Bacteria
Introduction to Bacteria
Fossil record - Life history and ecology -
Systematics - Morphology
--Museum of Paleontology, University of
California at Berkeley
Life History and Ecology of
Bacteria
"Bacteria are so widespread that it is
possible only to make the most general
statements about their life history and
ecology. They may be found on the tops of
mountains, the bottom of the deepest oceans,
in the guts of animals, and even in the
frozen rocks and ice of Antarctica. One
feature that has enabled them to spread so
far, and last so long is their ability to go
dormant for an extended period."
-- Museum of Paleontology, University of
California at Berkeley
Lectures on Bacteria
Online course
-- Biological Sciences Department/
Environmental Biotechnology Institute,
California Polytechnic State University
Nanobacteria
"Nannobacteria are very small living
creatures in the 0.05 to 0.2 micrometer
range. They are enormously abundant in
minerals and rocks, and probably run most of
the earth’s surface chemistry. Although
I conjecture that they form most of the
world’s biomass, they remain "biota
incognita" to the biological world as
their genetic relationships, metabolism, and
other characteristics remain to be
investigated."
-- naturalSCIENCE World Wide Web Journal,
1997
Bacteria - the space
colonists
"On April 20, 1967, the unmanned lunar
lander Surveyor 3 landed near Oceanus
Procellarum on the surface of the moon. One
of the things aboard was a television camera.
Two-and-a-half years later, on November 20,
1969, Apollo 12 astronauts Pete Conrad and
Alan L. Bean recovered the camera. When NASA
scientists examined it back on Earth they
were surprised to find specimens of
Streptococcus mitis that were still
alive."
-- Cosmic Ancestry, private site
Symposium on Evolution
of hydrothermal ecosystems on Earth (and
Mars?)
Held at the Ciba Foundation, London, January
30–February 1 1996
-- The Novartis Foundation (scientific and
educational charity)
Breaking Through To
Understanding Global Climate Change
"Bacteria, among the most plentiful
organisms in the ocean, are also among the
least understood sea life. Only in the last
15 years have scientists begun to unlock the
mystery of their relationship with the oceans
and the Earth's atmosphere. In recent years,
some research has focused on the latter
issue, particularly how microscopic bacteria
are involved in the regulation of atmospheric
carbon dioxide-a gas produced in large
amounts by the burning of fossil fuels and
tied to global warming."
-- College of William and Mary
Scientists
Unravel DNA of Bacteria
"Scientists have traced the entire
genetic roadmap of one of the most
heat-tolerant bacterium known. "
-- ABCNews.com, 3/25/98
Bacteria millions of years old
can be brought back to life
"California Polytechnic State University
microbiology professor Raul Cano ... some of
his students, and Ambergene Corp. of San
Carlos have revived more than 1,200 types of
bacteria and other one-celled organisms as
old as 135 million years."
-- Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, 1994
How Old Did You Say
Those Bacteria Were? Honest?
"Cano
says he has succeeded in dormant bacteria
from ancient bees (some are shown here). The
bacteria apparently survived as spores
(defined) inside the gut of a bee from amber
found in the Dominican Republic."
-- The Why Files, updated 5/1/98
An Introduction to Bacterial
Identification
General principles concerning bacterial
identification
-- Department of Bacteriology, University of
Wisconsin-Madison
Archaea
Archaebacteria--A Life
Form On Mars?
"The
Three Major Types Of Archaebacteria:1.
Methanogens (methane producers) --responsible
for swamp gas. 2. Extreme Thermophiles--live
in hot springs and black smokers. 3. Extreme
Halophiles--live in saturated brine and salt
crust."
-- Private website
Archaea: A Laboratory
Manual
"Although
the Archaea are prokaryotes, lacking a
nuclear membrane and possessing a single
circular chromosome, they possess several
molecular properties with similarity to the
eukaryotes ... Their unique phylogeny is
underscored by a predilection for extreme
environments which include high temperature,
high salt, and strictly anaerobic conditions
... unique biomolecular adaptations have
recently generated interest in the areas of
genetic variability and genome evolution,
extremely thermostable enzymes, such as DNA
polymerases for PCR, methanogenesis as an
alternative fuel source, anaerobic
bioremediation, and use of bacteriorhodopsin
for production of a biocomputer chip
..."
-- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
What are the three main
groups of archaebacteria? How are they
different?
-- Course
notes, Biology 116, Northwestern Michigan
College
Prehistoric Bacteria
From the
depths of the earth, a hot stream flows from
the lava dome inside the crater of Mount St.
Helens.
-- Volcano World, University of North Dakota
Introduction to the Archaea
"The Domain Archaea wasn't recognized as
a major domain of life until quite recently,
largely through the work of Dr. Carl Woese
and his colleagues at the University of
Illinois. Archaeans don't look that different
from most bacteria under the microscope;
since most of them are extremely difficult to
culture, their unique place among living
organisms long went unrecognized. However,
biochemically and genetically, they are as
different from bacteria as you are."
