Microbiology

Basic Information

Microbiology is the science of studying organisms too tiny to be seen with the naked eye; usually single-celled, cell colonies or ones lacking the usual cell structure.

The basic divisions of life (and therefore of microbiology) are as follows:

• Prokaria (organisms without complex substructures in their cells - always single celled)
  • Bacteria
  • Archaea (similar to bacteria but with some aspects similar to those found in Eukaria)
• Eukaria (organisms with complex substructures)
  • Protista (single celled eukaryotes)
    • Protozoa ("animal like" protists) - e.g. amoebae
    • Protophyta ("plant like" protists) - e.g. unicellular algae
  • Metista (multi-celled eukaryotes)
    • Animals
    • Plants

- although some or all of these terms may be in dispute at any point as the field of taxonomy continues to mutate.

More controversially, microbiology may also include:

• Viruses (arguably not alive) - little more than packaged genetic information designed to hijack other cells.
• Prions (even less alive than viruses) - mutant proteins which can reproduce after a fashion by deforming natural proteins created by living organisms.

Microbes in general are the key tools of the fields of biotechnology and biochemical engineering - even those areas old enough not to be commonly considered to belong to them.

Historically, microbes were also known as animaculae (little animals).

[This article is a placeholder stub; more can be said on the subject]

See Also

• Bacteria
• Microscope
• Virus

Sources

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia article: Microbiology

Game and Story Use

• Microbiologists are one of the standard NPCs (or even PCs) to have around for certain plots.