87-554: Bacteria and Archaea Domain Eukaryota Monera ( /məˈnɪərə/ ) (Greek: μονήρης ( monḗrēs ), "single", "solitary") is historically a biological kingdom that is made up of prokaryotes . As such, it is composed of single-celled organisms that lack a nucleus . The taxon Monera was first proposed as a phylum by Ernst Haeckel in 1866. Subsequently, the phylum was elevated to the rank of kingdom in 1925 by Édouard Chatton . The last commonly accepted mega-classification with
174-406: A nucleus and rarely harbour membrane -bound organelles . 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 . The word bacteria
261-543: A potential difference analogous to a battery. The general lack of internal membranes in bacteria means these reactions, such as electron transport , occur across the cell membrane between the cytoplasm and the outside of the cell or periplasm . However, in many photosynthetic bacteria, the plasma membrane is highly folded and fills most of the cell with layers of light-gathering membrane. These light-gathering complexes may even form lipid-enclosed structures called chlorosomes in green sulfur bacteria . Bacteria do not have
348-404: A terminal electron acceptor in a redox reaction . Chemotrophs are further divided by the types of compounds they use to transfer electrons. Bacteria that derive electrons from inorganic compounds such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide , or ammonia are called lithotrophs , while those that use organic compounds are called organotrophs . Still, more specifically, aerobic organisms use oxygen as
435-744: A bacterial strain. However, liquid growth media are used when the measurement of growth or large volumes of cells are required. Growth in stirred liquid media occurs as an even cell suspension, making the cultures easy to divide and transfer, although isolating single bacteria from liquid media is difficult. The use of selective media (media with specific nutrients added or deficient, or with antibiotics added) can help identify specific organisms. Most laboratory techniques for growing bacteria use high levels of nutrients to produce large amounts of cells cheaply and quickly. However, in natural environments, nutrients are limited, meaning that bacteria cannot continue to reproduce indefinitely. This nutrient limitation has led
522-424: A disorganised slime layer of extracellular polymeric substances to a highly structured capsule . These structures can protect cells from engulfment by eukaryotic cells such as macrophages (part of the human immune system ). They can also act as antigens and be involved in cell recognition, as well as aiding attachment to surfaces and the formation of biofilms. The assembly of these extracellular structures
609-413: A few micrometres in thickness to up to half a metre in depth, and may contain multiple species of bacteria, protists and archaea. Bacteria living in biofilms display a complex arrangement of cells and extracellular components, forming secondary structures, such as microcolonies , through which there are networks of channels to enable better diffusion of nutrients. In natural environments, such as soil or
696-415: A few species are visible to the unaided eye—for example, Thiomargarita namibiensis is up to half a millimetre long, Epulopiscium fishelsoni reaches 0.7 mm, and Thiomargarita magnifica can reach even 2 cm in length, which is 50 times larger than other known bacteria. Among the smallest bacteria are members of the genus Mycoplasma , which measure only 0.3 micrometres, as small as
783-426: A fixed size and then reproduce through binary fission , a form of asexual reproduction . Under optimal conditions, bacteria can grow and divide extremely rapidly, and some bacterial populations can double as quickly as every 17 minutes. In cell division, two identical clone daughter cells are produced. Some bacteria, while still reproducing asexually, form more complex reproductive structures that help disperse
870-547: A genus created in 1828 by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg Additionally, Cohn divided the bacteria according to shape namely: Successively, Cohn created the Schizophyta of Plants, which contained the non-photrophic bacteria in the family Schizomycetes and the phototrophic bacteria (blue green algae/Cyanobacteria) in the Schizophyceae This union of blue green algae and Bacteria was much later followed by Haeckel, who classified
957-418: A large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms . Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth , and are present in most of its habitats . Bacteria inhabit the air, soil, water, acidic hot springs , radioactive waste , and the deep biosphere of Earth's crust . Bacteria play a vital role in many stages of the nutrient cycle by recycling nutrients and
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#17328591347571044-408: A membrane-bound nucleus, and their genetic material is typically a single circular bacterial chromosome of DNA located in the cytoplasm in an irregularly shaped body called the nucleoid . The nucleoid contains the chromosome with its associated proteins and RNA . Like all other organisms , bacteria contain ribosomes for the production of proteins, but the structure of the bacterial ribosome
