Bacteria

Bacteria (bacterium, singular), micro-organisms that lack internal cell membranes. The most common and ancient organisms on earth. Most bacteria are less than 1m in length. Hundreds of thousands of bacteria can fit into a space the size of the full stop at the end of this sentence. Howe er, colonies of bacteria, such as on a laborator! culture plate can easil! be iewed without a microscope. "rouping organisms helps scientists stud!, understand, and discuss them more effecti el!. #ife on earth is fre$uentl! described as being either prokaryotic (microscopic and lacking cells with internal membranes) or eukaryotic (macroscopic or microscopic but with clearl! defined internal compartments). %acteria are prokar!otic organisms, or prokar!otes. Microbiologists further classif! bacteria according to their basic shapes. &pherical bacteria are called cocci, corkscrew-shaped are called spirilla or spirochetes, rod-shaped are called bacilli, and threadlike bacteria are called filamentous. &ome bacteria, called pleiomorphic, take arious forms depending on conditions. Structure #ike all cells, bacteria contain '(). Howe er, whereas cellular '() is arranged in strands, bacterial '() has a circular arrangement. %acteria also often ha e additional genes on smaller rings called plasmids. %acterial '() is not enclosed in a nucleus, as is the '() of eukar!otic cells. #ike eukar!otic cells, bacteria ha e ribosomes*round structures acti e in protein s!nthesis*but the! are smaller and ha e different densit! characteristics than eukar!otic ribosomes. Man! bacteria feature small protrusions from their outside cell surface known as pili (singular, pilus). These hairlike outgrowths assist the bacteria in attaching to certain surfaces. Flagella (singular, flagellum) are hairlike e+tensions. The! are much longer than pili and can be found at either or both ends of a bacterium or all o er its bod! surface. ,lagella beat in a circular motion to help the bacterium mo e. %acterial flagella are completel! different from eukar!otic flagella, which are made up of different proteins and mo e the cell b! sliding and contracting. &ome bacteria ha e structures known as endospores around their '() and other cell portions. These thick-walled bodies are e+tremel! resistant to en ironmental stresses and can li e in a kind of dormant condition for decades or e en centuries.

Growth and Reproduction ) bacterium reproduces b! means of a process called binar! fission, in which a cop! of the '() is made and then the outer membrane of the bacterium begins to grow inward and di ides the bacterium into two identical cells. %inar! fission does not pro ide bacteria with a wa! to e+change genetic information between indi iduals. %acteria transfer genetic material b! means of a process called con-ugation, in which one bacterium attaches itself to another bacterium and introduces '() directl! into it b! means of a pilus.

Viruses

Virus, infectious agent found in irtuall! all life forms, including humans, animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria. .iruses consist of genetic material* '() or /() *surrounded b! a protecti e coating of protein, called a capsid, with or without an outer lipid en elope. .iruses are between 01-111 times smaller than bacteria (too small to be seen b! light microscop!). .iruses ar! in size from the largest po+ iruses of about 231 nanometers in length to the smallest polio iruses of about 41 nanometers. .iruses are not reall! free-li ing as the! cannot reproduce outside of a li ing cell5 the! ha e e ol ed to transmit their genetic information from one cell to another for the purpose of replication. .iruses can damage or kill the cells that the! infect, causing disease in infected organisms. ) few stimulate cells to grow uncontrollabl! and produce cancers. Man! infectious diseases that are caused b! iruses ha e no cures. The difficult! in de eloping anti iral therapies stems from the large number of ariant iruses that can cause the same disease, as well as the inabilit! of drugs to disable a irus without disabling health! cells. Structure and Classification 6ndi idual iruses, or irus particles, also called virions, contain genetic material in one of se eral form. #ike cell '(), almost all iral '() is doublestranded, and it can ha e either a circular or a linear arrangement. )lmost all iral /() is single-stranded5 it is usuall! linear, and it ma! be either segmented (with different genes on different /() molecules) or nonsegmented (with all genes on a single piece of /()).

The iral protecti e shell, or capsid, can be either helical or icosahedral (01 triangular sides). 7apsids are composed of repeating units of one or a few different proteins. These units are called capsomers. .iruses also carr! genes for making proteins that are ne er incorporated into the irus particle and are found onl! in infected cells. These iral proteins are called non-structural proteins5 the! include factors re$uired for the replication of the iral genome and the production of the irus particle. &ome icosahedral and helical animal iruses are enclosed in a lipid en elope ac$uired when the irus buds through host-cell membranes. 6nserted into this en elope are glycoproteins that the iral genome directs the cell to make5 these molecules bind irus particles to susceptible host cells. The most elaborate iruses are the bacteriophages, which use bacteria as their hosts.

&ome bacteriophages resemble an insect with an icosahedral head attached to a tubular sheath. ,rom the base of the sheath e+tend se eral long tail fibers that help the irus attach to the bacterium and in-ect its '() to be replicated and to direct capsid production and irus particle assembl! inside the cell

Fungi
Fungi, di erse group of either single-celled or multicellular organisms that obtain food b! direct absorption of nutrients. The food is dissol ed b! enz!mes that the fungi e+crete, is then absorbed through thin cell walls, and is distributed b! simple circulation, or streaming, of the protoplasm. Fungus Infections, diseases caused b! the growth of fungi in or on the bod!. 6n most health! people fungal infections are mild, in ol ing onl! the skin, hair, nails, or other superficial sites, and the! clear up spontaneousl!. The! include the familiar ringworm and athlete8s foot. 6n someone with an impaired immune s!stem, howe er, such infections, called dermatoph!toses, can persist for long periods. The organisms causing dermatoph!toses belong to the genera Microsporum, Epidermophyton, and Trichophyton.