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Bacteria have existed from very early in the history of life on Earth. Bacteria fossils discovered in rocks date from at least the Devonian Period (419.2 million to 358.9 million years ago), and there are convincing arguments that bacteria have been present since early Precambrian time, about 3.5 billion years ago. Bacteria were widespread on Earth at least since the latter part of the Paleoproterozoic, roughly 1.8 billion years ago, when oxygen appeared in the atmosphere as a result of the action of the cyanobacteria. Bacteria have thus had plenty of time to adapt to their environments and to have given rise to numerous descendant forms.
The nature of the original predecessor involved in the origin of life is subject to considerable speculation. It has been suggested that the original cell might have used RNA as its genetic material, since investigations have shown that RNA molecules can have numerous catalytic functions. The Bacteria and Archaea diverged from their common precursor very early in this time period. The two types of prokaryotes tend to inhabit different types of environments and give rise to new species at different rates. Many Archaea prefer high-temperature niches. One major branch of the archaeal tree consists only of thermophilic species, and many of the methanogens in another major branch can grow at high temperatures. In contrast, no major eubacterial branch consists solely of thermophiles. Both Bacteria and Archaea contain members that are able to grow at very high temperatures, as well as other species that are able to grow at low temperatures. Another prominent difference is that bacteria have widely adapted to aerobic conditions, whereas many archaea are obligate anaerobes. No archaea are obligately photosynthetic. Perhaps the archaea are a more primitive type of organism with an impaired genetic response to changing environmental conditions. A limited ability to adapt to new situations could restrict the archaea to harsh environments, where there is less competition from other life-forms.
Organisms must evolve or adapt to changing environments, and it is clear that mutations, which are changes in the sequence of nucleotides in an organism’s DNA, occur constantly in all organisms. The changes in DNA sequence might result in changes in the amino acid sequence of the protein that is encoded by that stretch of DNA. As a result, the altered protein might be either better-suited or less well-suited for function under the prevailing conditions. Although many nucleotide changes that can occur in DNA have no effect on the fitness of the cell, if the nucleotide change enhances the growth of that cell even by a small degree, then the mutant form would be able to increase its relative numbers in the population. If the nucleotide change retards the growth of the cell, however, then the mutant form would be outgrown by the other cells and lost.
The ability to transfer genetic information between organisms is a major factor in adaptation to changes in environment. The exchange of DNA is an essential part of the life cycle of higher eukaryotic organisms and can occur in all eukaryotes. Genetic exchange occurs throughout the bacterial world as well, and, although the amount of DNA that is transferred is small, this transfer can occur between distantly related organisms. Genes carried on plasmids can find their way onto the bacterial chromosome and become a stable part of the bacterium’s inheritance. Organisms usually possess mobile genetic elements called transposons that can rearrange the order and presence of any genes on the chromosome. Transposons may play a role in helping to accelerate the pace of evolution.
Many examples of the rapid evolution of bacteria are available. Before the 1940s, antibiotics were not used in medical practice. When antibiotics did eventually come into use, the majority of pathogenic bacteria were sensitive to them. Since then, however, bacterial resistance to one or more antibiotics has increased to the point that previously effective antibiotics are no longer useful against certain types of bacteria. Most examples of antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria are not the result of a mutation that alters the protein that the antibiotic attacks, although this mechanism can occur. Instead, antibiotic resistance often involves the production by the bacterium of enzymes that alter the antibiotic and render it inactive. A major factor in the spread of antibiotic resistance is transmissible plasmids, which carry the genes for the drug-inactivating enzymes from one bacterial species to another. Although the original source of the gene for these enzymes is not known, mobile genetic elements (transposons) may have played a role in their appearance and may also allow their transfer to other bacterial types.
Biosynthesis, nutrition, and growth of bacteria
Factors affecting bacterial growth
Nutritional requirements
Bacteria differ dramatically with respect to the conditions that are necessary for their optimal growth. In terms of nutritional needs, all cells require sources of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, numerous inorganic salts (e.g., potassium, magnesium, sodium, calcium, and iron), and a large number of other elements called micronutrients (e.g., zinc, copper, manganese, selenium, tungsten, and molybdenum). Carbon is the element required in the greatest amount by bacteria since hydrogen and oxygen can be obtained from water, which is a prerequisite for bacterial growth. Also required is a source of energy to fuel the metabolism of the bacterium. One means of organizing bacteria is based on these fundamental nutritional needs: the carbon source and the energy source.
