Bacteria

Bacteria
• A large domain of Prokaryotic organisms.
• Typically a few micrometres in length,
• Shapes, ranging from spheres, rods and spirals.
• The first life forms to appear on Earth,
• Present in most of its habitats. Bacteria inhabit
soil, water, acidic hot springs, radioactive
waste, and the deep portions of Earth’s crust.
• Symbiotic and parasitic relationships with plants
and animals.
• 40 million bacterial cells in a gram of soil
• 1 million bacterial cells in a millilitre of fresh water.
• 5×1030 bacteria on Earth, forming a biomass which
exceeds that of all plants and animals.
• Bacteria are vital in recycling nutrients, with
many of the stages in nutrient cycles
dependent on these organisms, such as
– Fixation of nitrogen from the atmosphere and
putrefaction.
– In the biological communities surrounding
hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, bacteria
provide the nutrients needed to sustain life by
converting dissolved compounds such as hydrogen
sulphide and methane to energy.
• Most bacteria have not been characterized, and
only about half of the phyla of bacteria have
species that can be grown in the laboratory.
• The study of bacteria is known as
bacteriology, a branch of microbiology.
• There are approximately Ten times as many
bacterial cells in the human flora as there are
human cells in the body, with the largest
number of the human flora being in the gut
flora, and a large number on the skin.
• The vast majority of the bacteria in the body
are rendered harmless by the protective effects
of the immune system, and some are
beneficial.
However, several species of bacteria are
pathogenic and cause infectious diseases, including
• Cholera,
• Syphilis,
• Anthrax,
• Leprosy, and
• Bubonic plague.
• The most common fatal bacterial diseases are
respiratory infections, with Tuberculosis alone
killing about 2 million people a year, mostly in Sub-
Saharan Africa.
• In developed countries, antibiotics are used to
treat bacterial infections and are also used in
farming, making antibiotic resistance, a
growing problem
In industry, bacteria are important in
• Sewage treatment
• Breakdown of oil spills,
• Production of cheese and yogurt
through fermentation, and
• Recovery of gold, palladium, copper and other
metals in the mining sector,
• Biotechnology, and
• Manufacture of antibiotics and other
chemicals.
 Economic Importance of Bacteria
Useful Bacteria

• Biotechnology and bacteria

Biotechnology or Industrial microbiology is defined as the

use of microorganism such as bacteria, fungi and
algae for the manufacturing and services industries.
• Fermentation processes, such as brewing,
baking, cheese and butter manufacturing,
Bacteria, often Lactobacillus in combination
with yeasts and fungi, have been used for
thousands of years in the preparation of
fermented foods such as cheese, pickles,
soysauce, vinegar, wine and yogurt.
• Chemical manufacturing such as ethanol,
acetone, organic acid, enzymes, perfumes etc.
• Genetic engineering and bacteria
Genetic engineering is the manipulation of genes. It is also
called recombinant DNA technology. In genetic
engineering, pieces of DNA (genes) are introduced into
a host by means of a carrier (vector) system. The foreign
DNA becomes a permanent feature of the host, being
replicated and passed on to daughter cells along with the
rest of its DNA. Bacterial cells are transformed and used
in production of commercially important products.
The examples are production of
• Human insulin (used against diabetes),
• Human growth hormone (somatotrophin used to treat
pituitary dwarfism)
 Fiber Retting
Bacterial populations, especially that of are used to
separate fibers of jute, hemp, flax, etc., the plants are
immersed in water and when they swell, inoculated
with bacteria which hydrolyze pectic substance of the
cell walls and separate the fibers. These separated
fibers are used to make ropes and sacs.
 Digestion
• Some bacteria living in the gut of cattle, horses and
other herbivores secrete Cellulase, an enzyme that
helps in the digestion of the cellulose contents of
plant cell walls.
• Cellulose is the major source of energy for these
animals. Generally plant cells contain cellulose. The
bacteria present in the stomach of cattle will help in
the digestion of cellulose.
 Vitamin synthesis
• Escherichia coli that lives in the human large
intestine synthesize vitamin B and releases it for
human use.
• Clostridium butyclicum is used for commercial
preparation of riboflavin, and vitamin B.
 Pest Control
• Bacteria can also be used in the place of
pesticides in the biological pest control. This
commonly uses Bacillus thuringiensis (also
called Bt), a Gram-positive, soil dwelling
bacterium. This bacterium is used as
a Lepidopteran-specific insecticide.
• Because of their specificity, these pesticides are
regarded as Environmentally friendly, with little
or no effect on humans, wildlife, pollinators,
and most other beneficial insects.
 Scavenging Role
• Saprophytic bacteria obtain food from organic
remains such as animal excreta, fallen leaves, meat
etc.
• They decompose these substances by action of
digestive enzymes aerobically or anaerobically
(known as fermentation). Thus they help in sanitation
of nature, so also known as scavengers.
e.g. Pseudomonas
 Harmful effects of Bacteria
a) Food Spoiling: Saprophytic bacteria always not
only help in decomposition of dead matters, but they
also cause the rotting of vegetables, fruits, meat,
bread etc.
b) Food Poisoning: Bacteria like Staphylococcus
aureus cause food poisoning and cause people
diarrhea and vomiting.
c) Damaging of domestic articles: Spirochete
cytophaga deteriorates cotton, leather and wooden
articles.
d) Denitrification: Bacteria such as Thiobacillus
and Microbacillus convert nitrate of the soil to the
gaseous nitrogen.
e) Desulphurication: Bacteria such as Desulfovibrio
convert soil sulphates into hydrogen sulphide.
f) Cause of Diseases: It is known that over 90% of
human diseases and over 10% of plant diseases are
caused by bacteria.