BACTERIA

Bacteria are single celled microbes. The cell structure is simpler than that of other organisms as there is no nucleus or membrane bound
organelles. Instead their control centre containing the genetic information is contained in a single loop of DNA. Some bacteria have an extra
circle of genetic material called a plasmid. The plasmid often contains genes that give the bacterium some advantage over other bacteria.
For example it may contain a gene that makes the bacterium resistant to a certain antibiotic.

Bacteria are classified into five groups according to their basic shapes: spherical (cocci), rod (bacilli), spiral (spirilla), comma (vibrios) or
corkscrew (spirochaetes). They can exist as single cells, in pairs, chains or clusters.

© ttsz / iStock Different bacterial shapes.

Bacteria are found in every habitat on Earth: soil, rock, oceans and even arctic snow. Some live in or on other organisms including plants
and animals including humans. There are approximately 10 times as many bacterial cells as human cells in the human body. A lot of these
bacterial cells are found lining the digestive system. Some bacteria live in the soil or on dead plant matter where they play an important role
in the cycling of nutrients. Some types cause food spoilage and crop damage but others are incredibly useful in the production of fermented
foods such as yoghurt and soy sauce. Relatively few bacteria are parasites or pathogens that cause disease in animals and plants.
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© gaetan stoffel / iStock 3D illustration of Escherichia coli

How do bacteria reproduce?

Bacteria reproduce by binary fission. In this process the bacterium, which is a single cell, divides into two identical daughter cells. Binary
fission begins when the DNA of the bacterium divides into two (replicates). The bacterial cell then elongates and splits into two daughter
cells each with identical DNA to the parent cell. Each daughter cell is a clone of the parent cell.

When conditions are favourable such as the right temperature and nutrients are available, some bacteria like Escherichia coli can divide
every 20 minutes. This means that in just seven hours one bacterium can generate 2,097,152 bacteria. After one more hour the number of
bacteria will have risen to a colossal 16,777,216. That’s why we can quickly become ill when pathogenic microbes invade our bodies.

Survival mechanism
Some bacteria can form endospores. These are dormant structures, which are extremely resistant to hostile physical and chemical
conditions such as heat, UV radiation and disinfectants. This makes destroying them very difficult. Many endospore-producing bacteria are
nasty pathogens, for example Bacillus anthracis, the cause of anthrax.

Observing bacteria in a Petri dish

Educational resource for students: Observing bacteria cultures in a Petri dish and learning about colony morphology.

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Videos
What is antibiotic resistance?

Learn more about bacteria

Microbiology Today: Mycobacteria Building bacterial bridges

The organisms that cause tuberculosis in humans and animals,
Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis, are featured in
this edition of Microbiology Today alongside Mycobacterium leprae, the
cause of leprosy, and Mycobacterium ulcerans, which causes Buruli
ulcer.
Often, the first things that come to mind when we think about microbes
in the built environment are damage, decay, discolouration and staining
to building materials and their surfaces. What we don’t often consider is
their ability to act as ‘bioengineers’.

Tuberculosis explainer Antimicrobial resistance

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Tuberculosis (TB) is a debilitating multi-organ disease caused by the Increasing levels of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) mean that conditions
bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The most important form of the such as tuberculosis, HIV and malaria are again becoming increasingly
disease is pulmonary TB, an infection of the lungs and respiratory tract. difficult to treat.

Pseudomonas - friend and foe Streptomyces – nature’s solution to

Species within the genus Pseudomonas are amongst the most
AMR
researched bacteria in the scientific community. Bacteria in this genus
As well as being hugely important in the medical and pharmaceutical
are widely used as model organisms in microbial research, and include industries, Streptomyces also play a significant environmental role;
a range of important species in fields such as plant pathogenicity,
contributing to the decomposition of organic matter, and fertility of the
bioremediation, and environmental microbiology.
soil.

Podcasts

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Images

Microbiology Today: Mycobacteria. Science Photo Library.

Building bacterial bridges. B. Reeksting.
Tuberculosis Explainer. iStock/Dr_Microbe.
Antimicrobial resistance. digicomphoto/Thinkstock.
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Pseudomonas - friend and foe. iStock/Dr_Microbe.
Streptomyces – Nature’s Solution to AMR. Thinkstock.
Podcasts. Roger Harris/Science Photo Library.

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