What are Microorganisms? Definition, History, Characteristics, Importance:

Microorganisms are life forms that are impossible or very difficult to detect without the use of magnifying instruments, due to their minute size. They have very diverse functions that affect the rest of the ecosystem in which they reside, from the creation of oxygen or the decomposition of organic matter to the infectious processes that cause diseases. In this article we will discuss What are microorganisms, their types, properties, and the importance of microorganisms known today, analyzing their characteristics and functions within their ecosystem.

Introduction to Microorganisms:

• Microbes existed much earlier than humans, and the fossil record shows that microbes existed on Earth as early as 3.2 billion years ago.

• According to the “five kingdoms” of biology, organisms can be divided into prokaryotes, protists, fungi, plants, and animals. The microorganism is a collective term for the first three.

• Although human beings cannot see these small lives with the naked eye, they are always accompanied by human beings and have a huge impact on human life and production.

• Leeuwenhoek is called “the pioneer of microbiology”, Pasteur is called “the founder of microorganisms”, and Koch is called “the founder of bacteria”

• Leeuwenhoek used a self-made single-type microscope with a magnification of about 200 times to observe individuals of microorganisms such as bacteria, and described the morphology of some microorganisms,

• Their common feature is that they are small in size, but they are an important part of nature and ecosystems and are closely related to humans.

Read: Prokaryotes vs Eukaryotes

Definition of Microorganisms:

• Microorganisms are small organisms that can be seen only through a microscope.

• Microorganisms are small organisms that cannot be seen through the naked eyes and can only be seen under a microscope are called microorganisms or microbes.

• A microbe is a prokaryotic living thing that is too small to be seen with the naked eye and can only be seen under a microscope.

What are Microorganisms?

• Microorganisms are the general term for all small organisms that are invisible to the naked eye.

• Microorganisms are of two types Prokaryotic microbes and eukaryotic microbes.

• Prokaryotic Microorganisms include bacteria, actinomycetes, cyanobacteria, mycoplasma, rickettsia, and chlamydia, etc.

• Eukaryotic microorganisms are included in fungi, protozoa, and microscopic algae, as well as viruses and subviruses belonging to the acellular type.

• The study of Microorganisms is known as Microbiology

• Microorganisms are much simpler than plants and animals, which have similar characteristics and an elementary biological organization.

• Microorganisms are can categorize into two types pathogenic and non-pathogenic microorganisms.

• Pathogenic are those that are capable of causing disease while non-pathogenic are entirely harmless and some of the microscopic life that lives inside the human body.

Discovery of Microorganisms:

• The discovery and morphological observation of microorganisms began with the invention of the microscope by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek.
• He clearly saw bacteria and protozoa with a microscope that could magnify 50 to 300 times.
• Antoni van Leeuwenhoek’s discovery and description revealed a new biological world for the first time. – Microbial world is called Microbiology.
• It has epoch-making significance in the development history of microbiology.
• In the 19th century, Pasteur in France and Koch in Germany advanced the study of microorganisms from morphological description to the stage of physiological research, revealing that microorganisms are the cause of spoilage fermentation and human and animal diseases, and established A series of unique microbial technologies such as isolation, culture, inoculation, and sterilization.
• This laid the foundation of microbiology and opened up branch disciplines such as medical and industrial microbiology. Pasteur and Koch were the founders of microbiology.
• The outstanding work of Pasteur and Koch made microbiology begin to form as an independent discipline, and various branches established by them appeared, such as bacteriology (Pasteur, Koch, etc.), disinfection surgery Technology (J. Lister), Immunology (Pasteur, Metchnikoff, Behring, Ehrlich, etc.), Soil Microbiology (Beijernck Winogradsky, etc.), Virology (Ivanowsky, Beijerinck, etc.), Phytopathology and Mycology (Bary, Berkeley, etc.), etc.), brewing (Hensen, Jorgensen, etc.), and chemotherapeutics (Ehrlich, etc.).