-- Museum of Paleontology, University of
California at Berkeley
Methanogenic archaea
(archaebacteria)
"Our research is focused on the
ultrastructure and biochemistry of
methanogenic archaea (archaebacteria). The
archaea are the third domain of life separate
and distinct from bacteria (eubacteria) and
eukaryotes."
-- Methanogen Research Group, Department of
Microbiology and Immunology, Queen's
University, Kingston, Canada
Archaeabacteria
"Scientists believe they have discoverd
what *may* be a *third* branch -- comprised
of microbes known as "Archaea."
Vast populations of these organisms have been
discovered in the most unlikely places and
their mere existence is challenging the
traditional theories of life and how it came
to be."
-- Japan High-Tech Satellite Network, 5/20/96
Living Fossils
"Archaea are microscopic organisms found
in hot springs and hot water vents on the
ocean floor -- and also in cooler ocean
waters. Geneticists have been fascinated by
these creatures for a couple of decades. They
consider the archaea to be a sort of
"missing link" in our understanding
of Earth's earliest life forms."
-- Earth and Sky, 10/27/95
Third Branch of Life Bares Its
Genes
"... scientists announced that they have
finished sequencing all the genes of the
deep-sea microbe, a crucial step in
comprehending how the unusual microorganisms,
known as Methanococcus jannaschii, flourish
without using sunlight, oxygen, or any
surrounding organic material."
-- ScienceNewsOnline, 8/24/96
Triumph of the Archaea
BACTERIA;
PROKARYOTES; DNA; EUKARYOTES; NUCLEUS;
WOESE/CARL; AUTHOR: ZIMMER, CARL
-- Discover, February, 1995 (From Washington
and Lee University Science Library)
'Rare' Bug Dominates
the Oceans
BACTERIA;
MICROBIOLOGY; MARINE ECOLOGY; PROKARYOTES;
ARCHAEBACTERIA
-- New Scientist, November 19, 1994 (From
Washington and Lee University Science
Library)
Microbiology
Bio132a General
Microbiology
--
Brandeis University
Microbial Genomes
Project
These microbial genome pages were created as
a reference for the community and contain a
list of current or completed eubacterial,
archaeal and eukaryotic genome sequencing
projects. Each main page includes the name of
the organism being sequenced, which
sequencing group(s) are involved in the
effort, background information on the
organism, and its current evolutionary
location on the tree of life.
--
National Center for Genome Resources
Microbial Diversity
College
course lectures
-- Department of Microbiology - North
Carolina State University
Information about Microbiology
for the Public
"The Bacteriology Web Site has a
collection of information that could be
interesting to the curious visitor of our
site."
-- Department of Bacteriology, University of
Wisconsin-Madison
Medical Microbiology &
references (college course site)
Bacteriology 330 Home Page, Host-Parasite
Interactions
-- Department of Bacteriology, University of
Wisconsin-Madison
Medical Microbiology
Online book
-- Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences,
University of Texas Medical Branch
Microbiology An
Introduction
Online book
-- Benjamin/Cummings Science
Molecular and Applied
Microbiology
Course
outline (BBS3010), including lectures on Archaea
-- School
of Biomolecular & Biomedical Sciences,
Griffith University, Australia
Digital Learning Center for
Microbial Ecology
"The
Digital Learning Center for Microbial Ecology
(DLC-ME) is a science education project ...
to use computers and network technologies to
provide students and teachers interested in
microbiology and microbial ecology with
resources that may aid their learning and
teaching."
-- Michigan State University
Microbial Underground
Medical, Microbiological and Molecular
Biological material, with links to other such
material on the internet ... On-Line Course
in Medical Bacteriology
-- Private website
Microbial ecology and microbial
degradation of hazardous contaminants
Contemporary use of microbial sciences
-- Microbial Biogeochemistry Group, Oak Ridge
National Laboratory
Microbial Genome Pages
"These
microbial genome pages were created as a
reference for the community and contain a
list of current or completed eubacterial,
archaeal and eukaryotic genome sequencing
projects. Each main page includes the name of
the organism being sequenced, which
sequencing group(s) are involved in the
effort, background informati n on the
organism, and its current evolutionary
location on the tree of life."
-- National Center for Genome Resources
Popularizations
Bugs in the News
Popularization
-- Department of Microbiology, University of
Kansas
Microbe Zoo
DirtLand - Animal Pavillion - Snack Bar -
Space Adventure - WaterWorld - Safari Hut
-- Michigan State University
Bacteria
- systematics
Major Groups of Prokaryotes
Overview of Bacteria and Archaea
-- University of Wisconsin-Madison Department
of Bacteriology
Eubacteria
Listing of Bacteria
-- Freie Universitaet Berlin, Fachbereich
Chemie
Archaea
Listing of Archaea
-- Freie Universitaet Berlin, Fachbereich
Chemie
Introduction to the Viruses
"In 1898, Friedrich Loeffler and Paul
Frosch found evidence that the cause of
foot-and-mouth disease in livestock was an
infectious particle smaller than any
bacteria. This was the first clue to the
nature of viruses, genetic entities that lie
somewhere in the grey area between living and
non-living states."
-- Museum of Paleontology, University of
California at Berkeley
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