![]() ![]() Multicellular microbes, even if composed of billions of cells, are relatively simple in design, usually composed of branching filaments. Versus if you chopped half my cells off, well, that would be a problem. If you take a giant fungus and chop half the cells off, the remaining cells will continue to function unimpeded. ![]() So, the traditional definition is modified to describe microbes as fairly simple agents/organisms that are not highly differentiated, meaning even the multicellular microbes are composed of cells that can act independently– there is no set division of labor. It would be easy to dismiss these organisms as non-microbes, but in all other respects they look/act/perform like other well-studied microbes (who follow the size restriction). The only problem with that definition is that there are microbes that you can see without a microscope. That assistance is typically in the form of a microscope of some type. The traditional definition describes microbes as organisms or agents that are invisible to the naked eye, indicating that one needs assistance in order to see them. In this textbook the focus will be on the bacteria and archaea (traditionally known as the “prokaryotes,”) and the viruses and other acellular agents. In the acellular camp we have the viruses and other infectious agents, such as prions and viroids. Cellular microbes can be either unicellular, where one cell is the entire organism, or multicellular, where hundreds, thousands or even billions of cells can make up the entire organism. In the cellular camp we have the bacteria, the archaea, the fungi, and the protists (a bit of a grab bag composed of algae, protozoa, slime molds, and water molds). Generally microbes can be divided into two categories: the cellular microbes (or organisms) and the acellular microbes (or agents). But who are the microbes? And how small are they? ![]() ![]() What is microbiology? If we break the word down it translates to “the study of small life,” where the small life refers to microorganisms or microbes. Welcome to the wonderful world of microbiology! Yay! So. ![]()
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