Definition of
Bacterium
The word bacterium comes from a Greek term meaning “walking stick”. It’s about a prokaryotic unicellular microorganism that can cause diseasesfermentation or putrefaction in living beings or organic matter.
Because they are prokaryotic cells, they lack a nucleus or internal organelles. On the other hand, although the term comes from rod, bacteria can be shaped like bar, sphere either propeller.
- Classification of bacteria according to their shape
- Other types
- beneficial bacteria
- Scientific study
- Related Topics Tree
Classification of bacteria according to their shape
Bacteria can be classified into various groups based on different criteria. Thus, for example, if we start from what its form is, we find that there are four clearly defined types:
bacilli. They are the bacteria that are defined by being elongated and because they can be curved or straight. In the same way, it is necessary to underline the fact that they may or may not have flagella.
Leptothrix. Large are those that are framed under this denomination and have as their main hallmark that they can present filaments called partitions.
spirilla. In this case, under said category are included bacteria that have a helical curved appearance.
coconuts. The bacteria that receive this name are those that have a rounded shape and have the possibility that they can appear isolated, in pairs or in the form of a clustered chain.
It can serve you: Oblique line
Other types
In addition to all of the above, we must also underline the fact that bacteria can also be classified based on what their respiration is. In this case, we could make two large groups: the aerobicwhich are the ones that make use of oxygen, and the anaerobicwhich do not use that but other elements such as carbonate, for example.
Third, we can determine that bacteria can be equally classified taking into account what their growth needs are. A fact that would lead to find two types of bacteria: the heterotrophic (parasitic, putrefactive, symbiotic…) and the autotrophs (photosynthesizing, chemosynthesizing…).
Bacteria can live in any habitat; some species even survive in outer space. These characteristics make bacteria the most abundant organism in the world: 40 million bacterial cells can coexist in just one gram of land.
See also: Gill breathing
beneficial bacteria
The human body harbors about ten bacterial cells for every human cell. The immune system allows most bacteria to be harmless or even beneficial (they help digestion, for example). However, certain bacteria can cause serious diseases such as tuberculosisthe leprosy and the anger.
Bacteria help in the production of cheese, butter, and yogurt, play important roles in the manufacture of certain medicines, and help treat wastewater. They are also used for leather tanning and tobacco curing.
Continue on: Fresh cheese
Scientific study
The discipline responsible for the study of bacteria is known as bacteriology. It is a branch of the microbiologythe science dedicated to studying microorganisms. Bacteriology and microbiology belong to the field of biology.
These scientific fields have advanced thanks to technological advances, although it is estimated that we know only 1% of the microbes in the biosphere.
See also: Organization levels