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Bacteriophages are among the most common and diverse entities in the biosphere. [2] Bacteriophages are ubiquitous viruses, found wherever bacteria exist. [3] It is estimated there are more than 10 31 bacteriophages on the planet, more than every other organism on Earth, including bacteria, combined. [4]
The interaction of phage with bacteria is the primary concern of phage community ecologists. Bacteria have developed mechanisms that prevent phages from having an effect on them, which has led to this evolutionary arms race between the phages and their host bacteria. [14]
The dominant hosts for viruses in the ocean are marine microorganisms, such as bacteria. [14] Bacteriophages are harmless to plants and animals, and are essential to the regulation of marine and freshwater ecosystems [91] are important mortality agents of phytoplankton, the base of the foodchain in aquatic environments. [92]
There is evidence that 3.45-billion-year-old Australian rocks once contained microorganisms, the earliest direct evidence of life on Earth. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Microbes are important in human culture and health in many ways, serving to ferment foods and treat sewage , and to produce fuel , enzymes , and other bioactive compounds .
Bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most of its habitats. Bacteria inhabit soil, water, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, [63] and the deep portions of Earth's crust. Bacteria also live in symbiotic and parasitic relationships with plants and animals.
Phage therapy is the use of bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections. Bacteriophage treatment offers a possible alternative to conventional antibiotic treatments for bacterial infection. [55] It is conceivable that, although bacteria can develop resistance to phages, the resistance might be easier to overcome than resistance to antibiotics.
Several bacteriophages contain toxin genes that become incorporated into the host bacteria genome through infection and render the bacteria toxic. [9] Many well known bacterial toxins are produced from specific strains of the bacteria species that have obtained toxigenicity through lysogenic conversion, pseudolysogeny, or horizontal gene ...
Desulfovibrio vulgaris is the best-studied sulfate-reducing microorganism species; the bar in the upper right is 0.5 micrometre long.. Sulfate-reducing microorganisms (SRM) or sulfate-reducing prokaryotes (SRP) are a group composed of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and sulfate-reducing archaea (SRA), both of which can perform anaerobic respiration utilizing sulfate (SO 2−