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Saprophytic bacteria and fungi can convert organic matter into living cell mass, carbon dioxide, water and a range of metabolic by-products. These saprophytic organisms may then be predated upon by protozoa , rotifers and, in cleaner waters, Bryozoa which consume suspended organic particles including viruses and pathogenic bacteria.
Neutral mutations are changes in DNA sequence that are neither beneficial nor detrimental to the ability of an organism to survive and reproduce. In population genetics , mutations in which natural selection does not affect the spread of the mutation in a species are termed neutral mutations.
Genetic pollution is a term for uncontrolled [1] [2] gene flow into wild populations. It is defined as "the dispersal of contaminated altered genes from genetically engineered organisms to natural organisms, esp. by cross-pollination", [3] but has come to be used in some broader ways.
Archaea and bacteria are structurally similar even though they are not closely related in the tree of life. The shapes of both bacteria and archaea cells vary from a spherical shape known as coccus or a rod-shape known as bacillus. They are also related with no internal membrane and a cell wall that assists the cell maintaining its shape.
A change in the genetic structure that is not inherited from a parent, and also not passed to offspring, is called a somatic mutation. [88] Somatic mutations are not inherited by an organism's offspring because they do not affect the germline. However, they are passed down to all the progeny of a mutated cell within the same organism during ...
Fungi host endohyphal bacteria; [112] the effects of the bacteria are not well studied. Many such fungi in turn live within plants. [112] These fungi are otherwise known as fungal endophytes. It is hypothesized that the fungi offers a safe haven for the bacteria, and the diverse bacteria that they attract create a micro-ecosystem. [113]
As stated earlier, an array of methods used for plant transformation do also work in fungi: Agrobacterium is not only capable of infecting plants but also fungi, however, unlike plants, fungi do not secrete the phenolic compounds necessary to trigger Agrobacterium so that they have to be added, e.g. in the form of acetosyringone. [56]
Bacteria also live in symbiotic and parasitic relationships with plants and animals. Once regarded as plants constituting the class Schizomycetes, bacteria are now classified as prokaryotes. Unlike cells of animals and other eukaryotes, bacterial cells do not contain a nucleus and rarely harbour membrane-bound organelles.