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Food microbiology is the study of the microorganisms that inhabit, create, or contaminate food.This includes the study of microorganisms causing food spoilage; pathogens that may cause disease (especially if food is improperly cooked or stored); microbes used to produce fermented foods such as cheese, yogurt, bread, beer, and wine; and microbes with other useful roles, such as producing ...
A heterotroph (/ ˈ h ɛ t ər ə ˌ t r oʊ f,-ˌ t r ɒ f /; [1] [2] from Ancient Greek ἕτερος (héteros) 'other' and τροφή (trophḗ) 'nutrition') is an organism that cannot produce its own food, instead taking nutrition from other sources of organic carbon, mainly plant or animal matter. In the food chain, heterotrophs are ...
All saprotrophic bacteria are unicellular prokaryotes, and reproduce asexually through binary fission. [2] Variation in the turnover times (the rate at which a nutrient is depleted and replaced in a particular nutrient pool) of the bacteria may be due in part to variation in environmental factors including temperature, soil moisture, soil pH, substrate type and concentration, plant genotype ...
Interactions between plants and their associated microorganisms in many of these microbiomes can play pivotal roles in host plant health, function, and evolution. [49] The leaf surface, or phyllosphere, harbours a microbiome comprising diverse communities of bacteria, fungi, algae, archaea, and viruses.
This mechanism is called primary production. Other organisms, called heterotrophs, take in autotrophs as food to carry out functions necessary for their life. Thus, heterotrophs – all animals, almost all fungi, as well as most bacteria and protozoa – depend on autotrophs, or primary producers, for the raw materials and fuel they need.
Bacteria and archaea are almost always microscopic, while a number of eukaryotes are also microscopic, including most protists, some fungi, as well as some micro-animals and plants. Viruses are generally regarded as not living and therefore not considered to be microorganisms, although a subfield of microbiology is virology , the study of viruses.
Endophytic bacteria are considered to be plant's essential endosymbionts because virtually all plants harbor them, and these endosymbionts play essential roles in host survival. [103] This endosymbiotic relation is important in terms of ecology , evolution and diversity.
Historically, bacteria were considered a part of the Plantae, the plant kingdom, and were called "Schizomycetes" (fission-fungi). [171] For this reason, collective bacteria and other microorganisms in a host are often called "flora". [172] The term "bacteria" was traditionally applied to all microscopic, single-cell prokaryotes.