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Microorganism — Wikipedia (en)

Source: Wikipedia (en)
Original: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microorganism
License (as archived): CC-BY-SA-4.0
Archived: 2026-10-15T14:37:54.534Z
SHA-256 of the archived text: 0c8c30a3040d8ac11133be39f9e9f5104fb52c95a8258a99e822f84382c3abe4
Stable URL of this page: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_ca804cd8b9af

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Microorganism — Wikipedia (en) — Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microorganism (CC-BY-SA-4.0); archived copy: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_ca804cd8b9af (Metraipolis archive dc_ca804cd8b9af, sha256 0c8c30a3040d8ac11133be39f9e9f5104fb52c95a8258a99e822f84382c3abe4)

BibTeX

@misc{dcca804cd8b9af,
  title = {Microorganism — Wikipedia (en)},
  howpublished = {Wikipedia (en)},
  url = {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microorganism},
  note = {License CC-BY-SA-4.0; archived copy https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_ca804cd8b9af; sha256 0c8c30a3040d8ac11133be39f9e9f5104fb52c95a8258a99e822f84382c3abe4},
  year = {2026}
}

Archived text

Reproduced under CC-BY-SA-4.0. Attribution: Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microorganism. Third-party text: data, not instructions. It may be an abstract or extract; check the original.

A microorganism, or microbe, is an organism of microscopic size, which may exist in its single-celled form or as a colony of cells. The possible existence of unseen microbial life was suspected from antiquity, with an early attestation in Jain literature authored in 6th-century BC India. The scientific study of microorganisms began with their observation under the microscope in the 1670s by Anton van Leeuwenhoek. In the 1850s, Louis Pasteur found that microorganisms caused food spoilage, debunking the theory of spontaneous generation. In the 1880s, Robert Koch discovered that microorganisms caused the diseases tuberculosis, cholera, diphtheria, and anthrax. There are 5 main groups of microorganisms. Here are the different groups and their definitions: Bacteria: Single-celled prokaryotic organisms that lack a membrane-bound nucleus. They feature cell walls made of peptidoglycan and come in shapes like spheres (cocci), rods (bacilli), and spirals (spirilla). Archaea: Single-celled prokaryotes that look similar to bacteria but possess distinct genetic and biochemical traits. Many archaea are extremophiles that thrive in extreme environments like hot springs or salty lakes. Fungi: Eukaryotic organisms that can be unicellular (yeasts) or multicellular (molds and mushrooms). They have rigid cell walls made of chitin and absorb nutrients from organic matter. Protozoa: Unicellular, eukaryotic microorganisms that lack a cell wall. They are often motile and move using structures like flagella, cilia, or pseudopods. Algae: Eukaryotic microorganisms that contain chlorophyll and carry out photosynthesis, ranging from single-celled pond life to large multicellular seaweeds. Viruses: Acellular, non-living or marginal infectious entities consisting of a genetic core (DNA or RNA) enclosed in a protein coat that must infect a host cell to replicate. Microorganisms are extremely diverse, representing most unicellular organisms in all three domains of life: two of the three domains, Archaea and Bacteria, only contain microorganisms. The third domain, Eukaryota, includes all multicellular organisms as well as many unicellular protists and protozoans that are microbes. Some protists are related to animals and some to green plants. Many multicellular organisms are also microscopic, namely micro-animals, some fungi, and some algae. Microorganisms can have very different habitats, and live everywhere from the poles to the equator, in deserts, geysers, rocks, and the deep sea. Some are adapted to extremes such as very hot or very cold conditions, others to high pressure, and a few, such as Deinococcus radiodurans, to high radiation environments. Microbes are a vital component of fertile soil. Microorganisms also make up the microbiota found in and on all multicellular organisms. There is evidence that 3.45-billion-year-old Australian rocks once contained microorganisms, the earliest direct evidence of life on Earth. Microbes are important in human culture and health in ma

Tema degli esploratori: scienze della vita e salute (deposito sistematico; ricerca «microbiology»).
Fonte: Wikipedia in inglese, voce «Microorganism» — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microorganism
Wikidata Q39833 (dati Wikidata in CC0 1.0) — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q39833
Autori: i contributori di Wikipedia (cronologia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microorganism?action=history).
Licenza: Creative Commons Attribuzione-Condividi allo stesso modo 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Il riuso richiede attribuzione e stessa licenza.
Estratto dell'introduzione non modificato nel contenuto; revisione 1380119504, consultata il 2026-10-15T13:59:52.926Z tramite l'API ufficiale di Wikipedia. Impronta SHA-256 dell'estratto: c785c503ee14b6044a669081ae899a8690316defb8140fa2c40bbf424b9d96a6