to complete the work during posted open lab times.

In addition to the weekly worksheets, one full lab report .and lab quizzes are required.  All students must have completed the mandatory Bio-safety training before continuing with labs. Although the laboratory work may be performed in groups of up to 2 students, each student is responsible for independent data analysis, and individual interpretation of the results. Citation of primary research follows a scientific format (APA).

The WHMIS Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System requires the safe handling and storage of chemicals, as specified in the SDS Safety Data Sheets. Microorganisms on Schedule 2 of the Human Pathogens and Toxins Act fall under the regulations of the Pathogens Regulation Directorate of the Public Health Agency of Canada and are to be handled under supervision of qualified staff, must be fully contained, and shall not be disposed of in the regular waste, or poured down the drain. All laboratory equipment is operated as specified in the Operation Manuals.

Regular attendance is essential for success in any course. Absence for any reason does not relieve a student of the responsibility of completing course work and assignments to the satisfaction of the instructor. Poor attendance may result in the termination of a student from a course.

If you do not meet the established attendance requirements, your instructor will recommend that the Registrar withdraw you from the course. A failing grade of RW (Required to Withdraw) will appear on your transcripts.

Instructors have the authority to require attendance at classes.

All labs are mandatory. If more than 2 labs are missed, excused or unexcused, the student will either be required to withdraw (RW) or will be assigned a failing grade (F) for the entire course.

Students are only allowed to hand in laboratory worksheets, or laboratory reports for labs that they have attended.

If the student’s absence is excusable, the missing laboratory work will not be counted.  If the absence is inexcusable, the laboratory work will be assigned a mark of 0.

Make-up laboratories are difficult or impossible to set up. It depends on the lab missed, but only students with an excused absence can sometimes attend a make-up lab, at the discretion of the lab technician and lab instructor.

Not wearing a lab coat and required attire, not having the current lab manual, or violating lab safety regulations will ban you from the laboratory, and this will result in an inexcusable absence.

Content of Course:

LAB

The weighting of the course components is as follows:

The lecture exams are composed of a 2:1 mixture of multiple-choice questions and short answer questions. No supplemental assignments or exam re-writes are allowed in the University Studies Department. The Final Laboratory Exam is a practical exam about laboratory experiments; stations are set up and students take turns answering questions at each station. In the Laboratory Practical Exam component students demonstrate that they can safely culture, isolate, serially dilute, fix and stain bacteria, as well as prepare media.  The laboratory reports do not exceed 2 pages single spaced, excluding drawings, lists, tables, or graphs, and they are due in two weeks after the assignment. They follow a scientific format: title, author’s name and address, abstract, brief introduction with hypothesis, methods, results with tables or graphs, discussion, reference list (APA), and they answer questions posed in the lab manual or on worksheets. Worksheets provide a record of the data collected and their analysis, and they are due in one week.  Late submissions of assignments suffer a 5% deduction per day on the mark, except under documented extraordinary circumstances.  Database literature searches are guided by the librarian.

Cheating, falsification or fabrication of laboratory data, plagiarism, and non-compliance with all safety regulations or the code of conduct are academic and professional offences. Depending on the severity of the offence, a student may be reminded, sent out of the classroom or laboratory, reported to the department head, may have marks deducted, assigned a failing grade in the course, or may be expelled from the college.

Course Pass Requirements:
A minimum grade of D (50%) (1.00) is required to pass this course.

Students must maintain a cumulative grade of C (GPA - Grade Point Average of 2.00) in order to qualify to graduate.

Official final grades will be available on My Lakeland. Grades posted in D2L should be considered interim grades.  

Lakeland College is committed to the highest academic standards. Students are expected to be familiar with Lakeland College policies and to abide by these policies. Violations of these policies are considered to be serious and may result in suspension or expulsion from the College.

Every effort has been made to ensure that information in this course outline is accurate at the time of publication. Lakeland College reserves the right to change courses if it becomes necessary so that course content remains relevant.

In such cases, the instructor will give students clear and timely notice of changes.

No part of this course outline may be reproduced in any form or resold without written permission from Lakeland College.

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