Microorganism
hideA microorganism (from the Greek: μικρός, mikrós, "small" and ὀργανισμός, organismós, "organism"; also spelled micro organism or micro-organism) or microbe is an organism that is microscopic (usually too small to be seen by the naked human eye). The study of microorganisms is called microbiology, a subject that began with Anton van Leeuwenhoek's discovery of microorganisms in 1675, using a microscope of his own design.
Microorganisms are very diverse; they include bacteria, fungi, archaea, and protists; microscopic plants (called green algae); and animals such as plankton, the planarian and the amoeba. Some microbiologists also include viruses, but others consider these as non-living. Most microorganisms are unicellular (single-celled), but this is not universal, since some multicellular organisms are microscopic, while some unicellular protists and bacteria, like Thiomargarita namibiensis, are macroscopic and visible to the naked eye.
Microorganisms live in all parts of the biosphere where there is liquid water, including soil, hot springs, on the ocean floor, high in the atmosphere and deep inside rocks within the Earth's crust. Microorganisms are critical to nutrient recycling in ecosystems as they act as decomposers. As some microorganisms can fix nitrogen, they are a vital part of the nitrogen cycle, and recent studies indicate that airborne microbes may play a role in precipitation and weather.
Microbes are also exploited by people in biotechnology, both in traditional food and beverage preparation, and in modern technologies based on genetic engineering. However, pathogenic microbes are harmful, since they invade and grow within other organisms, causing diseases that kill millions of people, other animals, and plants.
For more information about Microorganism, read the full article at
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News tagged with microorganisms
Microorganism may provide key to combating giant salvinia throughout Louisiana
Nov 19, 2009 |
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A team of researchers at Louisiana Tech University has found that a naturally occurring microorganism acts as a natural herbicide against giant salvinia.
New imagining technique could lead to better antibiotics and cancer drugs
Nov 09, 2009 |
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A recently devised method of imaging the chemical communication and warfare between microorganisms could lead to new antibiotics, antifungal, antiviral and anti-cancer drugs, said a Texas AgriLife Research scientist.
Scientists discover, patent, sell waste-water tech
Oct 26, 2009 |
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Sam Houston State University has applied for six federal patents, three of which have already been awarded, to protect the technology and engineering associated with a "revolutionary" packaged wastewater treatment system ...
New artificial enzyme safer for nature
Oct 22, 2009 |
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Perilous and polluting industrial processes can be made safer with enzymes. But only a short range of enzymes have been available for the chemical industry.
GSU professor develops new method to help keep fruit, vegetables and flowers fresh
Oct 20, 2009 |
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Did you know that millions of tons of fruits and vegetables in the United States end up in the trash can before being eaten, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture? A Georgia State University professor has developed ...
Seeking Life's Shadow
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 01, 2009 |
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They haven't yet figured out how to draw blood from stones, but a group of French researchers is offering new insight that could change how scientists search for signs of life in Martian rocks.
Planet's nitrogen cycle overturned by 'tiny ammonia eater of the seas'
Sep 30, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- It's not every day you find clues to the planet's inner workings in aquarium scum. But that's what happened a few years ago when University of Washington researchers cultured a tiny organism from the bottom ...
Hydrogen-making algae's 'Achilles' heel' discovered
Sep 29, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have discovered how oxygen stops green algae from producing hydrogen. The findings could help those working towards 'solar H2-farms' in which microorganisms produce hydrogen fuel ...
Engineers track bacteria's kayak paddle-like motion for first time
Sep 25, 2009 |
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Yale engineers have for the first time observed and tracked E. coli bacteria moving in a liquid medium with a motion similar to that of a kayak paddle.
New biosensor can detect bacteria instantaneously
Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry
Sep 08, 2009 |
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A research group from the Rovira i Virgili University (URV) in Tarragona, Spain, has developed a biosensor that can immediately detect very low levels of Salmonella typhi, the bacteria that causes typhoid fever. ...
Virus Enzymes Could Promote Human, Animal Health
Aug 31, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Could viruses be good for you? Scientists with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have shown that enzymes from bacteria-infecting viruses known as phages could have beneficial applications ...
Discovery of a mechanism controlling the fate of hematopoietic stem cells
Jul 30, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Hematopoietic stem cells are capable of manufacturing all types of blood cells. But which factors influence the production of a specific type of cell? Until now, it was thought that this was ...
New method uses electrolyzed water for more efficient fuel production
Jul 27, 2009 |
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Using electrolyzed water rather than harsh chemicals could be a more effective and environmentally friendly method in the pretreatment of ethanol waste products to produce an acetone-butanol-ethanol fuel mix, ...
German researchers discover new target for tailored antibiotics
Jul 14, 2009 |
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More and more strains of bacteria are developing resistance to previously life-saving antibiotics. Researchers at TUM, the Technische Universitaet Muenchen, have shed light on a metabolic step that appears in many aggressive ...
A Matter of Density, Not Quantity: Individual Bacterial Cells are Capable of Quorum Sensing when Confined in Small Volum
Jul 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Infections of wounds, pneumonia, etc. in hospitals in particular are often caused by bacteria called Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Once they reach a certain density, colonies of Pseudomonas aeruginosa produce virulence ...
