World of Microbiology

Typhoid Mary: Carrier of Salmonella typhi In 1869 girl named Mary Mallon born in Ireland. Mary emigrated to US in 1884, started working as a domestic help to the wealthy families and later became a cook. Mary was a healthy carrier of Salmonella typhi bacteria which is responsible for typhoid fever and killed many people unknowingly, later she stigmatized as 'Typhoid Mary'. Before going to further details about 'typhoid Mary' first know what is typhoid fever. What is Typhoid fever Typhoid fever is a serious enteric fever caused by bacterium,  Salmonella enterica, serovar typhi   also known as  Salmonella typhi . It is a gram negative, unicellular, motile (flagella present all around the cell),  facultative aerobes and non spore forming bacterium belongs to Enterobacteriaceae family. Salmonella typhi under scanning electronic microscope Salmonella typhi once enter into the body through mouth reach to intestinal cells and infect t...

Salt lakes/Soda lakes Definition Salt lakes are naturally occurring highly alkaline aquatic bodies, widely spread throughout the world. Salt lakes are ecosystem with extremely high pH (up to 11) and salinity (up to saturation) due to the presence of high concentrations of sodium carbonate. Salt lakes, located in Kenya and Tanzania (Bogoria, Magadi, Natron), in Egypt (Wadi Natrun), and California (Mono Lake) are good example of typical salt lakes. Another area abundant in saline alkaline lakes is Central Asia (south Siberia and north-east China). Here the lakes are much smaller, more shallow, and water regimen is unstable due to freezing winter period which cause fluctuations of the water salinity and temperature. There are so many salt lakes and salt deserts around the world. Some of them are listed below.           source:  https://d-nb.info/968508480/34 Formation of Salt Lakes One of the theory suggest that rocks...

Sometime during our studies we come across many terms and words which we do not remember or we are not familiar with. In that situation either we consult a dictionary or google the word. So I thought about to make a series which give general overview of microbiology related terms. I am trying to provide as much as possible. So today the word is Actinomycetes. Definition Actinomycetes also called as Actinobacteria are unicellular, gram positive, rod shaped, spore forming, and facultative anaerobic bacteria. They don’t have true cell wall like bacteria and can produce mycelium like fungi and because of this noted ability, actinomycetes also known as connected link between bacteria and fungi. Discovery The term actinomycetes means “ray fungus” in Greek.  It is first discovered by Ferdinand Cohn in 1875 from human lacrimal duct and named it  Streptothrix foersteri . In 1878, C.O. Harz named an organism that he isolated from a case of bovine lumpy jaw, as...

Sometime during our studies we come across many terms and words we do not remember or we don't have an idea about. In that case we have to consult a dictionary or have to google the word.So here I am to give  general overview of terms related to microbiology as much as possible. In coming days I will write detailed work and new research findings about the topic. So today the word is actin.   Definition A cellular protein that give important contribution in muscle and cell contraction in connection with myosin protein is called actin. Properties Actin protein is a monomeric subunit of microfilament which is one of the major component of cytoskeleton and it is also a part of contractile apparatus of muscle cell. Mass: 47 kDa Diameter: 4-7nm Forms G-actin:- It is a monomeric globular protein. F-actin : - It is a polymeric fibrous actin. Presence Most abundant protein in eukaryotic cells. Actin present in cytoplasm of cel...