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Most rod-shaped bacteria can move using their own power, which allows colonization of new environments and discovery of new resources for survival. Bacterial movement depends not only on the characteristics of the medium, but also on the use of different appendages to propel. Swarming and swimming movements are both powered by rotating flagella.
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.
Bacteria, as asexual organisms, inherit an identical copy of the parent's genome and are clonal. However, all bacteria can evolve by selection on changes to their genetic material DNA caused by genetic recombination or mutations. Mutations arise from errors made during the replication of DNA or from exposure to mutagens.
There are many species that show non-pathogenic characteristics; however, there are some, like S. pneumoniae, that exhibit pathogenic characteristics in the human body. [17] [11] The genus Enterococcus belongs to the family Enterococcaceae. This genus is divided into 58 species and two subspecies. [18]
Bacteria frequently occur in mixed populations. It is very rare to find a single occurring species of bacteria. To be able to study the cultural, morphological, and physiological characteristics of an individual species, it is vital that the bacteria be divided from the other species that generally originate in the environment.
Microbial metabolism is the means by which a microbe obtains the energy and nutrients (e.g. carbon) it needs to live and reproduce.Microbes use many different types of metabolic strategies and species can often be differentiated from each other based on metabolic characteristics.
Credit - Mike Windle—Getty Images. It’s hard to miss what appears to be dry cleaning hanging on the wall of Siddhartha Mukherjee’s apartment in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood.
Gram staining is almost always the first step in the identification of a bacterial group. While Gram staining is a valuable diagnostic tool in both clinical and research settings, not all bacteria can be definitively classified by this technique. This gives rise to gram-variable and gram-indeterminate groups.