1131-528: A particular organism or group of organisms ( syntrophy ). Bacterial growth follows four phases. When a population of bacteria first enter a high-nutrient environment that allows growth, the cells need to adapt to their new environment. The first phase of growth is the lag phase , a period of slow growth when the cells are adapting to the high-nutrient environment and preparing for fast growth. The lag phase has high biosynthesis rates, as proteins necessary for rapid growth are produced. The second phase of growth
1218-415: A process called transformation . Many bacteria can naturally take up DNA from the environment, while others must be chemically altered in order to induce them to take up DNA. The development of competence in nature is usually associated with stressful environmental conditions and seems to be an adaptation for facilitating repair of DNA damage in recipient cells. Second, bacteriophages can integrate into
1305-425: A single continuous stretch of DNA. Although several different types of introns do exist in bacteria, these are much rarer than in eukaryotes. 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
1392-427: A single linear chromosome, while some Vibrio species contain more than one chromosome. Some bacteria contain plasmids , small extra-chromosomal molecules of DNA that may contain genes for various useful functions such as antibiotic resistance , metabolic capabilities, or various virulence factors . Bacteria genomes usually encode a few hundred to a few thousand genes. The genes in bacterial genomes are usually
1479-649: A source of electrons and a substrate for carbon anabolism . In many ways, bacterial metabolism provides traits that are useful for ecological stability and for human society. For example, diazotrophs have the ability to fix nitrogen gas using the enzyme nitrogenase . This trait, which can be found in bacteria of most metabolic types listed above, leads to the ecologically important processes of denitrification , sulfate reduction , and acetogenesis , respectively. Bacterial metabolic processes are important drivers in biological responses to pollution ; for example, sulfate-reducing bacteria are largely responsible for
1566-785: A thick peptidoglycan cell wall like a Gram-positive bacterium, but also a second outer layer of lipids. In many bacteria, an S-layer of rigidly arrayed protein molecules covers the outside of the cell. This layer provides chemical and physical protection for the cell surface and can act as a macromolecular diffusion barrier . S-layers have diverse functions and are known to act as virulence factors in Campylobacter species and contain surface enzymes in Bacillus stearothermophilus . Flagella are rigid protein structures, about 20 nanometres in diameter and up to 20 micrometres in length, that are used for motility . Flagella are driven by
1653-417: A three- dimensional random walk . Bacterial species differ in the number and arrangement of flagella on their surface; some have a single flagellum ( monotrichous ), a flagellum at each end ( amphitrichous ), clusters of flagella at the poles of the cell ( lophotrichous ), while others have flagella distributed over the entire surface of the cell ( peritrichous ). The flagella of a group of bacteria,
1740-495: A three-kingdom system that added the Protista as a new kingdom that contained most microscopic organisms. One of his eight major divisions of Protista was composed of the monerans (called Moneres by Haeckel), which he defined as completely structure-less and homogeneous organisms, consisting only of a piece of plasma. Haeckel's Monera included not only bacterial groups of early discovery but also several small eukaryotic organisms; in fact
1827-449: Is paraphyletic (does not include all descendants of their most recent common ancestor), as Archaea and Eukarya are currently believed to be more closely related than either is to Bacteria . The term "moneran" is the informal name of members of this group and is still sometimes used (as is the term "prokaryote") to denote a member of either domain. Most bacteria were classified under Monera; however, some Cyanobacteria (often called
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#17328591347571914-480: Is caused by a toxin released by the bacteria that grow from the spores. Clostridioides difficile infection , a common problem in healthcare settings, is caused by spore-forming bacteria. Bacteria exhibit an extremely wide variety of metabolic types. The distribution of metabolic traits within a group of bacteria has traditionally been used to define their taxonomy , but these traits often do not correspond with modern genetic classifications. Bacterial metabolism
2001-412: Is classified into nutritional groups on the basis of three major criteria: the source of energy , the electron donors used, and the source of carbon used for growth. Phototrophic bacteria derive energy from light using photosynthesis , while chemotrophic bacteria breaking down chemical compounds through oxidation , driving metabolism by transferring electrons from a given electron donor to
