'Bacteria & History and ecology\r'

'The word ‘ bacterium’ is norm altogethery associated with disease-causing organisms, like the Streptococcus bacterium. While thither argon a consider qualified number of infective bacteria that ar notorious for such(prenominal) diseases as cholera, tuberculosis, and gonorrhea, such disease-causing species argon a comparatively small fraction of the bacteria as a whole. thither are approximately five nonillion (5? 1030) bacteria in the world. bacteria are so wide fan out that it is come-at-able only to make the most general statements near their life history and ecology (Berkeley Free Clinic, 1).There are bacteria that plays important billet in the spheric ecosystem. They may be found on the exceed of mountains, the bottom of the deepest oceans, in the guts of animals, and even in the frozen rocks and ice of Antarctica. One feature that has enabled them to spread so far, and last so capacious is their superpower to go dormant for an extended period. There are specific methods in order to study and find out bacteria because they are not visible to the defenceless eye. Even with the use of microscope they are very difficult to spot without adding some stains that would render them visible.DETAILS Properties bacterium are prokaryotic (no membrane-en reasond nucleus) that do not contain mitochondria or chloroplasts. They kick in single chromosome that are composed of close circle of double-stranded DNA with no associated hist mavinnesss. If flagella are present, they are made of a single filament of the protein flagellin; there are none of the â€Å"9+2” tubulin-containing microtubules of the eukaryotes (Users. rcn. com, 1). Their ribosomes intromit issue from those of the eukaryotes. bacteria lease a rigid stall wall made of peptidogly canful that allows them to survive at long periods of time.They do not action mitosis and mostly disgorge through a knowledgeable reproduction. Any form of sexual reproduction varies diffe rently from the eukaryotes because they do not perform meiosis. The plasma membrane is a phospholipid bilayer but contains no cholesterol or some separate steroids (Users. rcn. com, 1). close to of bacteria form a single spore when their food communicate runs low. This is the reason why pathogenic bacteria run infectious at the later part of the attack. Most of the water is removed from the spore and metabolism ceases.Spores are so resistant to adverse conditions of dryness and temperature that they may last out viable even after 50 age of dormancy (Users. rcn. com, 1). Environmental and Nutritive Requirements Most bacteria can be classified according to their receipt to oxygen. These are consist of three distinct group, aerophilous bacteria which thrives in the presence of oxygen, Anaerobic which cannot leap out gaseous oxygen, and facultative anaerobes which prefer growing in the presence of oxygen but are able to survive without it. Aerobic bacteria require oxygen for t heir continued growth and existence.On the other hand anaerobic cannot survive in the presence of gaseous oxygen. These bacteria live in deep underwater sediments, or in oxygen deprived surround such as those that cause bacterial food poisoning. Bacteria also differ in the mode and germ of their nil. There are Heterotrophs that derive energy from prisonbreak down complex organic compounds that they must take in from the environment. This includes saprobic bacteria found in decaying material, as well as those that rely on fermentation or respiration.The other group, the autotrophs, fix speed of light dioxide to make their own food source; this may be fueled by light energy (photoautotrophic), or by oxidation of nitrogen, sulfur, or other elements (chemoautotrophic) (Berkeley Free Clinic, 2). Chemoautotrophs are uncommon while photoautotrophs are more common and quite diverse. One ill-tempered bacteria offers a very interesting way because they use atomic number 1 sulfide as hydrogen donor, instead of water like most other photosynthetic organisms, including cyanobacteria.There are green sulfur bacteria and purple sulfur bacteria, Other Bacteria include the cyanobacteria, and purple nonsulfur bacteria. Role in the Global Ecosystem Bacteria play a very important role in maintaining the balance of our ecosystem. Through their ceaseless labor, they hertz nutrients such as carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. For example without bacteria to dissect rotten objects, our CO2 would have been depleted and all our plants would have ceased to exist. The process of decomposition releases nutrients back into the environment for plants and other living organisms.Bacteria also cycle nitrogen in the soil. Nitrogen is important for plants health and growth. Without these cycle processes all our plants would die and then humanity would have ran out of food. gibibyte Stain Bacteria happens to have a refractive index similar to water, indeed they are very difficult to spot fr om an aqueous sample. To solve this problem, biological stains are added so that microorganisms can be visualized. Stains are classified as both simple or differential.Simple stains impart the same coloration to all structures whereas differential stains contain more than one dye and impart different colors to heterogeneous structures(Delost, 39). One very important method is the gram Stain, which was first introduced by Hans Christian Gram in the late 1800s. It has been modified and adjusted numerous times. The Gram stain will differentiate gram-positive bacteria from gram-negative bacteria (Delost, 39). Gram stain is one form of a differential stain that is wide even in the methods.It consists of several reagents such as crystal violet, Gram’s iodine, ethyl alcoholic drink or acetone, and safranin O or carbulfuchsin. Bibliography Unknown. (2000). Bacteria: Life History and Ecology. Retrieved on February 18, 2007 from the Berkeley Free Clinic website: http://www. ucmp. berkeley. edu/bacteria/bacterialh. html Unkown. (2006). Bacteria. Retrieved on February 18, 2007 from the Users. rcn. com website: http://users. rcn. com/jkimball. ma. ultranet/BiologyPages/E/Eubacteria. Delost, M. Introduction to symptomatic Microbiology. (1997). Harcourt Brace & Company Asia Pte Ltd. .\r\n'