B016591 - MICROBIOLOGY

Italian

The course aims at instilling in the students the fundamental knowledge about the biology, genetics and physiology of microorganisms, archea, bacteria, yeast, fungi, and viruses, with special attention to their role in self sustainability of human health and in disease and their biotechnological applications.

Lectures aim to teach fundamental knowledge on the structure of the bacterial and fungal cell and through the study of the evolution of the structure to understand how the interactions between the microorganisms and the micro-organisms and their hosts determine the characteristics of the biological systems from the microscopic to the macroscopic scale

Chemistry, Biochemistry, General Biology, Phisics.

Lessons with Slides and movies-animations. The teaching favors interactions with the students to obtain their feedback on the learning process, including the opportunity of special lessons on themes of social interest relevant to the field.

There are 5 official appeals, 2 in the January-February winter session, and 3 in the summer session, June-September. In addition, there are 2 calls, one in November and one in April, during periods of didactic silence. In case of failure to pass, students can register for the next first useful appeal. The final exam is a written exam lasting an average of 60 minutes, during which the student is required to answer 27 multiple choice questions and 3 open questions. Then an oral exam is scheduled, with a variable duration, between 15 and 30 minutes, depending on the result of the written text. During the oral examination the actual knowledge of the subject is ascertained. In particular, passing the exam requires to know in depth the structure of the bacterial and fungal cell, and the knowledge of the evolution of the structure; the knowledge of how the interactions between micro-organisms and micro-organisms and their hosts determine the characteristics of biological systems from the microscopic to the macroscopic scale. The questions range from the knowledge of the relationship between structure, properties and composition of the main microbial families, the ability to identify the role of microorganisms in the synthesis of complex organic molecules. It is also requested to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the role of microorganisms in the production of pharmaceuticals and biomolecules of industrial interest, and knowledge of the role of microorganisms in health and disease and strategies for their control and use.

History of microbiology. Microbial habitats, microorganisms and the life on earth, microbial diversity. The prokariotic cell: shape, structure and function. Optical and electoronic microscopy. Size, organization and shape of the bacterial cell. Differences between Bacteria, Eukarya and Archea. The cytoplasmic membrane, transport and metabolism. The cell wall, structure function and synthesis in Gram+ and Gram- Bacteria. The capsule. Bacterial morphogenesis and differentiation. The spore, structure, function and genetic control of sporulation. Chemotaxis and bacterial movement, biofilms.

Microbial nutrition, culture and metabolism. Bacterial cell growth curve. The bacterial cell cycle. Methods for quantitative assessment of bacterial cell growth. Generation time. Total and vital count methods. Methods of sterilization, pasteurization and control of bacterial growth. Physical parameters affecting bacterial growth, temperature. Micronutrients and macronutrients. Growth Media, minimal and complete. Working in sterility, isolation in pure culture, conservation of strains and stocks. Fermentation and respiration. Sources of carbon and sources of energy. Autotrophy, eterotrophy, chemotrophy. Microbial diversity as a result of metabolic diversity and habitat adaptation. Antibiotics, antifungals, and antiviral molecules, mechanisms of action and resistance.
Fundamentals of Microbial genetics. DNA replication. Plasmids, structure and function. Control of gene expression and gene organization, the Lac Operon. TRP Operon. Horizontal gene transfer. Restriction enzymes and molecular microbiology. Biology of yeasts and fungi, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model in genetics and systems biology. Candida albicans as a model to study the transition between commensalism and pathogenicity. Aspergillosis as a risk factor in immunocompromised patients.

Molecular systematics and microbial evolution. The study of microbial systematics taxonomy and evolution. Molecular clocks and microbial evolution. The microbial species concept. Methods for microbe identification, PCR, PCR RFLP, PCR RAPD, sequenziamento del 16S e ITS 1-4.

Virology. Classification of viruses. Bacteriophage T4 and lambda. Phage therapy. The HIV virus, Papilloma virus, Herpes virus, the flu. Vaccines.

Host microbe interactions, symbiosis, commensalism, parassitism. Microbial communities in biofilms and fermented foods. Virulence factors and pathogeneicity. Innate and adaptive immunity. Evasion of host defences, infection and sepsis. Methods for immune escape, Salmonella tiphymurium, Candida albicans. Host defences, infection and sepsis. Epidemiology of infectious diseases.
Microbial biotechnology, microorganisms as cell factories. Prebiotics and probiotics.

Prescott, Microbiologia Generale, Settima Edizione Mc Graw Hill.Vol 1,2,3. Edizioni successive al 2011
Biologia Dei Microorganismi Gianni Deho e Enrica Galli. Casa Editrice Ambrosiana.

Brock, Biologia dei Microorganismi. Edizioni successive al 2011, Casa Editrice Ambrosiana.

Particular attention will be devoted to the rapid progress of this field, presenting the latest discoveries in the context of the history of microbiology. The course will provide fundamental knowledge on: The prokariotic cell: shape, structure and function. Microbial growth, nutrition, culture and metabolism. Methods of sterilization and control of bacterial growth. Fundamentals of Microbial genetics, genomics, metagenomics, molecular systematics and microbial evolution. Biology of yeasts and fungi. Virology. Host microbe interaction and fundamentals of immunology. Antibiotics, antifungals, and antiviral molecules, mechanisms of action and resistance. Given the speciality of the curriculum students will be presented with the latest advances in microbioal biotechnology applied to drug development.