2088-536: Is dependent on bacterial secretion systems . These transfer proteins from the cytoplasm into the periplasm or into the environment around the cell. Many types of secretion systems are known and these structures are often essential for the virulence of pathogens, so are intensively studied. Some genera of Gram-positive bacteria, such as Bacillus , Clostridium , Sporohalobacter , Anaerobacter , and Heliobacterium , can form highly resistant, dormant structures called endospores . Endospores develop within
2175-534: Is determined by the bacterial cell wall and cytoskeleton and is important because it can influence the ability of bacteria to acquire nutrients, attach to surfaces, swim through liquids and escape predators . Multicellularity . Most bacterial species exist as single cells; others associate in characteristic patterns: Neisseria forms diploids (pairs), streptococci form chains, and staphylococci group together in "bunch of grapes" clusters. Bacteria can also group to form larger multicellular structures, such as
2262-441: Is different from that of eukaryotes and archaea. Some bacteria produce intracellular nutrient storage granules, such as glycogen , polyphosphate , sulfur or polyhydroxyalkanoates . Bacteria such as the photosynthetic cyanobacteria , produce internal gas vacuoles , which they use to regulate their buoyancy, allowing them to move up or down into water layers with different light intensities and nutrient levels. Around
2349-414: Is essential to the survival of many bacteria, and the antibiotic penicillin (produced by a fungus called Penicillium ) is able to kill bacteria by inhibiting a step in the synthesis of peptidoglycan. There are broadly speaking two different types of cell wall in bacteria, that classify bacteria into Gram-positive bacteria and Gram-negative bacteria . The names originate from the reaction of cells to
2436-529: Is made of about 20 proteins, with approximately another 30 proteins required for its regulation and assembly. The flagellum is a rotating structure driven by a reversible motor at the base that uses the electrochemical gradient across the membrane for power. Bacteria can use flagella in different ways to generate different kinds of movement. Many bacteria (such as E. coli ) have two distinct modes of movement: forward movement (swimming) and tumbling. The tumbling allows them to reorient and makes their movement
2523-468: Is made primarily of phospholipids . This membrane encloses the contents of the cell and acts as a barrier to hold nutrients, proteins and other essential components of the cytoplasm within the cell. Unlike eukaryotic cells , bacteria usually lack large membrane-bound structures in their cytoplasm such as a nucleus , mitochondria , chloroplasts and the other organelles present in eukaryotic cells. However, some bacteria have protein-bound organelles in
2610-496: Is motile in liquid or solid media. Several Listeria and Shigella species move inside host cells by usurping the cytoskeleton , which is normally used to move organelles inside the cell. By promoting actin polymerisation at one pole of their cells, they can form a kind of tail that pushes them through the host cell's cytoplasm. A few bacteria have chemical systems that generate light. This bioluminescence often occurs in bacteria that live in association with fish, and
2697-444: Is the stationary phase and is caused by depleted nutrients. The cells reduce their metabolic activity and consume non-essential cellular proteins. The stationary phase is a transition from rapid growth to a stress response state and there is increased expression of genes involved in DNA repair , antioxidant metabolism and nutrient transport . The final phase is the death phase where
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2784-440: Is the logarithmic phase , also known as the exponential phase. The log phase is marked by rapid exponential growth . The rate at which cells grow during this phase is known as the growth rate ( k ), and the time it takes the cells to double is known as the generation time ( g ). During log phase, nutrients are metabolised at maximum speed until one of the nutrients is depleted and starts limiting growth. The third phase of growth
2871-676: Is the plural of the Neo-Latin bacterium , which is the Latinisation of the Ancient Greek βακτήριον ( baktḗrion ), the diminutive of βακτηρία ( baktēría ), meaning "staff, cane", because the first ones to be discovered were rod-shaped . The ancestors of bacteria were unicellular microorganisms that were the first forms of life to appear on Earth, about 4 billion years ago. For about 3 billion years, most organisms were microscopic, and bacteria and archaea were
2958-468: The Gram stain , a long-standing test for the classification of bacterial species. Gram-positive bacteria possess a thick cell wall containing many layers of peptidoglycan and teichoic acids . In contrast, Gram-negative bacteria have a relatively thin cell wall consisting of a few layers of peptidoglycan surrounded by a second lipid membrane containing lipopolysaccharides and lipoproteins . Most bacteria have
