Allies and Enemies: How the World Depends on Bacteria (35 page)

Pediococcus, 35

nuclease, 59

penicillin, 64, 68-74, 76

number

Penicillium, 64, 68-72

of bacteria, 9

peptidoglycan, 11

of bacterial species, 21

Peptostreptococcus, 27, 29, 151

nutrient absorption, 28

performing arts, tuberculosis and,

nutrient cycles, 92, 121

84-89

Perkin-Elmer, 103

o

Petri, J. R., 167

Petri, Richard J., 19

O antigens, 10

phage therapy, 60, 76

obligate anaerobes, 151

PHAs (polyhydroxyalkanoates), 118

oil. See also fossil fuels

PHB (polyhydroxybutyrate), 118

consumption rate, 148

pheromones, 32

origins of, 147-148

phosphorescence, 142

subsurface microbiology and, 143

photic zone, 129

oil shale, 148

photoautotrophs, 91

oil spill cleanup, 113-114

photolithotrophs, 150

olives, 35

photosynthesis, 128-131, 146

opportunistic infections, 27

photosynthetic bacteria, 15

orange biotechnology, 102

photosynthetic cyanobacteria, 9

organelles, 3

physical containment of GMOs, 115

Orwell, George, 87

Pieta Rondanini (Michelangelo), 97

OX19 strain, 61

pili, 13, 78

oxygen levels in evolution, 145-147

Pinzón, Martín Alonso, 42

Pisa Cemetery, 97

p

Plague of Justinian, 43

plague. See bubonic plague

The Painted Veil (Maugham), 89

plankton, elements of, 129

paintings, decomposition of, 95

plasmid transfer, 78

paleopathology, 37

plasmids, 76

papillae, 151

Pliny the Younger, 38

Paracelsus, 131

Poe, Edgar Allan, 87

parasitism, 122

Polaromonas, 10

Pasteur, Louis, 32, 46-50, 123

pollution cleanup, 113-114, 155,

Pasteurella pestis, 50

158-159

pathogens, 5, 15.
See also infectious polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), 118

