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A micro-organism or microbe is an organism that is so small that it is invisible to the naked eye. The term is synonymous by usage to single- celled organism, and unicellular organism, even though some unicellular protists are visible to the naked eye, and some colonial species are microscopic.All unicellular organisms are able to reproduce themselves without help of other organisms, as opposed to viruses.
Micro-organisms may be found almost anywhere in the taxonomic structure. Bacteria and archaea are always or almost always microscopic, as are most protists. Even some fungi, a primarily macroscopic taxon, are micro-organisms.
Micro-organisms are found everywhere in nature, owing to the existence of extremophiles, micro-organisms that have adapted to generally hostile environments. Extremophiles may be found in environments such as the poles, deserts, geysers, just beneath the surface of rocks, and the bottom of the deep sea . Some are known to survive prolonged time in vacuum, or to be unusually resistant to radiationRadiation generally means the transmission of objects or information from a source into a surrounding medium or destination. Within physics, related concepts are: Ionizing radiation is a stream of particles (photons or other particles) with sufficient ene.
Micro-organisms can be helpful in recycling other organisms' remains and waste products, or when employed in biotechnologyBiotechnology is technology based on biology, especially when used in agriculture, food science, and medicine. Of the many different definitions available the one formulated by the UN " Convention on Biological Diversity" is the most all-encompassing: :"B, e.g., for brewing and bakery. They can also be harmful as pathogenA pathogen is a biological agent that can cause disease to its host. A synonym of pathogen is " infectious agent". The term "pathogen" is most often used for agents that disrupt the normal physiology of a multicellular animal or plant. However, pathogenss when, as parasiteA parasite is an organism that lives in or on the living tissue of a host organism at the expense of it. The biological interaction between the host and the parasite is called parasitism. Parasitism is a type of symbiosis, by one definition, although anots, causing infectionInfection" is also the title of an episode of the television series Babylon 5; see Infection (Babylon 5). An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. The colonizing organism interferes with the normal functionings. Micro-organisms were probably the first form of life that appeared on earth. Today they have an important place in all ecosystems and in most higher multicellular organisms. For mankind they are important for the creation of certain types of food, medical substances and biological weapons.
1 See also
- biologyBiology studies the variety of life clockwise from top-left E. coli tree fern, gazelle, Goliath beetle Biology is the science of life. It is concerned with the characteristics and behaviors of organisms, how species and individuals come into existence, an
- prokaryoteProkaryotes are mostly unicellular organisms without a nucleus, in contrast to eukaryotes, organisms that have cell nuclei and may be variously unicellular or multicellular. The difference between prokaryote and eukaryote cell structure is the most import
- eukaryoteEukaryotes are organisms with complex cells, in which the genetic material is organized into membrane-bound nuclei. They include the animals, plants, and fungi, which are mostly multicellular, as well as various other groups called protists, many of which
- archaea
- cell
- Nanobacterium
