Bacteria

Notable Bacteria

• Bacillus anthracis causes anthrax, a deadly disease in cattle and a potential bioweapon against humans

• .Brucella abortus causes breeding losses in livestock.

• Cyanobacteria (formerly known as blue-green algae) live in water, where they produce large amounts of the oxygen we breathe.

• Escherichia coli (a.k.a. E. coli) lives in the gut, where it helps digest food and produces Vitamin K. The "bad" strain of E. coli O157:H7 causes severe foodborne sickness.

• Lactobacillus bulgaricus helps turn milk into cheese, yogurt, and other dairy products.

• Bacterium tuberculosism Mycoba causes tuberculosis, a major killer from the past that has recently resurged with the advent of AIDS.

• Rhizobia convert free nitrogen into a form that the plants can use in order to grow.

• Staphylococcus (a.k.a. staph) can cause serious infections and is one of the most drug-resistant bacteria.

• Streptococcus pneumoniae causes strep throat, meningitis, and pneumonia.

• Streptomyces griseus makes the antibiotic streptomycin.

• Thermus aquaticus is a heat-loving bacterium from which scientists got the enzyme Taq polymerase that makes routine DNA fingerprinting and gene sequencing possible.