There are two sources a cell can use for carbon: inorganic compounds and organic compounds. Organisms that use the inorganic compound carbon dioxide (CO2) as their source of carbon are called autotrophs. Bacteria that require an organic source of carbon, such as sugars, proteins, fats, or amino acids, are called heterotrophs (or organotrophs). Many heterotrophs, such as Escherichia coli or Pseudomonas aeruginosa, synthesize all of their cellular constituents from simple sugars such as glucose because they possess the necessary biosynthetic pathways. Other heterotrophs have lost some of these biosynthetic pathways; in order to grow, they require that their environments contain particular amino acids, nitrogenous bases, or vitamins that are chemically intact.
In addition to carbon, bacteria need energy, which is almost always obtained by the transfer of an electron from an electron donor to an electron acceptor. There are three basic sources of energy: light, inorganic compounds, and organic compounds. Phototrophic bacteria use photosynthesis to generate cellular energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) from light energy. Chemotrophs obtain their energy from chemicals (organic and inorganic compounds); chemolithotrophs obtain their energy from reactions with inorganic salts; and chemoheterotrophs obtain their carbon and energy from organic compounds (the energy source may also serve as the carbon source in these organisms).
In most cases, cellular energy is generated by means of electron-transfer reactions, in which electrons move from an organic or inorganic donor molecule to an acceptor molecule via a pathway that conserves the energy released during the transfer of electrons by trapping it in a form that the cell can use for its chemical or physical work. The primary form of energy that is captured from the transfer of electrons is ATP. The metabolic processes that break down organic molecules to generate energy are called catabolic reactions. In contrast, the metabolic processes that synthesize molecules are called anabolic reactions.
Many bacteria can use a large number of compounds as carbon and energy sources, whereas other bacteria are highly restricted in their metabolic capabilities. While carbohydrates are a common energy source for eukaryotes, these molecules are metabolized by only a limited number of species of bacteria, since most bacteria do not possess the necessary enzymes to metabolize these often complex molecules. Many species of bacteria instead depend on other energy sources, such as amino acids, fats, or other compounds. Other compounds of significance to bacteria include phosphate, sulfate, and nitrogen. Low levels of phosphate in many environments, particularly in water, can be a limiting factor for the growth of bacteria, since many bacteria cannot synthesize phosphate. On the other hand, most bacteria can convert sulfate or sulfide to the organic form needed for protein synthesis. The capability of a living organism to incorporate nitrogen from ammonia is widespread in nature, and bacteria differ in their ability to convert other forms of nitrogen, such as nitrate in the soil or dinitrogen gas (N2) in the atmosphere, into cell material.
A particularly important nutrient of bacteria is iron, an abundant element in Earth’s crust. Iron is a component of heme proteins, such as hemoglobin in red blood cells and cytochromes in electron transfer chains as well as many other iron-containing proteins involved in electron-transfer reactions. Iron is needed for the growth of almost all organisms. In aerobic environments at neutral pH values, ferrous iron (iron in the +2 state) is oxidized to ferric iron (iron in the +3 state), which is virtually insoluble in water and unable to enter cells. Many bacteria synthesize and secrete chemicals called siderophores that bind very tightly to iron and make it soluble in water. The bacteria then take up these iron-siderophore complexes and remove the iron for their synthetic tasks. The ability to acquire iron in this way is particularly important to pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria, which must compete with their host for iron. In anaerobic environments, iron can exist in the more-soluble ferrous state and is readily available to bacteria.
Some bacteria are obligate parasites and grow only within a living host cell. Rickettsia and Chlamydia, for example, grow in eukaryotic cells, and Bdellovibrio grow in bacterial cells. Treponema pallidum is difficult, if not impossible, to grow in culture, probably because it requires low oxygen tension and low oxidation-reduction levels, which are provided by the presence of animal cells, rather than any specific nutrient. Because some bacteria may thrive only as animal or plant parasites or only in a rich source of nutrients such as milk, they likely do not thrive as free bacteria in nature. Many bacteria from natural environments exist in a consortium with other bacteria and are difficult to isolate and culture separately from the other members of that partnership.