Michael Surette

When you're studying microbiology, you need to know the key differences between the three domains of life, how scientists name and classify organisms, and how scientists identify microorganisms.Differences among bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotic microorganismsThere are three domains of life: bacteria (also known as eubacteria), archaea, and eukarya.

The habitat is an important concept in biology and microbiology in particular because microorganisms are greatly affected by where they live. Microbial habitats — including soils, rivers, lakes, oceans, on the surface of living and dead things, inside other organisms, on man-made structures, and everything in between — provide nutrients and protect cells from harsh conditions.

Energy can’t be created or destroyed, so it has to be passed around. Within the cell, energy is reused and recycled very efficiently. The same is true outside the cell, where energy is stored in everything, including leaves and rocks on the ground. The trick is getting energy out from where it’s stored. Another way of thinking about energy is to think about electrons, which are the negatively charged part of atoms.

There are three domains of life: Bacteria (also known as Eubacteria), Archaea, and Eukarya. The Bacteria and Archaea are made up entirely of microorganisms; the Eukarya contains plants, animals, and microorganisms such as fungi and protists. The Bacteria and Archaea have been grouped together and called Prokaryotes because of their lack of a nucleus, but the Archaea are more closely related to the Eukaryotes than to the Bacteria.

Vaccines have been essential in eradicating or preventing life-altering diseases, but lately, they've come under fire. Here are some common myths about vaccines: Myth 1: Vaccines aren't actually necessary. The truth is that vaccines have been essential to reducing rates of childhood illnesses. Before vaccines, 25 percent of children died before the age of 5 from pneumonia, diarrhea, measles, pertussis, or rubella, among other diseases.

Prokaryotic cells come in many different shapes and sizes that you can see under a microscope. A description of the shape of a cell is called the cell morphology. The most common cell morphologies are cocci (spherical) and bacilli (rods).Coccibacillus are a mix of both, while vibrio are shaped like a comma, spirilla are shaped like a helix (a spiral, sort of like a stretched-out Slinky), and spirochetes are twisted like a screw.

Since the 19th century, there has been an explosion of great microbiological research, leading to many different branches of microbiology, all of which are both basic and applied in nature. Here’s a list of the different fields of microbiology that have developed since the discovery of microorganisms: Aquatic, soil, and agricultural microbiology study the microorganisms associated with aquatic (including wastewater treatment systems), soil, and agricultural environments, respectively.

The plasma membrane borders the cell and acts as a barrier between the inside of the cell and the outside environment. The membrane serves many important functions in prokaryotic cells, including the following: Providing sites for respiration and/or photosynthesis Transporting nutrients Maintaining energy gradients (the difference in the amount of energy between the inside of the cell and the outside of the cell) Keeping large molecules out The plasma membrane is made of a phospholipid bilayer.