Bacteria are the most abundant living things on Earth. They live in almost all environments. They are found in the air, ocean, soil, and intestines of animals. They are even found in rocks deep below Earths surface. Any surface that has not been sterilized is likely to be covered with bacteria. The total number of bacteria in the world is amazing. Its estimated to be about 5 million trillion trillion. If you write that number in digits, it has 30 zeroes! Bacteria are the most diverse organisms on Earth. Thousands of species of bacteria have been discovered. Many more are thought to exist. The known species are classified on the basis of various traits. For example, they may be classified by the shape of their cells. They may also be classified by how they react to a dye called Gram stain. Bacteria come in several different shapes. The different shapes can be seen by examining bacteria under a light microscope. Therefore, its relatively easy to classify them by shape. There are three types of bacteria based on shape: bacilli (bacillus, singular), or rod shaped. cocci (coccus, singular), or sphere shaped. spirilli (spirillus, singular), or spiral shaped. You can see a common example of each type of bacteria in Figure 8.10. Different types of bacteria stain a different color when Gram stain is applied to them. This makes them easy to identify. Some stain purple and some stain red, as you can see in Figure 8.11. The two types differ in their outer layers. This explains why they stain differently. Bacteria that stain purple are called gram-positive bacteria. They have a thick cell wall without an outer membrane. Bacteria that stain red are called gram-negative bacteria. They have a thin cell wall with an outer membrane. Bacteria and people have many important relationships. Bacteria make our lives easier in a variety of ways. In fact, we could not survive without them. On the other hand, many bacteria can make us sick. Some of them are even deadly. For a dramatic overview of the many roles of bacteria, watch this stunning video: MEDIA Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: Bacteria help usand all other living thingsby decomposing wastes. In this way, they recycle carbon and nitrogen in ecosystems. In addition, photosynthetic cyanobacteria are important producers. On ancient Earth, they added oxygen to the atmosphere and changed the course of evolution forever. There are billions of bacteria inside the human digestive tract. They help us digest food. They also make vitamins and play other important roles. We use bacteria in many other ways as well. For example, we use them to: create medical products such as vaccines. transfer genes in gene therapy. make fuels such as ethanol. clean up oil spills. kill plant pests. ferment foods. Do you eat any of the fermented foods pictured in Figure 8.12? If so, you are eating bacteria and their wastes. Yum! You have ten times as many bacterial cells as human cells in your body. Luckily for you, most of these bacteria are harmless. However, some of them can cause disease. Any organism that causes disease is called a pathogen. Diseases caused by bacterial pathogens include food poisoning, strep throat, and Lyme disease. Bacteria that cause disease may spread directly from person to person. For example, they may spread when people shake hands with, or sneeze on, other people. Bacteria may also spread through food, water, or objects that have become contaminated with them. Some bacteria are spread by vectors. A vector is an organism that spreads bacteria or other pathogens. Most vectors are animals, commonly insects. For example, deer ticks like the one in Figure 8.13 spread Lyme disease. Ticks carry Lyme disease bacteria from deer to people when they bite them. Bacteria in food or water usually can be killed by heating it to a high temperature. Generally, this temperature is at least 71 C (160 F). Bacteria on surfaces such as countertops and floors can be killed with disinfectants, such as chlorine
Output: ____organism that causes disease