Bacteria

Introduction

• Bacteria normally comprises a large number of prokaryotic microorganisms.
• Bacteria most probably were among the first life that formed to appear on the Earth.
• Bacteria belong to Monera kingdom.

• Bacteria usually inhabit in all range of environments, such as soil, water, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, and the deep portions of Earth’s crust.
• The study of bacteria is known as bacteriology.
• Bacteria play an important role in many stages of the nutrient cycle by recycling nutrients including the fixation of nitrogen from the atmosphere.
• Bacteria grow to a fixed size and after maturity reproduce through asexual reproduction i.e. basically binary fission.
• Under favorable conditions, bacteria can grow and divide very swiftly, and the bacterial populations can double merely in every 9.8 minutes.
• When viruses that infect bacteria is known as Bacteriophages.
• In order to modify themselves (to survive in the adverse environment), Bacteria frequently secrete chemicals into their environment.

Advantages of Bacteria

• Bacteria are advantageous in many ways, such as −
  • Bacteria help in atmospheric nitrogen fixation.
  • Bacteria decompose dead plants and animals and clean the environment.
  • Bacteria are the major element that convert milk into curd and wine into vinegar.
  • Some specific types of bacteria are used in making proteins.
  • Some types of bacteria are also used as pesticides.

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Disadvantages of Bacteria

• Bacteria cause many diseases and infection to living organisms.

Bacterial Diseases

• Bacteria cause many diseases, significant of them are −
  • Anthrax – caused by Bacillus anthracis
  • Brucellosis – caused by Brucella abortus
  • Botulism – caused by Clostridium botulinum
  • Coliform diseases – caused by Escherichia coli
  • Leprosy – caused by Mycobacterium leprae
  • Plague – caused by Yersinia pestis
  • Typhoid fever – caused by Salmonella typhi
  • Trachoma – caused by Chlamydia trachomatis
  • Diphtheria – caused by Corynebacterium diphtheria
  • Tetanus – caused by Clostridium tetani
  • Tuberculosis – caused by Mycobacterium bovis
  • Cholera – caused by Vibrio cholera
  • Syphilis – caused by Treponema pallidum
  • Whooping cough – caused by Bordetella pertussis
  • Gonrhoea – caused by Gonococcus
  • Potato wilt – caused by Pseudomonas solanacearum
  • Blight of rice – caused by Xanthomonas orzae
  • Fire blight of apple – caused by Invenia