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Although the term bacteria traditionally included all prokaryotes, the scientific classification changed after the discovery in the 1990s that prokaryotes consist of two very different groups of organisms that evolved from an ancient common ancestor. These evolutionary domains are called Bacteria and Archaea. [5]
Bacteria (prokaryotes, together with Archaea) share many common features. These commonalities include the lack of a nuclear membrane, unicellularity, division by binary-fission and generally small size. The various species can be differentiated through the comparison of several characteristics, allowing their identification and classification.
Gram-negative bacteria are bacteria that, unlike gram-positive bacteria, do not retain the crystal violet stain used in the Gram staining method of bacterial differentiation. [1] Their defining characteristic is that their cell envelope consists of a thin peptidoglycan cell wall sandwiched between an inner ( cytoplasmic ) membrane and an outer ...
Bacteria display a large diversity of cell morphologies and arrangements. Bacterial cellular morphologies are the shapes that are characteristic of various types of bacteria and often key to their identification. Their direct examination under a light microscope enables the classification of these bacteria (and archaea).
Like archaea, bacteria are prokaryotic – unicellular, and having no cell nucleus or other membrane-bound organelle. Bacteria are microscopic, with a few extremely rare exceptions, such as Thiomargarita namibiensis. [53] Bacteria function and reproduce as individual cells, but they can often aggregate in multicellular colonies. [54]
[5] Along with chromosomal DNA, most bacteria also contain small independent pieces of DNA called plasmids that often encode advantageous traits but are not essential to their bacterial host. Plasmids can be easily gained or lost by a bacterium and can be transferred between bacteria as a form of horizontal gene transfer.
Eubacterium eligens is a member of the Bacillota (previously Firmicutes) phylum, which is one of two phyla which constitute more than 90% of microflora in the human gut. [4] [5] Characteristics of this phylum include low GC content in the DNA and Gram-positivity. [2]
Pathogenic bacteria are bacteria that can cause disease. [1] This article focuses on the bacteria that are pathogenic to humans. Most species of bacteria are harmless and many are beneficial but others can cause infectious diseases. The number of these pathogenic species in humans is estimated to be fewer than a hundred. [2]