disease

polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), 118

cause of disease, determining,

polymerase chain reaction (PCR), 5,

17-18

95, 109-111

gram-positive and gram-negative, 17

polymyxin, 64

immune system exposure to, 30-31

polysaccharide secretion, 14-15

opportunistic infections caused

Pope, Alexander, 36, 87

by, 27

index

207

popular culture

q–r

artwork

destruction by bacteria, 91,

quinine, 69

94-96

quorum sensing, 12

during Black Death, 83-84

rabies, 47

refurbishing with bacteria,

radiation conditions, bacteria in, 11

96-97

Ranalli, Giancarlo, 97

novels, bacteria in, 89-91

Rasmussen, Birger, 160

performing arts, tuberculosis and,

real-time PCR, 111

84-89

recombinant DNA, 99, 115. See also

populations, 15

cloning

positive-positive repulsion, 125

red biotechnology, 102

predation, 126-127

redundancy in genetic code, 101

preservation of food. See food

refurbishing artwork with bacteria,

production

96-97

pressurized conditions,

Reguera, Gemma, 155

bacteria in, 11

Reijo Pera, Renee, 109

pristine habitats, 138

Reinthaler, Franz, 73

Prochlorococcus marinus, 131

rennin, 36

prokaryotes, 10

reproduction of cells, 3

Propionibacterium, 26-27, 35

resistance. See antibiotic-resistant

Propionibacterium acnes, 27

bacteria

propionic acids, 152

respiration, 146

protease, 33, 91

restriction endonuclease, 5, 100

protein A, 59

Rhizobium, 33, 122-123, 132

proteins

Rhodospirillum, 137

amino acids and, 101-102

ribosomal ribonucleic acid

defined, 3

(rRNA), 22

production, 131-135

ribosomes, 9

single-cell protein, 114

Rickettsia, 58

Proterozoic Era, 130

Rickettsia prowazekii, 60

Proteus, 13, 61

Rifkin, Jeremy, 114

protozoa

“ring around the rosie” (bubonic

in cockroaches, 153

plague), 84

defined, 2

RNA (ribonucleic acid), 3

predation of bacteria, 126

rock cycle, 94

in ruminant digestive process, 151

rocks, decomposition of, 94-96

in termite digestive system,

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 88

153-154

root nodules, 132

Pryce, D. Merlin, 70

rRNA (ribosomal ribonucleic

Pseudomonas, 26-27, 95, 118, 135

acid), 22

P. aeruginosa, 63

rubber-eating bacteria, 91

P. putida, 116

ruminant animals, 28

P. stutzeri, 97

ruminant digestive process, 150-154

psychrophiles, 10

Ruminococcus, 151

pumps in bacteria, 79

rusticles, 94

pure cultures, 15, 18-19

purple sulfurs, 136

pyrite, 93

208

index

s

spontaneous generation, 47

spread plate, 167

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, 107

staining bacteria, 12, 16-17

safety concerns in biotechnology

Staphylococcus, 26-27, 69

industry, 112-116

S. aureus, 26, 59, 80

salad dressings, 36

S. epidermidis, 33

Salmonella, 29, 104, 111

Steinbeck, John, 89

S. enterica, 58

sterile areas of human body, 25

S. typhi, 38, 55-56

sterilization

salty conditions, bacteria in, 11

methods of, 170

salvarsan, 69

in World War I, 59

sanatoria for tuberculosis patients,

Stevenson, Robert Louis, 87

86-87

stomach, bacteria in, 28-30

Sargon I (ruler of Mesopotamia), 38

stoneworks, decomposition of, 94-96

saturated fats, 11, 29

Stravinsky, Igor, 87

sausages, 35

Streptococcus, 26-30, 35-36, 72, 151

sediment cycle, 94

S. mutans, 31

Selenomonas, 151

S. pyogenes, 18

sepsis, 59, 170

S. sobrinus, 31

serial dilution

streptokinase, 59

counting bacteria, 167-168

Streptomyces, 64

explained, 165-167

streptomycin, 64, 74, 76

serine, 101

strict anaerobes in digestive

sex pilus, 78

tract, 104

shape of bacteria, 8

structure of bacteria, 7, 9

shared genes, 23-24

subsurface microbiology, 142-143

Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 87

succession, 138

Shewanella, 95

Succinimonas, 152

Shigella, 29

Succinivibrio, 152

Shigella flexeri, 58

suicide genes in recombinant

siderophores, 76

DNA, 115

silicon, 136

sulfa drugs, 70

single-cell protein, 114

sulfate compounds, 136

size of bacteria, 7

sulfate reduction, 122

size-to-prey ratio, 126

sulfate-reducing bacteria, 93-94, 159

skin, bacteria on, 25, 27, 31-32

Sulfolobus, 137

Skinner, John, 113

sulfur cycle, 122, 136

Snow, John, 52-53

sulfur dioxide gas, 136

society, effect of bubonic plague on,

sulfur reduction in coal, 159

42-43

sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, 123

soil, elements of, 136

sulfur-using bacteria, 15

somatostatin, 99

surface films, 135

Soper, George, 53-57

surface tension regulation, 135

sour cream, 36

surface-to-volume ratio, 20

sourdough bread, 35

surfactants, 135

species

survival mechanisms of bacteria,

of bacteria, 21, 23

9-13, 124-128

number of, 147

swarm cells, 13-14

Spirulina, 133, 135

symbiosis, 122, 132, 153

index

209

syphilis, 38, 40

tropical regions, biodiversity in, 127

diagnosis of, 41

Trudeau, Henry Livingston, 88

Naples outbreak, 41-42

tuberculosis (TB), 38, 75-76

origins of, 40

bubonic plague versus, 86

famous victims of, 87-89

t

in novels, 89

origins of, 39-40

Taq, 110

performing arts and, 84-89

Tartars, 45

typhoid fever, 38, 53-57

Tatum, Edward, 105

typhus, 60-61

taxonomists, 21

TB. See tuberculosis

u–v

TCE (trichloroethylene), 158

temperature

unsaturated fats, 11

of body, maintaining, 29

upstream processing, 108

extremes of bacteria habitats, 10

urease, 28

for growing bacteria, 167

termites, digestive system, 153-154

vaccines, origins of, 47

terrorism, 116-117

Vaglio, Stefano, 32

testing deodorants, 32

Vampirococcus, 127

tetanus, 27

van Leeuwenhoek, Antoni, 1, 4,

tetracyclines, 64, 74

51, 84

Their Blood Is Story (Steinbeck), 89

Varian Associates, 103

thermophiles, 10

VBNC (viable but not

culturable), 128

Thermus aquaticus, 10, 110

Thiobacillus, 95, 137

Veillonella, 152

T. ferrooxidans, 137, 139, 159

Venter, J. Craig, 21, 128

T. thiooxidans, 159

versatility. See survival mechanisms

Thiocapsa, 141