3045-515: The archaea (initially called archaebacteria) are not significantly closer in relationship to the bacteria than they are to eukaryotes . The paper received front-page coverage in The New York Times , and great controversy initially. The conclusions have since become accepted, leading to replacement of the kingdom Monera with the two domains Bacteria and Archaea . A minority of scientists, including Thomas Cavalier-Smith , continue to reject
3132-624: The fixation of nitrogen from the atmosphere . The nutrient cycle includes the decomposition of dead bodies ; bacteria are responsible for the putrefaction stage in this process. In the biological communities surrounding hydrothermal vents and cold seeps , extremophile bacteria provide the nutrients needed to sustain life by converting dissolved compounds, such as hydrogen sulphide and methane , to energy. Bacteria also live in mutualistic , commensal and parasitic relationships with plants and animals. Most bacteria have not been characterised and there are many species that cannot be grown in
3219-444: The spirochaetes , are found between two membranes in the periplasmic space. They have a distinctive helical body that twists about as it moves. Two other types of bacterial motion are called twitching motility that relies on a structure called the type IV pilus , and gliding motility , that uses other mechanisms. In twitching motility, the rod-like pilus extends out from the cell, binds some substrate, and then retracts, pulling
3306-546: The vacuum and radiation of outer space , leading to the possibility that bacteria could be distributed throughout the Universe by space dust , meteoroids , asteroids , comets , planetoids , or directed panspermia . Endospore-forming bacteria can cause disease; for example, anthrax can be contracted by the inhalation of Bacillus anthracis endospores, and contamination of deep puncture wounds with Clostridium tetani endospores causes tetanus , which, like botulism ,
3393-562: The 20s and 30s when to rightfully increase the importance of the difference between species with a nucleus and without. In 1925, Édouard Chatton divided all living organisms into two sections, Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes: the Kingdom Monera being the sole member of the Prokaryotes section. The anthropic importance of the crown group of animals, plants and fungi was hard to depose; consequently, several other megaclassification schemes ignored on
3480-624: The Food Research Institute. He was Professor of Botany at the research academy at Eisenach. He published many articles on the subjects of cryptogamic botany, bacteriology , and plant physiology . Between 1892 and 1933 Migula issued exsiccata series, among them Kryptogamae Germaniae, Austriae et Helvetiae exsiccatae . He is remembered for describing the bacterial genus Pseudomonas , and for publication of Kryptogamen-Flora von Deutschland, Deutsch-Österreich und der Schweiz [Cryptogamic Flora of Germany, Austria , and Switzerland ],
3567-498: The German noun Moneren/Moneres are derived from the ancient Greek noun moneres , which Haeckel stated meant "simple"; however, it actually means "single, solitary". Haeckel also describes the protist genus Monas in the two pages about Monera in his 1866 book. The informal name of a member of the Monera was initially moneron, but later moneran was used. Due to its lack of features, the phylum
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3654-781: The Gram-negative cell wall, and only members of the Bacillota group and actinomycetota (previously known as the low G+C and high G+C Gram-positive bacteria, respectively) have the alternative Gram-positive arrangement. These differences in structure can produce differences in antibiotic susceptibility; for instance, vancomycin can kill only Gram-positive bacteria and is ineffective against Gram-negative pathogens , such as Haemophilus influenzae or Pseudomonas aeruginosa . Some bacteria have cell wall structures that are neither classically Gram-positive or Gram-negative. This includes clinically important bacteria such as mycobacteria which have
3741-425: The archaeal/eukaryotic lineage. The most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of bacteria and archaea was probably a hyperthermophile that lived about 2.5 billion–3.2 billion years ago. The earliest life on land may have been bacteria some 3.22 billion years ago. Bacteria were also involved in the second great evolutionary divergence, that of the archaea and eukaryotes. Here, eukaryotes resulted from
3828-455: The atmosphere and one cubic metre of air holds around one hundred million bacterial cells. The oceans and seas harbour around 3 x 10 bacteria which provide up to 50% of the oxygen humans breathe. Only around 2% of bacterial species have been fully studied. Size . Bacteria display a wide diversity of shapes and sizes. Bacterial cells are about one-tenth the size of eukaryotic cells and are typically 0.5–5.0 micrometres in length. However,
