1、有些大的微生物可以用肉眼看到
2、Woese在1990年提出的三域学说，分为Bacteria细菌域，Archaea古菌域，Eukarya真核生物域。通过原核生物的16s rRNA和真核生物的18s rRNA进行测序。
3、微生物的内容涵盖了细菌域，古菌域以及部分真核生物域。当然，病毒也属于微生物。
4、微生物的作用：
最古老的生命形式；拥有着地球上最大的生物量；承担着生物地球化学循环的主要过程；可生活在不适合其他生物生存的极端环境中；其它生命形式需要微生物生存。
5、微生物群落microbial communities：微生物在自然界以相互作用的群体存在。
6、栖息地habitat：微生物种群生活的环境
7、生态系统：是指所有生物及其环境的物理和化学成分。
8、微生物生态学：对自然环境中微生物的研究
9、The First Cells：Last universal common ancestor (LUCA)
10、微生物与农业：Many aspects of agriculture depend on microbial activities.
积极影响：固氮菌、瘤胃中降解纤维素的微生物、土壤和水中营养物质的再生
消极影响：在动植物中造成疾病
11、微生物与食物：
积极影响：Microbial transformations：酒、腌制品、醋酸等(food products)
消极影响：食物的变质(Food spoilage)
12、微生物与能源环境：biofuels production生物能源、bioremediation环境的生物修复
biofuels production：Methane, ethanol, hydrogen；Natural gas；an ethahol plant
13、微生物与基因资源/生物技术：
Antibiotics抗生素, enzymes, and various chemicals；genetically modified organisms、production of pharmaceuticals制药(insulin and other human proteins)；Gene therapy for certain diseases
14、Robert Hooke (1635- 1703): the first to describe microbes
罗伯特·虎克：第一个发现微生物，只不过他发现的是真菌
15、Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723): the first to describe bacteria
列文虎克：第一个发现细菌
16、Robert Hooke 罗伯特虎克(1635-1703): the first to describe microbes
Ferdinand Cohn科恩 (1828-1898): founded the field of bacterial classification and discovered bacterial endospores细菌分类创始，发现细菌的芽孢
17、Louis Pasteur巴斯德(1822–1895)：
(1)Discovered that living organisms discriminate between optical isomers光学同分异构体发现
(2)Discovered that alcoholic fermentation was a biologically mediated process (originally thought to be purely chemical)酒精发酵是一个生物调节的过程
(3)Disproved theory of spontaneous generation反驳自然发生说
(4)Led to the development of methods for controlling the growth of microorganisms (aseptic technique)控制微生物生长（无菌技术），巴氏消毒pasteurization
(5)Developed vaccines for anthrax, fowl cholera, and rabies炭疽、霍乱、狂犬病疫苗
18、亚里士多德最先提出自然发生说。
19、Francesco Redi弗朗切斯科·雷迪 - Experiments on Flies
First to formally正式地 challenge the accepted belief of spontaneous generation
20、Anthony van Leuwenhoek列文虎克: “Animalcules”微小动物/微生物，首次描述细菌和原生动物
21、John Needham李约瑟’s Hypothesis: Spontaneous generation.
22、Lazzaro Spallazani斯帕拉捷’s Hypothesis: Microbes come from the air. Boiling will kill them.
23、John Snow : Investigation of Cholera
24、Louis Pasteur巴斯德:Swan- Necked Flask experiment鹅颈瓶实验
25、Robert Koch (1843–1910):科赫法则（Koch’s Postulates，demonstrated the link between microbes and infectious diseases）和纯培养方法（obtaining pure cultures of microbes）;琼脂（agar）的发现
26、Gram Stain：革兰氏染色法
27、Alexander Fleming亚历山大·弗莱明：发现第一个抗生素，青霉素
28、Edward Jenner：用cowpox牛痘和smallpox天花制作了第一个vaccine疫苗
29、
- Microbes were the first life on Earth
- Microbes created the biosphere that allowed multicellular organisms to evolve
- Multicellular organisms evolved from microbes
- >50% of the biomass on earth is comprised of microbes
- Microbes are everywhere
- Microbes will be on Earth forever
- Our understanding of life has arisen largely from studies of microorganisms (biochemistry and genetics)
- Studies of microorganisms continue to contribute to fundamental knowledge of life processes
- We still know very little about the microorganisms that are present on Earth
30、Eukaryotic cells contain an assortment of membrane-enclosed cytoplasmic structures called organelles，细胞器（the DNA-containing nucleus but also mitochondria and chloroplasts）
原核生物typically lack organelles。
