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Bacteria (: Listen

Bacteria are a type of single-celled microorganism that were some of the first life forms on Earth. They exist virtually everywhere and play important roles in ecosystems and human bodies. While most bacteria are harmless or beneficial, some can cause infectious diseases. Bacteria come in various shapes and sizes and have significant impacts through processes like nutrient cycling and relationships with other organisms.

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50 views2 pages

Bacteria (: Listen

Bacteria are a type of single-celled microorganism that were some of the first life forms on Earth. They exist virtually everywhere and play important roles in ecosystems and human bodies. While most bacteria are harmless or beneficial, some can cause infectious diseases. Bacteria come in various shapes and sizes and have significant impacts through processes like nutrient cycling and relationships with other organisms.

Uploaded by

Peng Kwan
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Bacteria (/bækˈtɪəriə/ ( listen); common noun bacteria, singular bacterium) are a type

of biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically


a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a number of shapes, ranging from spheres to
rods and spirals. Bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are
present in most of its habitats. Bacteria inhabit soil, water, acidic hot springs, radioactive
waste,[4] and the deep portions of Earth's crust. Bacteria also live in symbiotic and
parasitic relationships with plants and animals. Most bacteria have not been
characterised, and only about 27 percent of the bacterial phyla have species that can be
grown in the laboratory (specifically unculturable phyla, known as candidate phyla, make
up 103 out of approximately 142 known phyla). [5] The study of bacteria is known as
bacteriology, a branch of microbiology.

Virtually all animal life on earth is dependent on bacteria for their survival as only bacteria
and some archea possess the genes and enzymes necessary to synthesize vitamin B12,
also known as cobalamin, and provide it through the food chain. Vitamin B12 is a water-
soluble vitamin that is involved in the metabolism of every cell of the human body. It is a
cofactor in DNA synthesis, and in both fatty acid and amino acid metabolism, It is
particularly important in the normal functioning of the nervous system via its role in the
synthesis of myelin.[6][7][8][9]

There are typically 40 million bacterial cells in a gram of soil and a million bacterial cells
in a millilitre of fresh water. There are approximately 5×1030 bacteria on Earth,[10] forming a
biomass which exceeds that of all plants and animals.[11] Bacteria are vital in many stages
of the nutrient cycle by recycling nutrients such as the fixation of nitrogen from the
atmosphere. The nutrient cycle includes the decomposition of dead bodies; bacteria are
responsible for the putrefaction stage in this process.[12] In the biological communities
surrounding hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, extremophile bacteria provide the
nutrients needed to sustain life by converting dissolved compounds, such as hydrogen
sulphide and methane, to energy. Data reported by researchers in October 2012 and
published in March 2013 suggested that bacteria thrive in the Mariana Trench, which,
with a depth of up to 11 kilometres, is the deepest known part of the oceans.[13][14] Other
researchers reported related studies that microbes thrive inside rocks up to 580 metres
below the sea floor under 2.6 kilometres of ocean off the coast of the northwestern
United States.[13][15] According to one of the researchers, "You can find microbes
everywhere—they're extremely adaptable to conditions, and survive wherever they
are."[13]

The famous notion that bacterial cells in the human body outnumber human cells by a
factor of 10:1 has been debunked. There are approximately 39 trillion bacterial cells in
the human microbiota as personified by a "reference" 70 kg male 170 cm tall, whereas
there are 30 trillion human cells in the body. This means that although they do have the
upper hand in actual numbers, it is only by 30%, and not 900%.[16]

The largest number exist in the gut flora, and a large number on the skin.[17] The vast
majority of the bacteria in the body are rendered harmless by the protective effects of the
immune system, though many are beneficial, particularly in the gut flora. However,
several species of bacteria are pathogenic and cause infectious diseases, including
cholera, syphilis, anthrax, leprosy, and bubonic plague. The most common fatal bacterial
diseases are respiratory infections, with tuberculosis alone killing about 2 million people
per year, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.[18] In developed countries, antibiotics are used to
treat bacterial infections and are also used in farming, making antibiotic resistance a
growing problem. In industry, bacteria are important in sewage treatment and the
breakdown of oil spills, the production of cheese and yogurt through fermentation, the
recovery of gold, palladium, copper and other metals in the mining sector,[19] as well as in
biotechnology, and the manufacture of antibiotics and other chemicals.[20]

Once regarded as plants constituting the class Schizomycetes, bacteria are now
classified as prokaryotes. Unlike cells of animals and other eukaryotes, bacterial cells do
not contain a nucleus and rarely harbour membrane-bound organelles. Although the term
bacteria traditionally included all prokaryotes, the scientific classification changed after
the discovery in the 1990s that prokaryotes consist of two very different groups of
organisms that evolved from an ancient common ancestor. These evolutionary domains
are called Bacteria and Archaea.[

From wikipedia

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