The beneficial uses of bacteria include the production of traditional foods such as yogurt, cheese, and vinegar. Microbes are also important in agriculture for the compost and fertilizer production. Bacteria are used in genetic engineering and genetic changes.

Nature uses microorganisms to carry out fermentation processes, and for thousands of years mankind has used yeasts, moulds and bacteria to make food products such as bread, beer, wine, vinegar, yoghurt and cheese, as well as fermented fish, meat and vegetables.

Bacteria have long been used by humans to create food products such as cheese, yoghurt, pickles, soy sauce and vinegar. We are also able to use bacteria to break down our sewage and to clean up oil spills.

Sugar, nitrogen and water- produce energy and bacteria. Human cells produce energy and contain sugar nitrogen and water. Thus; human body can produce bacteria.

Methods and Results. The human body contains trillions of microorganisms — outnumbering human cells by 10 to 1. Because of their small size, however, microorganisms make up only about 1 to 3 percent of the body’s mass (in a 200-pound adult, that’s 2 to 6 pounds of bacteria), but play a vital role in human health.

A vast majority of the human microbiome, comprising 10 trillion to 100 trillion cells, thousands of species and at least 8 million unique genes, is not only harmless, but vital to life. By breaking down food, bacteria produce essential vitamins, anti-inflammatories and compounds that fuel the human metabolism.

“You share 50 percent of your DNA with each of your parents. But with bananas, we share about 50 percent of our genes, which turns out to be only about 1 percent of our DNA,” emails Mike Francis, a Ph. D. student in bioinformatics at the University of Georgia.

Sometimes bacteria multiply so rapidly they crowd out host tissues and disrupt normal function. Sometimes they kill cells and tissues outright. Sometimes they make toxins that can paralyze, destroy cells’ metabolic machinery, or precipitate a massive immune reaction that is itself toxic.

The 5 best natural disinfectants to kill germs effectively

• The best natural disinfectants include alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, hot water, and some essential oils.
• Evidence suggests that in some cases, many of these natural disinfectants can be as effective at killing germs as chemical cleaners like bleach.

Some types of bacteria can cause diseases in humans, such as cholera, diptheria, dysentery, bubonic plague, pneumonia, tuberculosis (TB), typhoid, and many more. If the human body is exposed to bacteria that the body does not recognize as helpful, the immune system will attack them.

Top Ten Bacteria

1. Wolbalchia spp. A poster-child for selfishness, and arguably the most successful parasite on the planet.
2. Desulforudis audaxviator.
3. Deinococcus radiodurans.
4. Myxococcus xanthus.
5. Yersinia pestis.
6. Escherichia coli.
7. Salmonella typhimurium.
8. Epulopiscium spp.

The bacteria and viruses that cause the most illnesses, hospitalizations, or deaths in the United States are described below and include:

• Campylobacter.
• Clostridium perfringens.
• E. coli.
• Listeria.
• Norovirus.
• Salmonella.

However different types of bacteria can be distinguished according to a number of characteristics:

• Shape – Round (coccus), rod-like (bacillus), comma-shaped (vibrio) or spiral (spirilla / spirochete)
• Cell wall composition – Gram-positive (thick peptidoglycan layer) or Gram-negative (lipopolysaccharide layer)

They reproduce quickly in your body. Many give off chemicals called toxins, which can damage tissue and make you sick. Examples of bacteria that cause infections include Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, and E. coli.

There are broadly speaking two different types of cell wall in bacteria, that classify bacteria into Gram-positive bacteria and Gram-negative bacteria.

Bacteria are classified into five groups according to their basic shapes: spherical (cocci), rod (bacilli), spiral (spirilla), comma (vibrios) or corkscrew (spirochaetes). They can exist as single cells, in pairs, chains or clusters. Bacteria are found in every habitat on Earth: soil, rock, oceans and even arctic snow.

There are three basic bacterial shapes: Round bacteria called cocci (singular: coccus), cylindrical, capsule-shaped ones known as bacilli (singular: bacillus); and spiral bacteria, aptly called spirilla (singular: spirillum). The shapes and configurations of bacteria are often reflected in their names.

How Many Named Species of Bacteria are There? There are about 30,000 formally named species that are in pure culture and for which the physiology has been investigated.