Curriculum Map

Microbiology

Author:
Linda Bruslind, Senior Instructor, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon

This Curriculum Map provides a list of highly relevant and engaging content from throughout AccessScience for use in enriching your teaching. Site assets such as tables, graphs, diagrams, photos, and animations have been mapped to standard topics taught in an introductory Microbiology course. Use the "Copy Link" functionality to paste a direct link from each asset into your school's learning management system for easy incorporation into your curriculum.

Course Topics

Cellular Microbes
Asset Description
Animation This animation shows how organisms can be separated into three domains: Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya (Eukaryota).

Suggested use: Have students watch the video and then prepare a table or concept map that compares and contrasts the three domains.		 copy link
Diagram This illustration from the article on virulence demonstrates the main components of each cell wall type found in bacteria: gram-positive and gram-negative.

Suggested use: Have students view the diagram and then describe the differences between the cell walls of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.		 copy link
Micrographs This figure shows electron micrographs of several different methanogens, highlighting the diversity within this largest group of Archaea within the phylum Euryarchaeota.

Suggested use: Have students research each methanogen to describe its life history, and surmise how their morphology might support their ecological function.		 copy link
Diagram This figure, from the article on cell organization, shows the major cell components of a typical eukaryotic cell.

Suggested use: Ask students to suggest how this eukaryotic cell differs from a prokaryotic cell.		 copy link
Diagram This dendrogram, based on genetic information, shows the major separations of different organismal groups within the prokaryotes.

Suggested use: Show this diagram as the basis for a discussion on how the development of genetic techniques for use in classification has illuminated the differences among prokaryotes.		 copy link
Growth and Metabolism
Asset Description
Animation This animation explains the details of cell division used by prokaryotes (Bacteria and Archaea), as compared to eukaryotes.

Suggested use: Assign as preparation for an introduction to prokaryotic cell division.		 copy link
Diagram This generalized flow diagram illustrates the synthesis of bacterial cell components.

Suggested use: Support a discussion of catabolic, biosynthetic, and polymerization reactions that take place in bacterial cells.		 copy link
Animation This animation provides an overview of the process of glycolysis, the breakdown of glucose.

Suggested use: Have students view this animation subsequent to an introduction to glycolysis.		 copy link
Diagram This figure, from the Fermentation article, illustrates the chemical conversion of sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide—a process commonly performed by yeast and some bacteria.

Suggested use: Have students compare this diagram to the one below it (Fig. 2) to compare and contrast alcoholic fermentation with lactic acid fermentation.		 copy link
Graph This graph, from the article on marine microbiology, suggests a general decrease of microbial metabolic activity with increasing hydrostatic pressure (or water depth).

Suggested use: Support a discussion of growth in pressure-adapted (barophilic) microorganisms.		 copy link
Microbial Genetics
Asset Description
Biography This biography describes the life of Rosalind Franklin, an English chemist and x-ray crystallographer who first explained the basic helical structure of DNA, in addition to the external nature of its sugar-phosphate backbone. For this she was attributed very little credit.

Suggested use: Assign for students to review the basic structure of DNA, or support a discussion of diversity in STEM fields.		 copy link
Animation Transcription, the copying of a DNA sequence into mRNA, is the first step in expression of a gene. This animation shows how transcription occurs in bacterial cells.

Suggested use: Review the steps of gene transcription in bacteria starting with initiation and ending with termination.		 copy link
Diagram Ribosomes are essential for the production of protein in a cell, translating information provided in mRNA. This simplified diagram from the Ribosomes article shows how this macromolecule reads information stored in mRNA to create a protein.

Suggested use: Support an explanation of translation in protein synthesis.		 copy link
Diagram Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a common way for microbes to acquire genetic diversity by lateral transfer of genes. This figure summarizes four different mechanisms by which HGT can occur: conjugation, transformation, transduction, and endosymbiont gene transfer.

Suggested use: Support a discussion of genetic exchange in bacteria.		 copy link
Animation Generalized transduction is one example of HGT, involving a virus transferring a piece of DNA from one bacterial cell to another. This animation details the steps that occur in generalized transduction.

Suggested use: Assign this animation prior to a discussion of transduction and query students about what the learned about the process.		 copy link
Viruses
Asset Description
Diagram This figure from the Virus article contains computer-generated representations of protein coats of four different viruses.

Suggested use: Use this figure to point out morphological diversity among viruses.		 copy link
Diagram This figure from the Bacteriophage article includes both an electron micrograph and an illustration of a typical bacteriophage, clearly showing the head and tail components characteristic of this bacteria-infecting virus.

Suggested use: Show this figure to explain the basic structure of a bacteriophage.		 copy link
Biography This biography describes the career of Alfred Hershey, who received the Nobel prize for his research on bacteriophages. His work offered conclusive proof that DNA is the genetic material in a cell, as opposed to protein.

Suggested use: Assign to learn about Hershey's studies and discoveries in phage genetics.		 copy link
Animation This animation shows how human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)—the virus associated with AIDS—infects cells and replicates within them, eventually leading to the development of disease.

Suggested use: Support a discussion of HIV, including its binding to the CD4 receptor and replication using reverse transcriptase.		 copy link
Micrograph This digitally colorized scanning electron micrograph shows numerous filamentous Ebola virus particles budding from a chronically infected cell.