3915-530: The bacteria (a term which at the time did not include blue-green algae ) and the blue-green algae had a single origin, a conviction that culminated in Stanier writing in a letter in 1970, "I think it is now quite evident that the blue-green algae are not distinguishable from bacteria by any fundamental feature of their cellular organization". Other researchers, such as E. G. Pringsheim writing in 1949, suspected separate origins for bacteria and blue-green algae. In 1974,
4002-520: The bacteria have come into contact with in the past, which allows them to block virus replication through a form of RNA interference . Third, bacteria can transfer genetic material through direct cell contact via conjugation . In ordinary circumstances, transduction, conjugation, and transformation involve transfer of DNA between individual bacteria of the same species, but occasionally transfer may occur between individuals of different bacterial species, and this may have significant consequences, such as
4089-444: The bacteria perform separate tasks; for example, about one in ten cells migrate to the top of a fruiting body and differentiate into a specialised dormant state called a myxospore, which is more resistant to drying and other adverse environmental conditions. Biofilms . Bacteria often attach to surfaces and form dense aggregations called biofilms and larger formations known as microbial mats . These biofilms and mats can range from
4176-401: The bacteria run out of nutrients and die. Most bacteria have a single circular chromosome that can range in size from only 160,000 base pairs in the endosymbiotic bacteria Carsonella ruddii , to 12,200,000 base pairs (12.2 Mbp) in the soil-dwelling bacteria Sorangium cellulosum . There are many exceptions to this; for example, some Streptomyces and Borrelia species contain
4263-412: The bacterial chromosome, introducing foreign DNA in a process known as transduction . Many types of bacteriophage exist; some infect and lyse their host bacteria, while others insert into the bacterial chromosome. Bacteria resist phage infection through restriction modification systems that degrade foreign DNA and a system that uses CRISPR sequences to retain fragments of the genomes of phage that
4350-507: The blue-green algae) were initially classified under Plantae due to their ability to photosynthesize . Traditionally the natural world was classified as animal, vegetable, or mineral as in Systema Naturae . After the development of the microscope , attempts were made to fit microscopic organisms into either the plant or animal kingdoms. In 1675, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek discovered bacteria and called them "animalcules", assigning them to
4437-502: The breakdown of oil spills , the production of cheese and yogurt through fermentation , the recovery of gold, palladium , copper and other metals in the mining sector ( biomining , bioleaching ), as well as in biotechnology , and the manufacture of antibiotics and other chemicals. Once regarded as plants constituting the class Schizomycetes ("fission fungi"), bacteria are now classified as prokaryotes . Unlike cells of animals and other eukaryotes , bacterial cells do not contain
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#17328591347574524-437: The cell forward. Motile bacteria are attracted or repelled by certain stimuli in behaviours called taxes : these include chemotaxis , phototaxis , energy taxis , and magnetotaxis . In one peculiar group, the myxobacteria, individual bacteria move together to form waves of cells that then differentiate to form fruiting bodies containing spores. The myxobacteria move only when on solid surfaces, unlike E. coli , which
4611-466: The class Vermes of the Animalia. Due to the limited tools — the sole references for this group were shape, behaviour, and habitat — the description of genera and their classification was extremely limited, which was accentuated by the perceived lack of importance of the group. Seven years after The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin , in 1866 Ernst Haeckel , a supporter of evolutionary theory, proposed
4698-465: The coinage of the genus Pseudomonas in 1894) and others. This term was in dominant use even in 1916 as reported by Robert Earle Buchanan , as it had priority over other terms such as Monera. However, starting with Ferdinand Cohn in 1872 the term bacteria (or in German Bacterien ) became prominently used to informally describe this group of species without a nucleus: Bacterium was in fact
4785-629: The cytoplasm of the cell; generally, a single endospore develops in each cell. Each endospore contains a core of DNA and ribosomes surrounded by a cortex layer and protected by a multilayer rigid coat composed of peptidoglycan and a variety of proteins. Endospores show no detectable metabolism and can survive extreme physical and chemical stresses, such as high levels of UV light , gamma radiation , detergents , disinfectants , heat, freezing, pressure, and desiccation . In this dormant state, these organisms may remain viable for millions of years. Endospores even allow bacteria to survive exposure to
4872-419: The cytoplasm which compartmentalise aspects of bacterial metabolism, such as the carboxysome . Additionally, bacteria have a multi-component cytoskeleton to control the localisation of proteins and nucleic acids within the cell, and to manage the process of cell division . Many important biochemical reactions, such as energy generation, occur due to concentration gradients across membranes, creating
