Body
General Microbial Physiology and Diversity
Credit: 3 units
Instructor: Alber
Offered: Autumn
Lecture Topics:
- Composition and structure of prokaryotic cells and microbial growth
- From elements to cellular structures (e.g., biogenesis and physiological role of the cell envelope)
- Assimilation of nutrients and biosynthesis of building blocks (anabolism)
- Biosynthesis of secondary metabolites and their roles in microbial physiology
- Diversity of catabolic processes: aerobic/anaerobic respiration, fermentation, and oxygenic/anoxygenic photosynthesis
- Microbial differentiation: sporulation, multicellular morphogenesis and biofilms
- Microbial diversity: phylogeny, environmental constraints, functional roles in communities, variations in (metabolic) strategies.
Learning Outcomes:
After completion of the lecture component of the course, successful students will understand...
- Appreciate the meaning of self-replication (without a cell there will be no new cell)
- Calculate basic growth parameters
- Understand the key reactions involved in fatty acid, sugar, and amino acid synthesis
- Understand how energy from catabolic processes are conserved through electron transport phosphorylation and substrate level phosphorylation
- Understand how microorganism play an essential role in the global carbon-, nitrogen-, and sulfur-cycles
- Appreciate the enormous diversity of microorganisms but at the same time recognize the unifying features of all life
[pdf] - Some links on this page are to Adobe .pdf files requiring the use of Adobe Reader. If you need these files in a more accessible format, please contact micro.grad@osu.edu.