Suggested use: Support a discussion of Ebola virus, which causes severe hemorrhagic fever disease in humans and other primates.		 copy link
Photograph Viral researchers often use tissue culture to study and quantify viruses. Plaques, as shown in this photograph from the Tissue culture article, represent areas where host cells have been destroyed by virus particles and their progeny.

Suggested use: Show an example of cellular destruction by the action of the Newcastle disease virus.		 copy link
Table This table, from the article on tumor viruses, lists some of the main oncogenic viruses associated with tumor production in humans.

Suggested use: Have students select one of the viruses in this table and prepare a report describing the virus and its effects on humans.		 copy link
Medical Microbiology
Asset Description
Photograph This color photo shows intestinal damage that can result from Clostridium difficile, a recalcitrant bacterium known to cause intestinal infections in people treated with sustained levels of antibiotics. As this article explains, a number of physicians are turning to fecal transplantation as a way to treat this type of colitis.

Suggested use: Engage students in learning about the microbiome, and discuss the use of fecal transplants to treat intestinal disorders.		 copy link
Table Many diseases are caused by opportunistic pathogens, microbes that have disease-causing capabilities but typically only cause disease under certain circumstances. This table from the article on opportunistic infections highlights the correlation between such infections and immunologic deficiencies.

Suggested use: Have students choose one of the underlying diseases that have a suspected opportunistic pathogen, and prepare a report explaining the likely connection between the pathogen and the disease.		 copy link
Biography Robert Koch, a German bacteriologist, is known for his discovery of pathogens causing many different diseases. As this biography describes, Koch is also known for establishing a standardized protocol (called Koch's postulates) for identifying pathogens and linking them with specific diseases.

Suggested use: Assign as reading to learn about Koch's multiple contributions to bacteriology and medicine, then discuss in class.		 copy link
Animation Malaria is a microbial disease caused by the protozoan Plasmodium. This animation portrays the complete Plasmodium life cycle, from the initial bite from an infected mosquito to replication within a human host, and back to a mosquito vector.

Suggested use: Support a discussion of Plasmodium and malaria.		 copy link
Photograph This photo from the Antibiotic article shows two agar culture plates being used in an antibiotic susceptibility test (AST) at two different pH levels.

Suggested use: Have students read the figure caption and discuss the experimental procedure used in this AST, including the likely steps in the scientific method, or use to elicit a discussion of antibiotic resistance.		 copy link
Resistance
Asset Description
Animation Inflammation is one of the first lines of defense that a host has against a microbial invader. This animation describes each step of the inflammatory response.

Suggested use: Have students watch this animation prior to introducing the topic of the inflammatory response.		 copy link
Animation Immune responses are complicated because they involve several different types of cells and substances. This animation provides an overview of the entire process, from initial stimulation by an antigen to production of immunological memory.

Suggested use: Have students watch this animation prior to introducing the topic of the immune response.		 copy link
Diagram This figure from the Antibody article shows a typical protective protein made by the host in response to the presence of antigen.

Suggested use: Have students watch this animation prior to introducing the topic of the immune response.		 copy link
Diagram This illustration from the article on cellular immunology summarizes key steps in a specific immune response involving T- and B-cells.

Suggested use: Use to provide an overview of cytotoxic T-cells and helper T-cells activation elicited by antigen recognition and presentation.		 copy link
Biography Used to stimulate the immune response before exposure, vaccines are a key variable in preventing disease by microbial pathogens. Jonas Salk, a U.S. microbiologist, was the first researcher to produce a successful vaccine against the viral disease poliomyelitis, or polio.

Suggested use: Assign as background reading when discussing vaccines.		 copy link
Environmental and Applied Microbiology
Asset Description
Diagram Students need to know that microbes are essential for the cycling of many different chemicals on Earth, including nitrogen. This figure, from the article Nitrogen cycle, shows which processes are performed exclusively by microbes.

Suggested use: Have students use this diagram to explain the chemical and biological interconversion of nitrogen in the nitrogen cycle.		 copy link
Biography The correlation between microbes and disease was first established by Louis Pasteur. As this biography discusses, the French microbiologist was also known for a variety of other discoveries, including the important heating process widely used in the food industry, known as pasteurization.

Suggested use: Assign as background reading when discussing pasteurization and other food preservation methods.		 copy link
Animation Microbes play a pivotal role in genetic engineering. This animation lists out the steps needed to take a gene from one cell and then transfer it into a bacterial cell, using recombinant DNA technology.

Suggested use: Show this animation to introduce the topic of recombinant DNA technology.		 copy link
Diagram In many areas, wastewater is treated and reclaimed for safe discharge to the environment. The process often relies heavily on the use of microbes to break down organic material. This schematic diagram, from the article Sewage treatment, shows the overall process from pretreatment to advanced treatment and discharge.

Suggested use: Support a discussion of microbial treatment of wastewater.		 copy link
Diagram Microbiologists commonly use chemostats, such as the one illustrated in this figure, to maintain a steady state of microorganismal growth rate.

Suggested use: Use this diagram to explain the workings of a chemostat, including how nutrients are pumped in for the microbial population, while excess nutrients and cells are removed, allowing for the cells to remain at a constant volume.		 copy link