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Bacterial cellular morphologies are the shapes that are characteristic of various types of bacteria and often key to their identification. Their direct examination under a light microscope enables the classification of these bacteria (and archaea). Generally, the basic morphologies are spheres (coccus) and round-ended cylinders or rod shaped ...
Fusiform bacteria (spindled rods, that is, fusiform bacilli), such as the Fusobacteriota; Fusiform cell (biology) Fusiform face area, a part of the human visual system which seems to specialize in facial recognition; Fusiform gyrus, part of the temporal lobe of the brain; Fusiform muscle, where the fibres run parallel along the length of the muscle
A small number of other unusual shapes have been described, such as star-shaped bacteria. [47] This wide variety of shapes 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. [48] [49]
Bacteria are categorized based on their shapes into three classes: cocci (spherical-shaped), bacillus (rod-shaped) and spirochetes (spiral-shaped) cells. In reality, this is a severe over-simplification as bacterial cells can be curved, bent, flattened, oblong spheroids and many more shapes. [ 13 ]
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.
Cell shape is generally characteristic of a given bacterial species, but can vary depending on growth conditions. Some bacteria have complex life cycles involving the production of stalks and appendages (e.g. Caulobacter) and some produce elaborate structures bearing reproductive spores (e.g. Myxococcus, Streptomyces).
Rothia dentocariosa is a species of Gram-positive, round- to rod-shaped bacteria that is part of the normal community of microbes residing in the mouth and respiratory tract. [ 1 ] R. dentocariosa secretes a peptidoglycan hydrolase that inhibits the growth of Moraxella catarrhalis (an ear infection pathogen) in vitro, indicating that it may ...
Like typical bacteria, Vibrio spp, have these three components, but with increased complexity in the basal body. In addition, Vibrio spp. use five or six distinct flagellum subunits to construct the flagellar filament, rather than the single flagellin found in many other bacteria.