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It is described using terms like brittle, creamy, sticky and dry. Staphylococci are considered to have a creamy consistency, [1]: 173 while some Neisseria species are sticky, and colonies of diphtheroid bacteria and beta-hemolytic streptococci are typically dry. [1]: 167–8 Bacteria that produce capsules often have a slimy (mucoid) consistency.
Spiral bacteria are another major bacterial cell morphology. [2] [30] [31] [32] Spiral bacteria can be sub-classified as spirilla, spirochetes, or vibrios based on the number of twists per cell, cell thickness, cell flexibility, and motility. [33] Bacteria are known to evolve specific traits to survive in their ideal environment. [34]
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Gram staining is almost always the first step in the identification of a bacterial group. While Gram staining is a valuable diagnostic tool in both clinical and research settings, not all bacteria can be definitively classified by this technique. This gives rise to gram-variable and gram-indeterminate groups.
Perhaps the most obvious structural characteristic of bacteria is (with some exceptions) their small size. For example, Escherichia coli cells, an "average" sized bacterium, are about 2 μm ( micrometres ) long and 0.5 μm in diameter, with a cell volume of 0.6–0.7 μm 3 . [ 1 ]
Endospore staining is a technique used in bacteriology to identify the presence of endospores in a bacterial sample. [1] Within bacteria, endospores are protective structures used to survive extreme conditions, including high temperatures making them highly resistant to chemicals. [ 2 ]
The identification of bacteria in the laboratory is particularly relevant in medicine, where the correct treatment is determined by the bacterial species causing an infection. Consequently, the need to identify human pathogens was a major impetus for the development of techniques to identify bacteria. [173]
Bacterial morphological plasticity refers to changes in the shape and size that bacterial cells undergo when they encounter stressful environments. Although bacteria have evolved complex molecular strategies to maintain their shape, many are able to alter their shape as a survival strategy in response to protist predators, antibiotics, the immune response, and other threats.