Question

What is a bacterial colony?

Answer 1

The bacteria are the prokaryotic organisms that are omnipresent and are found all around us in almost everything that surrounds us. They are very small organisms that are difficult to see from the naked eyes.

Complete answer
Bacteria are the organisms that are very tiny in nature and can only be seen under the microscope. They are unicellular organisms made up of a single cell and may either be harmful or beneficial depending upon their characteristic features. Bacteria are said to have cosmopolitan distribution as they may live in all types of environments and various conditions. They may be found in the harsh and extreme climatic conditions that include extreme cold or extreme hot regions. When the group of bacteria are present together and all of them are produced through a single mother cell then this group of bacteria are called the bacterial colony. Thus, the bacterial colony has referred to the formation of identical bacterial cells through the process of reproduction of a single mother cell.

Additional information:
A bacterial cell can grow about 0.5 to 5.0 micrometers in length and few species are visible to the unaided eye. Bacterial cell walls and cytoskeleton are important because of their ability to acquire nutrients, attach to the surface, and swim through liquids and escape predators. These cytoskeletons even aggregate together to form a biofilm and together when they aggregate in a larger mass than they are called the microbial mats. These mats range in the depth and thickness from micrometers to meters and vary according to the species.

Note:
The bacteria were found to be present even before the presence of the dinosaur on the earth. They are thought to be present three million years ago. They were first observed by Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek in 1674 and reproduced through binary fission. The human body constitutes a huge number of bacterial cells that may be harmful or beneficial.