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e. A microorganism, or microbe, [ a ] is an organism of microscopic size, which may exist in its single-celled form or as a colony of cells. The possible existence of unseen microbial life was suspected from ancient times, such as in Jain scriptures from sixth century BC India.
A microbiome (from Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós) 'small' and βίος (bíos) 'life') is the community of microorganisms that can usually be found living together in any given habitat. It was defined more precisely in 1988 by Whipps et al. as "a characteristic microbial community occupying a reasonably well-defined habitat which has ...
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 the laboratory. The study of bacteria is known as bacteriology, a branch of microbiology.
The germ theory of disease is the currently accepted scientific theory for many diseases. It states that microorganisms known as pathogens or "germs" can cause disease. These small organisms, which are too small to be seen without magnification, invade humans, other animals, and other living hosts. Their growth and reproduction within their ...
Gut microbiota, gut microbiome, or gut flora are the microorganisms, including bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses, that live in the digestive tracts of animals. [ 1 ][ 2 ] The gastrointestinal metagenome is the aggregate of all the genomes of the gut microbiota. [ 3 ][ 4 ] The gut is the main location of the human microbiome. [ 5 ]
The list of organisms by chromosome count describes ploidy or numbers of chromosomes in the cells of various plants, animals, protists, and other living organisms.This number, along with the visual appearance of the chromosome, is known as the karyotype, [1] [2] [3] and can be found by looking at the chromosomes through a microscope.
Prochlorococcus, an influential marine cyanobacterium which produces much of the world's oxygen. Cyanobacteria are globally widespread photosynthetic prokaryotes and are major contributors to global biogeochemical cycles. [ 25 ] They are the only oxygenic photosynthetic prokaryotes, and prosper in diverse and extreme habitats. [ 26 ]
The evolution of bacteria has progressed over billions of years since the Precambrian time with their first major divergence from the archaeal / eukaryotic lineage roughly 3.2-3.5 billion years ago. [1][2] This was discovered through gene sequencing of bacterial nucleoids to reconstruct their phylogeny. Furthermore, evidence of permineralized ...