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What are bacteria and what do they do?

Medically reviewed by Jill Seladi-Schulman, Ph.D. — By Yvette Brazier on February 12, 2019
What are bacteria?
Types
Structure
Feeding
Where do they live?
Reproduction and transformation
Uses
Hazards
Resistance
The gut microbiome
History
Bacteria are microscopic, single-celled organisms that exist in their millions, in every
environment, both inside and outside other organisms.

Some bacteria are harmful, but most serve a useful purpose. They support many forms of life, both
plant and animal, and they are used in industrial and medicinal processes.

Bacteria are thought to have been the first organisms to appear on earth, about 4 billion years ago.
The oldest known fossils are of bacteria-like organisms.

Bacteria can use most organic and some inorganic compounds as food, and some can survive
extreme conditions.

A growing interest in the function of the gut microbiome is shedding new light on the roles
bacteria play in human health.

What are bacteria?

Bacteria are single-celled organisms.
Bacteria are single-cell organisms that are neither plants nor animals.

They usually measure a few micrometers in length and exist together in communities of millions.

A gram of soil typically contains about 40 million bacterial cells. A milliliter of fresh water usually
holds about one million bacterial cells.

The earth is estimated to hold at least 5 nonillion bacteria, and much of the earth’s biomass is
thought to be made up of bacteria.

Types
There are many different types of bacteria. One way of classifying them is by shape. There are
three basic shapes.

Spherical: Bacteria shaped like a ball are called cocci, and a single bacterium is a coccus.
Examples include the streptococcus group, responsible for “strep throat.”
Rod-shaped: These are known as bacilli (singular bacillus). Some rod-shaped bacteria are curved.
These are known as vibrio. Examples of rod-shaped bacteria include Bacillus anthracis (B.
anthracis), or anthrax.
Spiral: These are known as spirilla (singular spirillus). If their coil is very tight they are known as
spirochetes. Leptospirosis, Lyme disease, and syphilis are caused by bacteria of this shape.
There are many variations within each shape group.

Structure
Bacterial cells are different from plant and animal cells. Bacteria are prokaryotes, which means
they have no nucleus.

A bacterial cell includes:

Capsule: A layer found on the outside of the cell wall in some bacteria.
Cell wall: A layer that is made of a polymer called peptidoglycan. The cell wall gives the bacteria
its shape. It is located outside the plasma membrane . The cell wall is thicker in some bacteria,
called Gram positive bacteria.
Plasma membrane: Found within the cell wall, this generates energy and transports chemicals. The
membrane is permeable, which means that substances can pass through it.
Cytoplasm: A gelatinous substance inside the plasma membrane that contains genetic material and
ribosomes.
DNA: This contains all the genetic instructions used in the development and function of the
bacterium. It is located inside the cytoplasm.
Ribosomes: This is where proteins are made, or synthesized. Ribosomes are complex particles
made up of RNA-rich granules.
Flagellum: This is used for movement, to propel some types of bacteria. There are some bacteria
that can have more than one.
Pili: These hair-like appendages on the outside of the cell allow it to stick to surfaces and transfer
genetic material to other cells. This can contribute to the spread of illness in humans.
Feeding
Bacteria feed in different ways.

Heterotrophic bacteria, or heterotrophs, get their energy through consuming organic carbon. Most
absorb dead organic material, such as decomposing flesh. Some of these parasitic bacteria kill
their host, while others help them.

Autotrophic bacteria (or just autotrophs) make their own food, either through either:

photosynthesis, using sunlight, water and carbon dioxide, or

chemosynthesis, using carbon dioxide, water, and chemicals such as ammonia, nitrogen, sulfur,
and others
Bacteria that use photosynthesis are called photoautotrophs. Some types, for example
cyanobacteria, produce oxygen. These probably played a vital role in creating the oxygen in the
earth’s atmosphere. Others, such as heliobacteria, do not produce oxygen.

Those that use chemosynthesis are known as chemoautotrophs. These bacteria are commonly
found in ocean vents and in the roots of legumes, such as alfalfa, clover, peas, beans, lentils, and
peanuts.

Where do they live?

Bacteria can thrive even in extreme environments, such as glaciers.
Bacteria can be found in soil, water, plants, animals, radioactive waste, deep in the earth ’s crust,
arctic ice and glaciers, and hot springs. There are bacteria in the stratosphere, between 6 and 30
miles up in the atmosphere, and in the ocean depths, down to 32,800 feet or 10,000 meters deep.

Aerobes, or aerobic bacteria, can only grow where there is oxygen. Some types can cause
problems for the human environment, such as corrosion, fouling, problems with water clarity, and
bad smells.

Anaerobes, or anaerobic bacteria, can only grow where there is no oxygen. In humans, this is
mostly in the gastrointestinal tract. They can also cause gas, gangrene, tetanus, botulism, and most
dental infections.

Facultative anaerobes, or facultative anaerobic bacteria, can live either with or without oxygen,
but they prefer environments where there is oxygen. They are mostly found in soil, water,
vegetation and some normal flora of humans and animals. Examples include Salmonella.

Mesophiles, or mesophilic bacteria, are the bacteria responsible for most human infections. They
thrive in moderate temperatures, around 37°C. This is the temperature of the human body.

Examples include Listeria monocytogenes, Pesudomonas maltophilia, Thiobacillus novellus,

Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyrogenes, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Escherichia coli,
and Clostridium kluyveri.

The human intestinal flora, or gut microbiome, contains beneficial mesophilic bacteria, such as
dietary Lactobacillus acidophilus.