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THEME: THE ORGANISM AND ITS ENVIRONMENT
WEEK 1
Activity: Revision of work done in second term
WEEK 2
TOPIC: MICRO-ORGANISMS IN ACTION
CONTENT:
- Growth of micro-organisms: ways of measuring the growth of microorganisms.
- Beneficial effects in nature, medicine and industries.
- Harmful effects of some microbes
Sub – Topic 1: MICRO-ORGANISMS IN ACTION
Micro-organisms are very small living things which are normally not visible to the naked eye but can be seen with the help of a microscope.
TYPES OF MICRO-ORGANISMS
Micro-organisms include;
(i) All Viruses e.g., Polio virus, Smallpox virus, etc.
(ii) All bacteria e.g., Salmonella, Clostridium, Treponema, Escherichia coli, etc.
(iii) All protozoans e.g., Plasmodium, Trypanosoma, etc.
(iv) Some fungi e.g., Rhizopus (mould) and Yeast (e.g., Saccharomycetes).
(v) Some algae e.g. diatoms, dinoflagelletes, etc.
(vi) Blue – green algae e.g., Nostoc
Micro-organisms live everywhere, in water, air, soil, inside and outside of plants and animals including human beings. There are many more microorganisms than visible plants and animals in the world. They may have beneficial or harmful effects. Micro-organisms that cause disease are referred to as pathogens and are usually parasitic.
Anthrax Bacteria
An electron micrograph shows a cluster of bacteria, Bacillus anthracis, in a capillary of a lung. The bacteria cause anthrax, a disease in humans and animals that can result in death. Anthrax can be cured when treated early with antibiotics.
Growth of Microorganisms
Culturing is the growing of micro-organisms in prepared media in the laboratory. The prepared medium is called the ‘culture medium’. Bacteria, fungi and algae grow easily in test-tubes, flasks or Petri dishes of culture media. Virus on the other hand, can only grow and multiply inside living cells, so they cannot be grown in a culture medium.
Micro-organisms are able to increase in size and multiply in number of cells. The growth of micro-organisms is measured based on increase in population size rather than increase in cell size. Under favourable conditions (food, adequate temperature and humidity) micro-organisms reproduce asexually by binary fission. Generation time varies from species to species e.g. rapidly growing specie like Escherichia coli can divide every 30minutes.
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