4959-411: The dominant forms of life. Although bacterial fossils exist, such as stromatolites , their lack of distinctive morphology prevents them from being used to examine the history of bacterial evolution, or to date the time of origin of a particular bacterial species. However, gene sequences can be used to reconstruct the bacterial phylogeny , and these studies indicate that bacteria diverged first from
5046-526: The elongated filaments of Actinomycetota species, the aggregates of Myxobacteria species, and the complex hyphae of Streptomyces species. These multicellular structures are often only seen in certain conditions. For example, when starved of amino acids, myxobacteria detect surrounding cells in a process known as quorum sensing , migrate towards each other, and aggregate to form fruiting bodies up to 500 micrometres long and containing approximately 100,000 bacterial cells. In these fruiting bodies,
5133-433: The empire rank but maintained the kingdom Monera consisting of bacteria, such Copeland in 1938 and Whittaker in 1969. The latter classification system was widely followed, in which Robert Whittaker proposed a five kingdom system for classification of living organisms. Whittaker's system placed most single celled organisms into either the prokaryotic Monera or the eukaryotic Protista. The other three kingdoms in his system were
5220-501: The energy released by the transfer of ions down an electrochemical gradient across the cell membrane. Fimbriae (sometimes called " attachment pili ") are fine filaments of protein, usually 2–10 nanometres in diameter and up to several micrometres in length. They are distributed over the surface of the cell, and resemble fine hairs when seen under the electron microscope . Fimbriae are believed to be involved in attachment to solid surfaces or to other cells, and are essential for
5307-597: The entering of ancient bacteria into endosymbiotic associations with the ancestors of eukaryotic cells, which were themselves possibly related to the Archaea. This involved the engulfment by proto-eukaryotic cells of alphaproteobacterial symbionts to form either mitochondria or hydrogenosomes , which are still found in all known Eukarya (sometimes in highly reduced form , e.g. in ancient "amitochondrial" protozoa). Later, some eukaryotes that already contained mitochondria also engulfed cyanobacteria -like organisms, leading to
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#17328591347575394-470: The eukaryotic Fungi, Animalia, and Plantae. Whittaker, however, did not believe that all his kingdoms were monophyletic. Whittaker subdivided the kingdom into two branches containing several phyla: Alternative commonly followed subdivision systems were based on Gram stains. This culminated in the Gibbons and Murray classification of 1978: In 1977, a PNAS paper by Carl Woese and George Fox demonstrated that
5481-641: The evolution of different growth strategies (see r/K selection theory ). Some organisms can grow extremely rapidly when nutrients become available, such as the formation of algal and cyanobacterial blooms that often occur in lakes during the summer. Other organisms have adaptations to harsh environments, such as the production of multiple antibiotics by Streptomyces that inhibit the growth of competing microorganisms. In nature, many organisms live in communities (e.g., biofilms ) that may allow for increased supply of nutrients and protection from environmental stresses. These relationships can be essential for growth of
5568-566: The formation of chloroplasts in algae and plants. This is known as primary endosymbiosis . Bacteria are ubiquitous, living in every possible habitat on the planet including soil, underwater, deep in Earth's crust and even such extreme environments as acidic hot springs and radioactive waste. There are thought to be approximately 2×10 bacteria on Earth, forming a biomass that is only exceeded by plants. They are abundant in lakes and oceans, in arctic ice, and geothermal springs where they provide
5655-475: The genus Vibrio is the only bacterial genus explicitly assigned to the phylum, while others are mentioned indirectly, which led Copeland to speculate that Haeckel considered all bacteria to belong to the genus Vibrio , ignoring other bacterial genera. One notable exception were the members of the modern phylum Cyanobacteria , such as Nostoc , which were placed in the phylum Archephyta of Algae (vide infra: Blue-green algae ). The Neolatin noun Monera and
5742-517: The growth in cell population. Walter Migula Emil Friedrich August Walter (or Walther ) Migula (born 1863 in Zyrowa , Prussia (present-day Poland ); died 1938 in Eisenach , Germany ) was a German botanist . In 1890, he was habilitated for botany at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology , where he spent several years as a professor. At Karlsruhe, he also worked in the bacteriology department of
