About the differences between bacteria and viruses
The differences between bacteria and viruses are based on their structure, size and reproduction. While bacteria are generally considered living organisms, viruses are not.
Human body
Bacteria influence the human body in many different ways – both positive and negative. Gut bacteria help our body digest food, strengthen the immune system and influence the way we think and feel. Some bacteria can also make us sick, while the friendly bacteria prevent the bad bacteria from entering our bodies. Our bodies and minds would surely not work the way they do if it wasn’t for the help from our little friends.
How a healthy gut microbiome protects you and how to keep its superpower
Your gut microbiome is full of helpful and fascinating bacteria. They all work together to keep you healthy, digest your food and fight off intruders. Here, you will learn about what a healthy gut microbiome is, what it does and how to keep it.
Thanks to iron, bacteria know where they are
Bacteria can sense the iron concentration of their environment thanks to special iron transporters, of which they produce multiple.
How bacteria cause caries on your teeth
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.
Bacteria changing blood types
Some bacteria in our guts have proteins that cleave off sugars from our blood cells. This can lead to temporally changing blood types to feed the bacteria.
Bacteria building houses
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.
How bacteria get (too) attached
Pathogenic bacteria developed different mechanisms to attach to human host cells. However, our immune system learned to fight back, so that a constant battle between bacteria and host is happening in our bodies.
Tiny Biological Needles: How Some Bacteria Are Able to Infect Their Targets
Some pathogenic bacteria use a weapon which is called type 3 secretion system to infect their host targets.
Chemotaxis helps bacteria move towards goodies
Chemotaxis helps bacteria to know that they are surrounded by certain chemicals. They can then move towards them if the chemicals are helpful. But how does chemotaxis work? Find out here.
How bacteria sense iron in their environment
Bacteria sense iron in the environment via proteins that are transporters and receptors in one. The transporter imports iron, while the receptor tells the bacterium that iron is present on the outside. This activates a whole circuit so that the bacterium produces more transporters to capture as much iron as possible.
Bacteria influence the human body in many different ways – both positive and negative. Gut bacteria help our body digest food, strengthen the immune system and influence the way we think and feel. Some bacteria can also make us sick, while the friendly bacteria prevent the bad bacteria from entering our bodies. Our bodies and minds would surely not work the way they do if it wasn’t for the help from our little friends.
Learn more about the fascinating world of bacteria
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Animals
Antibiotics
Antimicrobial resistance
Bacterial communication
Bacterial interactions
Bacterial membrane
Bacterial movement
Bacterial multicellularity
Bacterial stress response
Biofilms
Chemotaxis
Extremophiles
Food microbiology
Fungi
Health
Human body
Immune system
Microbial communities
Microbial fermentation
Physiology
Plants
Quorum sensing
Secondary metabolism
Short-chain fatty acids
Sporulation
Toxins
Virus
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Agrobacterium
Akkermansia
Anabaena
Bacillus
Bacteroides
Bifidobacterium
Blautia
Burkholderia
Caulobacter
Chromobacterium
Clostridium
Deinococcus
Enterococcus
Escherichia
Eubacterium
Faecalibacterium
Gemmatimonas
Helicobacter
Ideonella
Janthinobacterium
Klebsiella
Lactobacillus
Magnetospirillum
Myxococcus
Neisseria
Oceanithermus
Pseudomonas
Rhizobium
Ruminococcus
Salmonella
Serratia
Staphylococcus
Streptococcus
Streptomyces
Thiovulum
Vibrio
Wolbachia
Xanthomonas
Yersinia
Zymomonas
