This article illustrate all-around information on “are bacteria microorganisms” with 3 facts in detail
Microorganisms are living, and microscopic, they can only be viewed with the aid of a microscope, single-celled, and ubiquitous throughout the world that plays a vital role in maintaining and supporting nature and life. There are Bacteria, Viruses, Fungi, Protists, Protozoa, etc all come under the category of microorganisms.
Now take look this three facts in a brief:
How are bacteria microorganisms?
Bacteria come in the category of microorganisms because they are single-celled, constitute a large domain of prokaryotic and free-living organisms, ubiquitous, and microscopic that can live in soil, inside the human gut, and ocean and can thrive in a diverse environment.
The bacteria are simple due to their common cell structure compared to other organisms. The bacteria are mostly 0.5 to 5 micrometers in length. They are found or live in every possible habitat like on earth: rock, ocean, soil, and many more. According to their basic shape, they exist as single cells, in chains, in pairs, or in clusters. They are also classified into different groups based on their size and shape like a rod, Vibrio, spirilla, cocci, and Bacilli.
The cell of bacteria is generally surrounded by the inner cell membrane and outer cell wall, some of the bacteria also contain a capsule-third outermost protective layer,pilli, and flagella .such kind of extra membrane help to act as a barrier and encloses the content of the cell withhold essential components of the cytoplasm, proteins, and nutrients.
They also contain all the genetic material in the form of nucleoids for development and function.Examples of Bacteria as microorganisms are Listeria monocytogenes, Streptococcus pyrogens, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Thiobacillus Novellus, Clostridium kluyveri, and many more.
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Are all bacteria microorganisms?
Yes, all bacteria are microorganisms but not all microorganisms are bacteria.
The bacteria have some kind of important feature that make them microorganisms. The first is microscopic and has a relatively fast rate of evolution, they also can make up the microbiota that is found on or in all multicellular organisms. They can grow aerobically and some are anaerobic, facultative anaerobes, they can grow rapidly and the numbers can double quickly every 20 min.
Bacteria have a fast rate of evolution because they can reproduce rapidly by budding or binary fission and also exchange their gene among species via different mechanisms of gene transfer including the most common being Conjugation, transduction, and transformation.
Some bacteria are Extremophiles or thermophiles which can tolerate extreme temperature conditions, some are mesophiles, halophiles, acidophiles, or alkaliphiles, etc means such kinds of bacteria can survive in extreme salt, alkali condition, at low pH, or cold temperatures. Such kind of organisms are also one kind of bacteria the difference among them is due to their morphological differences and tolerance nature.
How are bacteria different from each other?
The bacteria are differed among them based on morphology, spore, mode of nutrition, and physical factors like pH, temperature, and salt concentration, Based on the size, shape, numbers, and types, or we can distinguish them via different traditional, modern, biochemical tests and gram staining.
Based on nutrition, the bacteria can be Autotrophs which use carbon as a source for making their food and they are also divided into other subtypes like chemoautotrophs and photoautotrophs another is Chemotrophs which use chemical compounds as a source for gain energy for their growth and they also has subtypes named chemolithotrophs and chemo organotroph,another is Heterotrophs that is an organic compound as a carbon source and require special nutrition for growth.
Based on gaseous requirements, the bacteria are different from each other like some are obligate aerobes that require oxygen. Some examples are the Bacillus species and Mycobacterium. Some bacteria are obligate anaerobes that grow in very low oxygen concentrations. The most common example is Campylobacter. Another is Facultative anaerobes who do not require oxygen at all the example is Salmonella, Klebsiella, and many more.
Based on morphology, some bacteria are rod-shaped also known as Bacilli. An example of such a type of bacteria is Bacillus subtilis also known as a streotobacilli due to its containing chain or rod-shaped, another is Vibrio cholera having a comma-shaped, Corynebacterium diphtheria has Chinese letter shaped.
The bacteria are also classified into Coccus means it has oval or spherical shapes, for example, Staphylococcus Aureus has coccus in the bunch, and Streptococcus which possesses coccus in the chain, Diplococcus means they all are in pair like Pneumococcus, Neisseria and gonorrhea, Tetrad.
Some other bacteria are spirochaetes, and Actinomycetes and some are cell walls lacking bacteria known as mycoplasma.The Spiral shaped bacteria is around 5 to 8micrometer in length and they contain whiplike flagella at their end.The Vibrio-shaped bacteria is around 1.5 to 3 micrometer in long and they are always facultative anaerobic and possess flagella at one end.The most common example of such bacteria is V.parahaemolyticus.
Image from Wikipedia
Based on Gram staining, some bacteria identify as gram-positive and some are gram-negative. The cell wall of gram-positive bacteria has a layer of peptidoglycan, for example, Streptococcus, Micrococcus, and staphylococcus while some bacteria contain an extra outer membrane with a layer of peptidoglycan which refers to a gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli and salmonella.
Based on the flagella and their movement, bacteria are also classified into different types Monotrichous type of bacteria contain one flagellum at the end of the pole, Lophotrichous that contain a bunch of flagella at one pole, Amphitrichous type of bacteria in which at two opposite poles having a bunch of flagella, Petrichous type of bacteria have flagella on the surface of the cell wall, and Atrichous type of bacteria doesn’t possess any flagella.
The bacteria are also categorized based on the type of spore, they can be endospores such as clostridium or bacillus spp. or exospores like methylosinus and non-sporing bacteria include salmonella or Escherichia coli.
Image from Wikipedia
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Hello, I am Bhairavi Rathod, I have completed my Master’s in Biotechnology and qualified ICAR NET 2021 in Agricultural Biotechnology. My area of specialization is Integrated Biotechnology. I have the experience to teach and write very complex things in a simple way for learners.