bacterial esperanto

Bacteria are single-celled organisms. They come in a variety of shapes: round spheres (called a coccus, plural cocci), rod-shaped (called a bacillus, plural bacilli), spiral- shaped (called a spirochete, plural spirochetes) and a few odd-balls (no plural!)Bacteria are the oldest living organisms on planet Earth. Since they don’t produce “babies” (offspring), but reproduce by just splitting in two, you could say that bacteria represent an original founding organism which is now billions of years old! Respect! Yes. Estimates of how many cells make up a human being vary—between 1 trillion and 100 trillion. I’ve seen both.But what is clear is that there are 10 times more bacteria in you and on you than the actual number of cells that go to make up YOU! Respect? Yes. We humans have about 25,000- 30,000 genes that make up our human-ness. But there are over 100 times more bacterial genes, on you and in you, which all matter. That’s 3 million genes, set against your measly 1%. What happens to your bacteria, happens to you. Trust me. We need lots of respect for those single-cell organisms that are all-but part of us.

Bacteria are single-celled organisms. They come in a variety of shapes: round spheres (called a coccus, plural cocci), rod-shaped (called a bacillus, plural bacilli), spiral- shaped (called a spirochete, plural spirochetes) and a few odd-balls (no plural!)Bacteria are the oldest living organisms on planet Earth. Since they don’t produce “babies” (offspring), but reproduce by just splitting in two, you could say that bacteria represent an original founding organism which is now billions of years old! Respect! Yes. Estimates of how many cells make up a human being vary—between 1 trillion and 100 trillion. I’ve seen both.But what is clear is that there are 10 times more bacteria in you and on you than the actual number of cells that go to make up YOU! Respect? Yes. We humans have about 25,000- 30,000 genes that make up our human-ness. But there are over 100 times more bacterial genes, on you and in you, which all matter. That’s 3 million genes, set against your measly 1%. What happens to your bacteria, happens to you. Trust me. We need lots of respect for those single-cell organisms that are all-but part of us.