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The word bacteria is the plural of the Neo-Latin bacterium, which is the romanisation of the Ancient Greek βακτήριον (baktḗrion), [6] the diminutive of βακτηρία (baktēría), meaning "staff, cane", [7] because the first ones to be discovered were rod-shaped. [8] [9]
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]
Bacteriology is the study of bacteria and their relation to medicine. Bacteriology evolved from physicians needing to apply the germ theory to address the concerns relating to disease spreading in hospitals the 19th century. [5] Identification and characterizing of bacteria being associated to diseases led to advances in pathogenic bacteriology.
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 function and reproduce as individual cells, but they can often aggregate in multicellular colonies. [54] Some species such as myxobacteria can aggregate into complex swarming structures, operating as multicellular groups as part of their life cycle , [ 55 ] or form clusters in bacterial colonies such as E.coli .
In microbiology, collective bacteria and other microorganisms in a host are historically known as flora. Although microflora is commonly used, the term microbiota is becoming more common as microflora is a misnomer. Flora pertains to the Kingdom Plantae. Microbiota includes Archaea, Bacteria, Fungi and Protists.
This article lists the genera of the bacteria.The currently accepted taxonomy is based on the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN) [1] and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). [2]
When there is a need to determine which bacteria or fungi are present (in agriculture, medicine, or biotechnology), scientists can also turn to other tools besides cultures, such as nucleic acid tests (which instead detect that organism's DNA or RNA, even if only in fragments or spores as opposed to entire cells) or immunologic tests (which ...