Microorganisms: Bacteria, viruses, and Prions

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What are microorganisms? They are organisms that you have to view with a microscope. The three that I will be discussing are bacteria, viruses, and prions. Of the three, a bacterium is the only one that can be helpful to us in many situations, and they are also the most diverse organism on the earth. The structure, reproduction, and the diseases bacteria, viruses, and prion cause are all different. Let’s begin to compare these microorganisms.
Bacteria, viruses, and prions all have different types of structures. However, bacteria and viruses are more alike in the aspect of nucleic acid. Bacteria come in numerous shapes, but most bacteria are in the shape of a sphere (cocci). Their other shapes, or structure, are rods (bacilli), spirals (spirilla), and if they’re rigid then they are called spirochetes. Bacteria will normally come in a single cell form; however they can come in more than one, and they can also form chains. A bacterium doesn’t contain a nucleus because they are prokaryotes. On the other hand, it does have nucleic acid. The nucleic acid lies in the nucleoid plasmids. Bacterium doesn’t have membrane-bounded organelles and an outer cell wall. The outer cell wall is strengthened by peptidoglycan, which protects the bacteria from collapsing or bursting. Some bacteria have the means to move. The reason they’re able to move is because they have flagella. Flagellum is a long slender tail-like structure. Virus’s structure is less complex than the structure of bacterium. All viruses are composed of two parts: the outer capsid, and the inner core. The outer capsid is made of protein subunits, and the inner core contains the DNA. Also with virus structures comes the envelope. The envelope is part of the host’s plasma membrane...

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"Prions: On the Trail of Killer Proteins." Prions: On the Trail of Killer Proteins. University of Utah, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
"Salmonella Poisoning (Salmonellosis) Symptoms, Causes, Treatment." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Binary Fission (cell Division)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
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