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#1 2018-02-22 16:32:18

Palomar7
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2017-12-20
Posts: 81

Bacteria vs Microbes

Is there a difference?

Yes, I could Google, but all the scientific jargon (I'm a layperson)...

I should know, but frankly it seems I might not. In writing up a pro-Mars piece (mini-blogger), I realized I'd used the word "bacterial" instead of "microbial" ... and later questioned it.

So I'm asking while admitting possible unforgivable ignorance. :-p But it does seem they're used interchangeably.


Original registration - May 2002

[i]I want that Million Year Picnic on Mars[/i]

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#2 2018-02-22 17:52:49

RobertDyck
Moderator
From: Winnipeg, Canada
Registered: 2002-08-20
Posts: 7,924
Website

Re: Bacteria vs Microbes

Wikipedia: Microorganism or microbe
Short answer: microbes are single-cell organisms. Bacteria are a specific type. Archaea are not bacteria, they're older and more primitive. Eukaryota (Eukaryotic cells) are different again; all multi-cellular organisms on Earth are made of eukaryotic cells, but some eukaryotic organisms are still single cell. For example, yeast is a eukaryote, but because they are single-cell organisms they are microbes.

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#3 2018-02-24 11:49:57

Palomar7
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2017-12-20
Posts: 81

Re: Bacteria vs Microbes

RobertDyck wrote:

Wikipedia: Microorganism or microbe
Short answer: microbes are single-cell organisms. Bacteria are a specific type. Archaea are not bacteria, they're older and more primitive. Eukaryota (Eukaryotic cells) are different again; all multi-cellular organisms on Earth are made of eukaryotic cells, but some eukaryotic organisms are still single cell. For example, yeast is a eukaryote, but because they are single-cell organisms they are microbes.

Thank you.


Original registration - May 2002

[i]I want that Million Year Picnic on Mars[/i]

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