Allies and Enemies: How the World Depends on Bacteria (33 page)

BSL-4 laboratories, 90

bioaugmentation, 113

bubonic plague, 38, 40

biodiversity

artwork during Black Death, 83-84

importance of, 139

history of, 42-43

in tropical regions, 127

“ring around the rosie,” 84

biofilms, 13, 15, 92-93, 96, 124

tuberculosis versus, 86

biogeochemical cycles, 92, 94, 121

Buffett, Warren, 112

bioleaching, 159

butter, 36

biological containment of GMOs,

buttermilk, 36

115-116

butyric acids, 152

bioremediation, 113, 127, 155,

Butyrivibrio, 151

158-159

Biosafety Level 4 laboratories, 90

c

biotechnology industry

cloning, 106-109

C. vibrio, 53

color codes, 102

Cairns, John, 63

commercial applications, 112-116

Cambrian Era, 130

E. coli research, 103-105

Cambrian Explosion, 146-147

energy production from

Campylobacter, 29

bacteria, 155

Cano, Raúl, 37

environmental concerns, 114-116

carbolic acid, 60

origins of, 99-103

carbon cycle, 33

PCR (polymerase chain reaction),

carbon dioxide, reducing, 150

109-111

carbon monoxide dehydrogenase

pollution cleanup, 155, 158-159

(CMD), 150

safety concerns, 112-116

Carboxydothermus

white biotechnology, 117, 119

hydrogenoformans, 150

bioweapons, 116-117

cassettes, 74

Black Bane, 40

cause of disease, determining, 17-18

Black Death. See bubonic plague

cave paintings, decomposition of, 95

black smokers, 10

cave-dwelling bacteria, 160

blooms, 129, 140-141

200

index

cell size as survival mechanism, 124

coagulase, 59

cell wall, protection provided by, 11

coal

cells

origins of, 148

defined, 2

sulfur reduction in, 159

eukaryotes, 3

cockroaches, digestive system, 153

origin of term, 51

codons, 101-102

cellular genetics, 4

Cohen, Stanley, 99

cellulase, 33, 153

cold conditions, bacteria in, 10

Cellulomonas, 33

coleslaw mixes, 36

Central Vermont Public Service, 154

colicin, 64

cephalothin, 64

colony-forming units (CFUs), 167

CFUs (colony-forming units), 167

color codes for biotechnology

Chain, Ernst, 71-72

industry, 102

chalcopyrite, 159

Columbus, Christopher, 41-42

Chalke, H. D., 88

combining antibiotics, 74

chance mutations, 63

commensalism, 122

Charles II (king of England), 69

commercial applications from

Charles VIII (king of France), 41

biotechnology industry, 112-116

cheese, 36

communities

Chekhov, Anton, 87

bacterial communities, 12-16

chemical containment of GMOs, 115

ecosystem communities, 162

chemical industry, 102-103

competent cells, 107

advantages of bacteria over,

Compound 606, 69

117-119

concrete, decomposition of, 94-96

chemolithotrophs, 150

conjugation, 78

Chichen-Itza ruins, 96

consumption. See tuberculosis (TB)