5829-453: The gut. However, several species of bacteria are pathogenic and cause infectious diseases , including cholera , syphilis , anthrax , leprosy , tuberculosis , tetanus and bubonic plague . The most common fatal bacterial diseases are respiratory infections . Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections and are also used in farming, making antibiotic resistance a growing problem. Bacteria are important in sewage treatment and
5916-508: The influential Bergey's Manual published a new edition coining the term cyanobacteria to refer to what had been called blue-green algae, marking the acceptance of this group within the Monera. Kingdom monera. They belong to the prokaryote characteristics of kingdom monere Bacteria See § Phyla Bacteria ( / b æ k ˈ t ɪər i ə / ; sg. : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell . They constitute
6003-433: The kingdom Monera (or for that matter, whether classification should be according to phylogeny ) was controversial for many decades. Although distinguishing between prokaryotes from eukaryotes as a fundamental distinction is often credited to a 1937 paper by Édouard Chatton (little noted until 1962), he did not emphasize this distinction more than other biologists of his era. Roger Stanier and C. B. van Niel believed that
6090-409: The laboratory. The study of bacteria is known as bacteriology , a branch of microbiology . Like all animals, humans carry vast numbers (approximately 10 to 10 ) of bacteria. Most are in the gut , though there are many on the skin. Most of the bacteria in and on the body are harmless or rendered so by the protective effects of the immune system , and many are beneficial , particularly the ones in
6177-627: The largest viruses . Some bacteria may be even smaller, but these ultramicrobacteria are not well-studied. Shape . Most bacterial species are either spherical, called cocci ( singular coccus , from Greek kókkos , grain, seed), or rod-shaped, called bacilli ( sing . bacillus, from Latin baculus , stick). Some bacteria, called vibrio , are shaped like slightly curved rods or comma-shaped; others can be spiral-shaped, called spirilla , or tightly coiled, called spirochaetes . A small number of other unusual shapes have been described, such as star-shaped bacteria. This wide variety of shapes
6264-716: The light probably serves to attract fish or other large animals. Bacteria often function as multicellular aggregates known as biofilms , exchanging a variety of molecular signals for intercell communication and engaging in coordinated multicellular behaviour. The communal benefits of multicellular cooperation include a cellular division of labour , accessing resources that cannot effectively be used by single cells, collectively defending against antagonists, and optimising population survival by differentiating into distinct cell types. For example, bacteria in biofilms can have more than five hundred times increased resistance to antibacterial agents than individual "planktonic" bacteria of
6351-417: The newly formed daughter cells. Examples include fruiting body formation by myxobacteria and aerial hyphae formation by Streptomyces species, or budding. Budding involves a cell forming a protrusion that breaks away and produces a daughter cell. In the laboratory, bacteria are usually grown using solid or liquid media. Solid growth media , such as agar plates , are used to isolate pure cultures of
6438-473: The nutrients needed to sustain life by converting dissolved compounds, such as hydrogen sulphide and methane , to energy. They live on and in plants and animals. Most do not cause diseases, are beneficial to their environments, and are essential for life. The soil is a rich source of bacteria and a few grams contain around a thousand million of them. They are all essential to soil ecology, breaking down toxic waste and recycling nutrients. They are even found in
6525-475: The outside of the cell membrane is the cell wall . Bacterial cell walls are made of peptidoglycan (also called murein), which is made from polysaccharide chains cross-linked by peptides containing D- amino acids . Bacterial cell walls are different from the cell walls of plants and fungi , which are made of cellulose and chitin , respectively. The cell wall of bacteria is also distinct from that of achaea, which do not contain peptidoglycan. The cell wall
6612-403: The point that the Monera did not contain bacterial genera and others according to Huxley. They were first recognized as a kingdom by Enderlein in 1925 (Bakterien-Cyclogenie. de Gruyter, Berlin). The most popular scheme was created in 1859 by C. Von Nägeli who classified non-phototrophic Bacteria as the class Schizomycetes. The class Schizomycetes was then emended by Walter Migula (along with
6699-612: The production of the highly toxic forms of mercury ( methyl- and dimethylmercury ) in the environment. Nonrespiratory anaerobes use fermentation to generate energy and reducing power, secreting metabolic by-products (such as ethanol in brewing) as waste. Facultative anaerobes can switch between fermentation and different terminal electron acceptors depending on the environmental conditions in which they find themselves. Unlike in multicellular organisms, increases in cell size ( cell growth ) and reproduction by cell division are tightly linked in unicellular organisms. Bacteria grow to
