top of page

One of the first lifeforms on earth, bacteria inhabit most of Earth's habitats, from it's surface to earth's crust,  including the bodies of other living organisms. There are so many bacterial species that most have not been characterized and only about half of them can be reproduced in the lab. The study of bacteria is called bacteriology, which is a branch of microbiology.

​

Bacteria represent a large domain of prokaryotic organisms. Prokaryotes are divided into two domains, one is Archaea and the other is Bacteria. Bacterial organisms are unicellular and lack a membrane bound nucleus, mitochondria, or any other membrane bound organelle.

 

Due to the vast plethora of bacterial types, several criterion have been developed to identify and classify them into groups via shapes & sizes (morphology), their O2/CO2 requirements (fastidiousness), nutrition requirements, flagella presence, temperature dependence, key enzymes, serological reactions, gram stains, and DNA sequences to just name a few. Many are medically related as bacteria are important to our health, both when we are healthy and when we are ill.

​

bottom of page