A microbiome is a highly complex community of microorganisms that live together in a specific area, in the narrower sense in and on living organisms or plants. This community consists of a large number of different microorganisms, i.e. microscopically small bacteria, archaea, fungi, other single-celled organisms and viruses...
Probiotics are various preparations or products that contain living microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria or yeasts and promote health, especially in the gut. The word probiotics means "for life" - from the Latin word pro "for" and the ancient Greek word bios "life".
Bacteria can break down almost all chemical compounds. However, plastic poses a particular challenge for microorganisms and their enzymes. This is because these plastics or "synthetic polymers" are stable chains of repeating molecules: polymer means "many-part" in Greek.
Like bacteria, archaea are unicellular microorganisms without a true nucleus. Together they are known as "prokaryotes" (Greek, without a nucleus). Archaea and bacteria therefore look similar at first glance, but their cell structures are fundamentally different.
We humans have developed effective defence strategies against pathogens that prevent and fight infections. Our immune response is incredibly complex and involves entire organs and different cell types. Bacteria are not nearly as complex, but they also have an effective immune system.
Every organism "eats" raw materials in order to obtain or store energy. Depending on the food and environment, different, often still usable residual products are produced. Microorganisms can, for example, produce valuable energy compounds - but they can also convert them.
Microbes like to grow in communities with similar living conditions. However, bacteria are selfish and only live together with others if they produce something that they can utilise themselves and they would also like the living conditions there on their own, e.g. in the intestine, desert salt lakes or sea bays.
Even though they are small, microorganisms are very profitable organisms. There are important branches of industry that use microorganisms to manufacture countless products and generate large sales.
Information is also a valuable commodity for bacteria. However, microorganisms do not encode in bits and bytes, but write their data directly into their genetic material. The genetic data set of closely related bacteria sometimes varies greatly, and depending on the information content, this is crucial for life. This naturally makes...
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