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Microbes.info is a microbiology information portal containing a vast collection of resources including articles, news, frequently asked questions, and links pertaining to the field of microbiology. Our Microbial Planet Archived 15 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine A free poster from the National Academy of Sciences about the positive roles ...
Microbiology (from Ancient Greek μῑκρος (mīkros) 'small' βίος (bíos) 'life' and -λογία () 'study of') is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being of unicellular (single-celled), multicellular (consisting of complex cells), or acellular (lacking cells).
Among organisms, almost all animals, most fungi, and several bacteria are obligate aerobes. [2] Examples of obligately aerobic bacteria include Mycobacterium tuberculosis , [2] [5] Bacillus (Gram-positive), [2] and Nocardia asteroides (Gram-positive). [2] [6] With the exception of the yeasts, most fungi are obligate aerobes. [1]
Bacteria are also used for the bioremediation of industrial toxic wastes. [237] In the chemical industry, bacteria are most important in the production of enantiomerically pure chemicals for use as pharmaceuticals or agrichemicals. [238] Bacteria can also be used in place of pesticides in biological pest control.
This top layer of aerobic bacteria produces O 2 which feeds back into the column to facilitate further reactions. [1] While the Winogradsky column is an excellent tool to see whole communities of bacteria, it does not allow one to see the densities or individual bacterial colonies. It also takes a long time to complete its cycle.
Medical microbiology, the large subset of microbiology that is applied to medicine, is a branch of medical science concerned with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. In addition, this field of science studies various clinical applications of microbes for the improvement of health.
The reason for this is the differences in species concepts between the bacteria and macro-organisms, the difficulties in growing/characterising in pure culture (a prerequisite to naming new species, vide supra) and extensive horizontal gene transfer blurring the distinction of species.
Aggregate of microorganisms in which cells that are frequently embedded within a self-produced matrix of extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) adhere to each other and/or to a surface. A biofilm is a system that can be adapted internally to environmental conditions by its inhabitants.