A bacteria: goodness and badness!

HIBAPRESS-RABAT

A bacteria is a tiny organism, the size of a micron, that can only be seen under a microscope. It is an annoying and vile organism, like all creatures and things that have acquired a bad reputation, although it carries within itself many elements of goodness and villainy. It is easy to imagine that we cannot live without this burdensome bacteria.

However, the famous Dutch scientist Levenhoek was far from suspecting that by inventing the magnifying glass, the precursor to the microscope, he would discover the strangest and most insignificant of creatures: the bacteria. Even stranger than this fateful discovery in the history of humanity, it occurred by chance, while Levenhock was trying – using his lenses whose magnification did not exceed 200 times – to find the secret of his curiosity which led him to examine all the elements of nature that surrounded him, to be surprised by these micro-organisms inherent in all these elements, living and moving, and practicing an astonishing life.

It was then that German scientist Robert Koch discovered the relationship between bacteria and disease. What about this tiny organism, capable of performing wonders that are beyond the power of human beings and superior to the most powerful armies?

Bacteria are a large group of unicellular organisms, characterized by their simple structure of a single cell without a nucleus or with a rudimentary nucleus.

Inside its cell wall is a cytoplasm that contains a single ringed chromosome, DNA, and a few storage bodies. The bacterial cell is surrounded by a cell wall and a membrane. Its cell wall is composed of a peptidoglycan compound, without which the bacterial cell explodes, because the internal osmotic pressure is about twenty times higher than atmospheric pressure.

They belong to the plant kingdom among the protozoa, which reproduce by simple binary fission. Flagella are the means of locomotion for many species, some of which are autotrophic, that is, they process their nutritional needs on their own, and others are heterotrophic, obtaining the necessary energy through analysis. chemical of organic compounds, as in the fermentation process in so-called anaerobic respiration (in contrast to the direct use of oxygen in the case of aerobic respiration).

Some species only live in the presence of oxygen, and most species are capable of directly absorbing atmospheric oxygen, such as humans and animals, and are known as “aerobic bacteria”. There are other species for which oxygen is toxic and which cannot use it or live in its presence: these are “anaerobic bacteria”. Between the two, there is an intermediate species that can live in the presence or absence of oxygen.

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