6786-560: The replication of DNA or from exposure to mutagens . Mutation rates vary widely among different species of bacteria and even among different clones of a single species of bacteria. Genetic changes in bacterial genomes emerge from either random mutation during replication or "stress-directed mutation", where genes involved in a particular growth-limiting process have an increased mutation rate. Some bacteria transfer genetic material between cells. This can occur in three main ways. First, bacteria can take up exogenous DNA from their environment in
6873-530: The same species. One type of intercellular communication by a molecular signal is called quorum sensing , which serves the purpose of determining whether the local population density is sufficient to support investment in processes that are only successful if large numbers of similar organisms behave similarly, such as excreting digestive enzymes or emitting light. Quorum sensing enables bacteria to coordinate gene expression and to produce, release, and detect autoinducers or pheromones that accumulate with
6960-412: The surfaces of plants, the majority of bacteria are bound to surfaces in biofilms. Biofilms are also important in medicine, as these structures are often present during chronic bacterial infections or in infections of implanted medical devices , and bacteria protected within biofilms are much harder to kill than individual isolated bacteria. The bacterial cell is surrounded by a cell membrane , which
7047-411: The taxon Monera was the five-kingdom classification system was established by Robert Whittaker in 1969. Under the three-domain system of taxonomy , introduced by Carl Woese in 1977, which reflects the evolutionary history of life, the organisms found in kingdom Monera have been divided into two domains , Archaea and Bacteria (with Eukarya as the third domain). Furthermore, the taxon Monera
7134-457: The terminal electron acceptor, while anaerobic organisms use other compounds such as nitrate , sulfate , or carbon dioxide. Many bacteria, called heterotrophs , derive their carbon from other organic carbon . Others, such as cyanobacteria and some purple bacteria , are autotrophic , meaning they obtain cellular carbon by fixing carbon dioxide . In unusual circumstances, the gas methane can be used by methanotrophic bacteria as both
7221-447: The transfer of antibiotic resistance. In such cases, gene acquisition from other bacteria or the environment is called horizontal gene transfer and may be common under natural conditions. Many bacteria are motile (able to move themselves) and do so using a variety of mechanisms. The best studied of these are flagella , long filaments that are turned by a motor at the base to generate propeller-like movement. The bacterial flagellum
7308-886: The two families in a revised phylum Monera in the Protista. Stanier and van Neil (1941, The main outlines of bacterial classification. J Bacteriol 42: 437- 466) recognized the Kingdom Monera with two phyla, Myxophyta and Schizomycetae, the latter comprising classes Eubacteriae (3 orders), Myxobacteriae (1 order), and Spirochetae (1 order); Bisset (1962, Bacteria, 2nd ed., Livingston, London) distinguished 1 class and 4 orders: Eubacteriales, Actinomycetales, Streptomycetales, and Flexibacteriales; Orla-Jensen (1909, Die Hauptlinien des naturalischen Bakteriensystems nebst einer Ubersicht der Garungsphenomene. Zentr. Bakt. Parasitenk., II, 22: 305-346) and Bergey et al (1925, Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology, Baltimore : Williams & Wilkins Co.) with many subsequent editions) also presented classifications. The term Monera became well established in
7395-495: The virulence of some bacterial pathogens. Pili ( sing . pilus) are cellular appendages, slightly larger than fimbriae, that can transfer genetic material between bacterial cells in a process called conjugation where they are called conjugation pili or sex pili (see bacterial genetics, below). They can also generate movement where they are called type IV pili . Glycocalyx is produced by many bacteria to surround their cells, and varies in structural complexity: ranging from
7482-475: The widely accepted division between these two groups. Cavalier-Smith has published classifications in which the archaebacteria are part of a subkingdom of the Kingdom Bacteria. Although it was generally accepted that one could distinguish prokaryotes from eukaryotes on the basis of the presence of a nucleus , mitosis versus binary fission as a way of reproducing, size, and other traits, the monophyly of
7569-409: Was not fully subdivided, but the genera therein were divided into two groups: Like Protista, the Monera classification was not fully followed at first and several different ranks were used and located with animals, plants, protists or fungi. Furthermore, Haeckel's classification lacked specificity and was not exhaustive — it in fact covers only a few pages—, consequently a lot of confusion arose even to
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