Essay On Microorganisms

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Microorganism or microbe is an organism that is microscopic (Jain, 2010). The study of microorganisms is called microbiology. Microorganism include bacteria, fungi, archae or protists but not strictly viruses and prions, which are generally classified as non-living. Most microorganism are single celled, or unicellular, but some are microscopic and some unicellular protists are visible to the average human. Microorganisms are ubiquitous and live in most inhospitable sites across the various ecosystems, which the existence and continuance of other organism (Mohapatra, 2008). Many species survive quite well in oxygen-free environments while others live 6 miles below the ocean surface along boiling vents and still others thrive in acidic conditions that would dissolve a handkerchief (Alcoma, 2003). The existence of microorganisms was hypothesizes during the late Middle Ages but they were not observed or…show more content…
Like the protozoa, algae are very diverse. Some are tiny, single-celled organisms with flagella. Others are large, multicellular organisms like seaweed. Like plants, algae have chloroplasts, which contain the photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll. Another group in this category is called the euglenoids. These single-celled protists have both plant-like and animal-like characteristics. Like plants, they contain chloroplasts and photosynthetic pigment. However, they do not have cell walls. Like some of the protozoa, euglenoids move by means of flagella. One typical euglenoid is euglena, an organism common in pond water. The euglena is a single-celled organism having two flagella. The cell has a large, central nucleus and numerous chloroplasts, which contain chlorophyll. Chlorophyll gives euglenas their grass-green color. Euglenas are primarily photosynthetic. However, in the absence of light, they live as heterotrophs, absorbing dissolved nutrients from the

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