chloramphenicol, 64, 74

consumption rate of oil, 148

Chlorobium, 137, 141

control processes for

cholera, 38, 47, 52-53, 89

ecosystems, 139

Chopin, Frédéric, 87

copper, decomposition of, 93

chromatin, 100

Corynebacterium, 26-27

Chromatium, 137, 141

Corynebacterium diphtheria, 38

chromosomes, 100

cottage cheese, 35

chymosin, 36

counting bacteria, 167-169

classification systems for bacteria,

cows, digestive system, 151-153

20-25

Crichton, Michael, 90-91, 110

clean coal, 159

Crick, Francis, 4, 100

cleaning artwork with bacteria,

crude oil, origins of, 147

96-97

cyanobacteria, 15, 96, 128-131

climate change. See global warming

as direct protein source, 133, 135

clindamycin, 74

origins of, 145

cloning, 106-109

in succession, 138

Clostridium, 27, 29, 37, 71, 95, 137,

cyanobacterial blooms, 140-141

149, 151

cyanotoxins, 140

C. pasterianum, 123

cytochromes, 155

C. perfringens, 27, 59

Cytophaga, 123

C. tetani, 27

cytoplasm, 7

clouds, formation of, 33

cytosine, 100

CMD (carbon monoxide

dehydrogenase), 150

index

201

d

Domain Eukarya, 3

dormancy state of bacteria, 36-37

d’Herelle, Felix, 60, 77

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, 87

dairy products, 36

downsizing as survival

Dance of Death, 44

mechanism, 124

Death in Venice (Mann), 89

downstream processing, 108

The Deep Hot Biosphere (Gold), 142

Drosophila fruit flies, 100

Deinococcus, 11

Duchesne, Ernest, 68

dental caries, 31

DuPont Company, 103

deodorants, testing, 32

Dyer, Betsey Dexter, 35, 131

deoxyribose, 100

dysentery, 60, 104

destruction of artwork by bacteria,

91, 94-96

e

Desulfobacter, 159

Desulfococcus, 159

E. coli, 10, 29-30, 63-64, 68, 73, 99,

Desulfovibrio, 94-95, 137, 159

102, 150, 152

Desulfovibrio vulgaris, 97

cloning, 106-109

Desulfuromonas, 137

research on, 103-105

diarrhea, antidiarrhea

suicide genes, 115

treatments, 105

eccrine sweat glands, 31

diatoms, 8

ecology, bacteria and, 32, 34.
See

Dickens, Charles, 89

also microbial ecology

digestion of food, 28

ecosystems, 15, 162

digestive process of ruminants,

bacteria in, 5

150-154

development, 135-138

digestive tract

maintenance, 138-139, 141

bacteria in, 28-30

edges (of ecosystem

strict anaerobes in, 104

communities), 162

dilution effect, 117

Edward VI (king of England), 88

dimethyl sulfide gas, 33

Ehrlich, Paul, 69

diphtheria, 38

electrical charges for adherence, 125

direct protein sources, 133, 135

electron microscopy, 4

discovery of antibiotics, pace of, 103

elemental sulfur, 136

disease causes, determining, 17-18

endospores, 9, 37, 116-117

disinfectant resistance, 79

energy production from bacteria,

diversity

154-155

of bacteria, 124-128

enrichment medium, 122

of microbes, 21

Enterococcus, 30

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), 3, 8

environmental concerns in

in bacterial evolution, 145

biotechnology industry, 114-116

recombinant DNA, 99

environmental microbiology. See

structure of, 100, 102

microbial ecology

DNA amplification, 109-111

Environmental Protection Agency

DNA packing, 100

(EPA), 113

DNA transfer between bacteria,

environmental relationship of

77-78

bacteria, 32, 34

Dolly (sheep), 109

enzymes, multiple functions of, 127

Domagk, Gerhard, 70

EPA (Environmental Protection

Domain Archaea, 4

Agency), 113

Domain Bacteria, 4

epidemiology, origins of, 52-53

202

index

erythromycin, 64, 74

fossil fuels

Escherichia coli, 10, 29-30, 63-64,

hydrogen production as alternative

68, 73, 99, 102, 150, 152

to, 149-150

cloning, 106-109

origins of, 147-148

research on, 103-105

fossils of cyanobacteria, 130

suicide genes, 115

Foster, Stephen, 87

esophagus, bacteria in, 28-30

fouling, 157

Eubacterium, 29, 151

Francisella tularensis, 7

eukaryotes, 3, 10

Frankia, 95

chromosomes in, 100

Franklin, Rosalind, 4

gene transfer in, 77

Freeze, Hudson, 110

in ruminant digestive process, 151

fruiting body, 127

eutrophication, 140

Fulton, John, 72

evolution, 145-147

fungi, 95-96

extraterrestrial bacteria, 160-162

fusion protein, 79

extremophiles, 5, 10-11

Fusobacterium, 29

Exxon Valdez oil spill, 113

g

f

Gallionella, 137

factory farming, 66

gallium, 76

facultative anaerobes, 29, 104

gangrene, 27, 59, 71

fastidious anaerobes, 170

García Márquez, Gabriel, 89

fastidious sulfate-reducing

gef gene, 116

bacteria, 122

gelatin in pure cultures, 19

favorable mutations. See traits

gene splicing. See bacterial cloning

fecal bacteria, prevalence of, 30

gene therapy, 77

feedback mechanisms, 140

gene transfer between bacteria,

fermentation

77-78

of olives, 35

Genentech, 99, 108

Pasteur’s studies of, 46

genes, components of, 100, 102

Ferribacterium, 137

genetic code, 101-102

fiction, bacteria in, 89-91

genetic engineering, 99.
See also

filaments, 95

biotechnology industry