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Some early bacteria developed the chemical tools to harvest free nitrogen from the air and convert it into forms such as ammonia and nitrate through a process called nitrogen fixation. The catch is that they need sufficient amounts of energy in the form of carbohydrates to power these conversions, and the supply of carbohydrates in the soil can be limited. There are some universal structures that all bacteria have. The basic building blocks of life, DNA, RNA, and protein, are common to all organisms not just microbes. Also, all microbes have a cell membrane. Much of what we know about these structures was obtained by studying bacteria, yet another reason to study them. Finally, most bacteria have a cell wall, but not all. Click on following items to see more information: Acinetobacter, Antibacterial, Antibiotic, Antibiotic, Antibacterial, Bacilli, Bacterium, Bacterium, Antibacterial, Bacterium, Biofilm, Campylobacter, Cell culture, Citrobacter, Cryptococcus, E. coli, E. coli, E. coli, E. coli, E. coli, E. coli, Erythromycin, Yeast, Yeast, Haemophilus, Lactobacilli, Meningococci, Bacterial, Microflora, Multidrug resistance, Pediococcus, Prokaryote, P. aeruginosa, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Salmonella, Salmonella, Staphylococci, Staphylococci, Streptococcus, Streptomycin, Wastewater treatment The fruits of this basic research have been used by scientists to understand microbial activity and therefore to shape our modern world. Human proteins, especially hormones like insulin and human growth factor, are now produced in bacteria using genetic engineering. Our understanding of the immune system was developed using microbes as tools. Microorganisms also play a role in treating disease and keeping people healthy. Many of the drugs available to treat infectious disease originate from bacteria and fungi. In 1943 Beadle and Tatum reported experiments with the fungus Neuropsora crassa that eventually established the idea that each gene in the DNA typically codes one protein (the one gene-one enzyme hypothesis). About 10 years later, James Watson and Francis Crick wrote their landmark letter to the journal Nature describing the structure of DNA and making predictions about how it was replicated. It was now clear that DNA stored the information for proteins and that proteins performed the many functions of the cell. The important question now became, how does one convert the information in DNA into protein.
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Last modified: May 25, 2005
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