Wherever different species live within the same niche, they will interact with each other. Bacteria can interact with both other bacteria and other species. These microbial and bacterial interactions can lead to competition for food or available space, a helpful arrangement to support both species or neutral living together. Especially these bacterial interactions have huge impacts on the ecology of our environments and in organisms.
Bacteria developed lethal killing machines to deliver toxins into other organisms. These toxic bullets have different functions to break up essential components of the prey. Independent on what the target of the toxin is, the prey surely will not come out happy after that!
Bacteria have powerful killing machines with which they carve out their own niches. To kill competitors, bacteria from the Vibrio family, have a powerful crossbow and its arrows availble. However, these bacteria can decide whether they risk a kill and take up what’s left of the dead prey or they escape the dangerous situation. Here, we look at how bacteria decide to kill or flee.
Cable bacteria are long chains of bacteria that transport electrons within this chain. In this fascinating bacterial cable, these bacteria then conduct electricity.
Bacteria in your mouth protect your teeth from pathogenic bacteria. When you eat lots of sugars, the pathogens can fight off your friendly bacteria. The more pathogenic bacteria grow on your teeth, the more acids they produce that can cause caries and cavities. Learn about the bacterial battles in your mouths.
When bacteria are under attack, they are telling their siblings about the incoming danger. This allows them to produce weapons – like the molecule bacteriocin – to prepare themselves for a counterattack. With this altruistic behaviour, bacteria assemble and fight back as a team.
Bacteria can be major problems for human health. One of the reasons for that is because they have the ability to hide in their own houses. Such a house is called a bacterial biofilm which protect bacteria from harsh environments, toxic chemicals and to form a community within the biofilm.
Bacteria use a stick weapon to kill other bacteria that do not belong to their family. This stick is the so-called contact-dependent growth inhibition weapon – a very complex killing device. Read on to learn about this weapon.
When bacteria are hungry, they sometimes also need the help of their friends. In that case, bacteria can build little tubes between them to exchange nutrients. With this bacterial nanotube, they can exchange nutrients and thus feed each other to make sure everyone survives.
Bacterial killing is happening everywhere where bacteria fight for space and nutrients. Some bacteria have highly efficient weapons to kill other microbes. These killer bacteria can survive in the rarest and driest environmental niches. Just by killing other bacteria.
What kind of fantastic nanoweapon is that?
Wherever different species live within the same niche, they will interact with each other. Bacteria can interact with both other bacteria and other species. These microbial and bacterial interactions can lead to competition for food or available space, a helpful arrangement to support both species or neutral living together. Especially these bacterial interactions have huge impacts on the ecology of our environments and in organisms.