Types of Microorganisms:

Bacteria:

• This term bacteria comes from the Greek “bakteria”, whose meaning refers to a cane, this is due to their morphology.
• The bacterium is the smallest unicellular organism that exists on earth.
• It belongs to the Kingdom of Monera and is characterized by having a prokaryotic cell.
• Bacterial size varies between 0.5 and 8 micrometers in length.
• In bacteria, genetic material is usually found grouped in a nuclear region called nucleoid that lacks its own envelope or membrane.
• It does not have a nucleus or membrane-bound cellular organelles such as mitochondria, chloroplasts, etc.
• They have flagella and pili systems for locomotion.
• Based on their shape bacteria can be classified into bacilli (elongated or rod-shaped), vibrios (curved), spirilla (spiral), and cocci (rounded).
• The latter can occur isolated, in pairs (diplococci), in aligned groups (streptococci), in irregular masses (staphylococci), or in cubic masses (sarcinae).
• They help break down digested food and others are capable of producing antibiotics and are used in scientific research specifically in biotechnology and genetic engineering.
• They have wide industrial use in the manufacture of cheese, yogurt, and dairy products, as a result of the lactic fermentation process.
• Among the foods that can be derived from microorganisms, are wine, beer, and other alcoholic beverages.

Virus:

• A virus is a non-cellular life form that spreads the infection to the cells of living organisms, including bacteria.
• The term originated from the Latin word virus, meaning “poison”. The origin of viruses is one of the unsolved mysteries of biology.
• The number of viruses studied in detail reaches five thousand, but it is believed that their real number exceeds a million.
• A virus has DNA or RNA as a genetic material protected by a capsid protein shell, in some cases a lipid shell.
• Despite the presence of genetic material, viruses cannot reproduce outside a living cell.
• Their size is less than one-hundredth of the average bacterium, which is why they are so difficult to study.
• The science that studies viruses is called virology.
• The most common classification of virus species depends on the type of genetic material, that is, DNA-containing and RNA-containing viruses are distinguished.
• Most viruses belong to the second class. Some exceptions viruses contain both types of nucleic acid.
• Another classification method, proposed by David Baltimore in 1971, also considers the number of nucleic acid chains (one or two) and the method of its replication (synthesis in the nucleus, on ribosomes, or in the cytoplasm).
• The transfer of viruses can be carried out in various ways: from one organism to another by direct contact, by contact with natural secretions, or by airborne droplets.
• Some viruses can infect a wide range of living organisms, others only a certain species.
• Human viruses carry a wide variety of infections, ranging from the fairly harmless common cold to diseases such as rabies and AIDS.
• A great contribution to the study of viruses was made by the domestic microbiologist Dmitry Iosifovich Ivanovsky. In 1892, he discovered that it was a non-cellular life form that was the cause of tobacco mosaic disease, and became the discoverer of viruses.
• The term was first used in 1898 by his follower, the Dutch microbiologist Martin Beijerinck.
• In 2002, American scientists created the first synthetic polio virus.

Fungi:

• A fungus is a type of eukaryotic organism belonging to the kingdom of Fungi.
• Fungi can be unicellular or multicellular For example yeast belongs to unicellular, while mold and mushrooms belong to multicellular fungi.
• Fungi consist of membrane-bound cell organelles.
• The cell wall of fungi is made up of chitin.
• More than 70,000 species of fungi have now been discovered, and it is estimated that only a fraction of all existence.
• These are heterotrophic means that cannot synthesize their own food.
• Yeasts, molds, and mushrooms are some of the important examples of fungi.
• They decompose dead plants and animals, extracting nutrients from them.
• Fungi, like bacteria and microbes, are decomposers, that is, organisms that break down the organic matter of dead organisms.
• Other fungi are used in food processing, such as yeast for bread and other processing, and brewing also requires fungi.
• In agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry, fungi have a harmful side. Fungi can cause a variety of plant diseases, resulting in huge economic losses.
• Fungi can also cause a variety of diseases in animals, plants, and humans.

Importance of Microorganisms:

• Microbes are model organisms in the basic research of life sciences.
• Promote the development of tissue culture and cell culture technology for higher animals and plants.
• Microorganisms have an important impact on humans as well as microbial communities.
• Microbes are widely involved in many fields such as food, medicine, industry and agriculture, environmental protection, and so on.
• Bacteria, fungus, molds, and yeast are the most important microorganisms that use in food and food product production.
• Many microbes are used in the fermentation process to produce fermented products such as yogurt, wine, beer, ethanol, vitamins, antibiotics, bread, etc.
• Microorganisms are also used in the Production of Antibiotics, Dairy Products, Alcoholic Beverages, Bread making, Food Yeast, Organic Acids, Vitamins, etc.
• Microorganisms are used to generate fuels such as ethanol, hydrogen, methane, lipids, and butanol.
• Microorganisms are used in Scientific research for the study of genomics, biochemistry, and bioinformatics.
• Biological techniques use living organisms to remove pollutants and are called bioremediation.
• It may also be used to purify the environment, such as activated sludge and petroleum-degrading bacteria used for the treatment of industrial wastewater.