Bacteria are of
immense importance
because of their rapid
growth, reproduction,
and mutation rates,
as well as, their ability
to exist under adverse
conditions.
The oldest fossils
known, nearly 3.5
billion years old, are
fossils of bacteria-like
organisms.
Bacteria can be autotrophs or heterotrophs.
anaerobic which
means oxygen is
deadly to them.
Green patches are green sulfur
bacteria. The rust patches are
colonies of purple non sulfur
bacteria. The red patches are purple
sulfur bacteria.
Archaebacteria
Methanogens
These Archebacteria
are anaerobes. They
make methane
(natural gas) as a
waste product. They
are found in swamp
sediments, sewage,
and in buried landfills.
In the future, they
could be used to
produce methane as a
byproduct of sewage
treatment or landfill
operation.
Halophiles
These are salt-loving Archaebacteria that grow
in places like the Great Salt Lake of Utah or salt
ponds on the edge of San Francisco Bay. Large
numbers of certain halophiles can turn these
waters a dark pink. Pink halophiles contain a
pigment very similar to the rhodopsin in the
human retina. They use this visual pigment for a
type of photosynthesis that does not produce
oxygen. Halophiles are aerobes, however, and
perform aerobic respiration.
Extreme halophiles can live in extremely salty environments. Most
are photosynthetic autotrophs. The photosynthesizers in this
category are purple because instead of using chlorophyll to
photosynthesize, they use a similar pigment called
bacteriorhodopsin that uses all light except for purple light,
making the cells appear purple.
Thermophiles
These are Archaebacteria from hot springs and
other high temperature environments. Some can
grow above the boiling temperature of water.
They are anaerobes, performing anaerobic
respiration.
Thermophiles are interesting because they contain
genes for heat-stable enzymes that may be of
great value in industry and medicine. An
example is taq polymerase, the gene for which
was isolated from a collection of Thermus
aquaticus in a Yellowstone Park hot spring. Taq
polymerase is used to make large numbers of
copies of DNA sequences in a DNA sample. It is
invaluable to medicine, biotechnology, and
biological research. Annual sales of taq
polymerase are roughly half a billion dollars.
Eubacteria
Cyanobacteria
This is a group of bacteria
that includes some that are
single cells and some that
are chains of cells. You may
have seen them as "green
slime" in your aquarium or in
a pond.
Cyanobacteria can do
"modern photosynthesis",
which is the kind that makes
oxygen from water. All plants
do this kind of
photosynthesis and inherited
the ability from the
cyanobacteria.
Cyanobacteria were the first organisms on Earth to
do modern photosynthesis and they made the first
oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere.
Bacteria are often
maligned as the
causes of human and
animal disease.
However, certain
bacteria, the
actinomycetes,
produce antibiotics
such as streptomycin
and nocardicin.
Other Bacteria live symbiotically in the
guts of animals or elsewhere in their
bodies.
Saprobes help to
break down dead
organic matter.
Paramecium reproduction