Question

I'm going to be in a microbiology class soon, and I was wondering how much biology/chemistry knowledge is prerequisite of the typical course...

Answer 1

any comments will be appreciated... thanks!

Answer 2

It depends on what your teacher will focus on. If they are big into bacterial genetics than it would be very helpful to know the big differences in bacteria. Though lots of micro classes do cover microscopic Eukaryotes. As for chem, and understanding of REDOX reactions and acid/base chemistry is very helpful.

Answer 3

I suggest learning a little bit of the common greek/latin roots used in biology as this will aid you tremendously in memorizing the names of different bacterium. For instance, Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the yeast that turns sugar into beer! Perhaps you've heard of people call beer "cerveza" in spanish... Well the name comes from this as it is a latin-based language. Saccharin is sugar, which is the other part of the name.

So although not exactly what you were looking for, anytime you see a latin name you should look up the root words and before you know it you should be better at recognizing and memorizing what's what rather than just straight memorization of something that seems entirely obscure and soon forget.

Answer 4

It definitely helps to have both in your background. I would recommend learning some basic terminology for both subjects!

Answer 5

There is a book on botanical latin that is great at explaining the meaning of words. It is expensive so I would not recommend buying it unless you are going to go for a masters or PhD in a biology field. But, I am sure you can find similar resources online. I think that the Missouri Botanical Garden website has pages on this topic.