Biology Stack Exchange
Biology Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [bacteriology]

A subdivision of microbiology dedicated to the study of bacteria.

Questions on identification, classification, and biology of bacteria are on topic. The tag may also be useful for such questions, and the tag should be used for questions about bacterial disease.

  • Questions about viruses should use the tag.
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Are there any bacteria that could be used as food?

Bacteria are found everywhere. They can also grow on various substrates. Are there any bacteria that can be used as a food source? For example mix x with water and add some of these bacteria. These then either turn x into something nutritious or can…
CuriousIndeed
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What are the functions of magnetic bacteria?

I'm trying to understand why are bacteria "equipped" with magnetosomes ("intracellular organelles in magnetotactic bacteria that allow them to sense and align themselves along a magnetic field") and why and for what do they need such organelles.
syntagma
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Is this a bacterial colony?

On the physics StackExchange site people are trying to figure how and why these branching structures formed. The two questions can be found here and here. The latter had no cooling fans and was situated in an unventilated cupboard. There are many…
macco
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How quickly is antibiotic resistance lost?

I would imagine the bacterial genome is highly conserved and limited in its space, but maybe I am wrong. If you were to take a strain of antibiotic resistant bacteria and kept them isolated, but fed well and so forth, how long would it take for them…
sciencenewbie
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When was the germ theory officially accepted?

Is there a specific year that marks the official acceptance of the germ theory? In the references, it is always quoted the work of Pasteur, Koch, and Lister, but their work is spread over decades and does not mean that their papers were accepted by…
Gigiux
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How to grow bacteria?

We have this science experiment on how to grow a bacteria, our teacher told us to use gelatin, beef stock, and sugar as an alternative for agar. I am confused on why we need gelatin, beef stock, and sugar in growing a bacteria. What ingredient is…
Angela Kriste Tan
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What is the length of anaerobic biodigestion stages?

I have built an experimental portable batch biodigester to process organic garbage. A 50L drum filled half with garbage, half with water and with some cow dung added for inoculation, is connected from the top to a truck tire, boxed into another,…
neydroydrec
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Approximately how long do bacteria live for?

I would like to know how many days or years do the bacteria live approximately.
The_Mad_Fish
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Why isn't Bubonic Plague as virulent as it once was?

Although I am admittedly not anywhere near an expert on any topic, I still have a hard time understanding how Black Death and Bubonic plague are one in the same. Since plague still exists, with news stories about it every once in a while, and…
simontemplar
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Gas from bacteria that's not methane

Is gas produced by bacteria always mainly methane? Or, are there bacteria out there that produce some biogas composed mainly of hydrogen, natural gas, propane, butane?
xyz
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Why is there an increase of diagnoses of Lyme disease?

On the Center for Disease Control page for Lyme disease, you can see the progression of reported cases of Lyme disease from 2001 until 2016 and see that over time, there are more reported cases of Lyme Disease. I am wondering if there is an actual…
Melanie Shebel
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Can boiling water without high temperatures kill bacteria?

If you use a vacuum chamber to reduce the pressure of water such that it can boil at around room temperature will it still have the same effect on reducing harmful bacteria as boiling at the usual 100C?
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What are gram negative and positive bacteria?

I've just finished a course of double antibiotics for Helicobacter pylori in my stomach. I looked up H. pylori and found that it was a gram-negative bacterium. I looked up gram-negative and didn't understand the definition. I assume that if there…
Sachin Kainth
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Bacteria in our colons

During my education in Iran, until now, which I must say that I'm graduating high school this year and will go to college next year, our biology book has said that there's some bacteria in our colons and those little cells live there and use the…
user28817
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Are aquatic filter feeders effective at cleaning water to a safe level?

I've been raising Daphnia magna cultures over the last few months as feedstock for freshwater aquarium fish. From my reading, Daphnia feeds on bacteria and single-celled algae, as well as other small crud suspended in the water column. Practically,…
William S.
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