BTEC 2191 Syllabus

Subject Code

BTEC

Course Number

2191

Course Title

Fundamental Microbial Biotechnology

Prerequisites

Permission of department; BIOL 1111 with a grade of C or higher; BIOL 1111L with a grade of C or higher; CHEM 1211 with a grade of C or higher; CHEM 1211L with a grade of C or higher

Corequisites

BTEC 2191L; CHEM 1211; CHEM 1211L

Terms Offered

Offered Spring and Summer

Credit Hours

(2-0-2)

Course Description

This course provides students with an introduction to the principles and techniques of microbiology and its current applications in research and industry. The course includes a survey of different major groups of microbial organisms, cell structure and function, microbial growth and control, microbial metabolism and genetics, and human exploitation of microbes and their products, including microbial biocontrol.

Course Outcomes

History and Methods of Microbiology

  • Describe the history of microbiology.
  • Describe microbial model systems used to study cell biology, development and molecular genetics.
  • Explain light microscopy, fluorescence and electron microscopy.
  • Describe microbial staining methods.
  • Explain sterilizing methods used in microbiology.
  • Describe biosafety levels for infectious agents.

Microbial Cell Structure and Function, Metabolism

  • Describe the cell envelope and the cell membrane.
  • Describe the nucleoid, cytoplasm and bacterial cytoskeleton.
  • Describe surface layers, appendages and bacterial motility.
  • Explain the four basic nutritional categories found in microbes.
  • Explain microbial metabolism in the presence of oxygen.
  • Explain fermentation in terms of energy metabolism.

Microbial Growth, Genomes and Genetics

  • Describe microbial growth and the effect of environmental conditions on growth.
  • Describe prokaryotic chromosome structure.
  • Describe prokaryotic plasmids and function.
  • Explain prokaryotic transcriptional units.
  • Explain promoter recognition and transcriptional transcription.
  • Explain microbial transformation, conjugation and transduction.

Microbial Ecology and Symbiosis

  • Describe the role of microbes in biogeochemistry.
  • Describe microbial habitats.
  • Describe minimal conditions for microbial life.
  • Describe the benefits of nitrogen-fixing symbiosis.
  • Describe microbial symbiosis in ruminant animals.
  • Describe the mutualistic associations of bioluminescent bacteria with deep-see fish.

Microbial Systematics

  • Explain evolutionary diversification in the microbes based on chemical and molecular evidence.
  • Explain how the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene sequence is used for phylogeny reconstruction.
  • Explain how close relationships are measured using DNA-DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) hybridization.
  • Describe the universal phylogenetic tree.
  • Explain the concept of a prokaryotic species.

Interactions of Humans and Microbes: Disease and Exploitation

  • Describe constitutive host defenses against infection.
  • Describe inducible (adaptive) host defenses.
  • Describe the human immune system and humoral immunity.
  • Describe microbial pathogenesis in terms of toxigenicity and invasiveness.
  • Explain how human disease is studied and documented using epidemiology.
  • Describe human exploitation of microbes in the food industry, microbial production, wastewater treatment and biocontrol.