The study shows that phenotypic effects (observable physical or biochemical characteristics determined by both genes and environment), can be transmitted from organisms, like bacteria, that naturally live within our body and alter the genes that we pass on, the team writes.

Transduction is the transfer of DNA from one bacterium to another by means of a bacteria-infecting virus called a bacteriophage. Once connected, the two cells are brought into direct contact, and a conjugal bridge forms through which the DNA is transferred from the donor to the recipient.

Bacteria can share genes with each other in a process called horizontal gene transfer. This can occur both between bacteria of the same species and between different species and by several different mechanisms, given the right conditions.

Some bacteria have a single, tail-like flagellum or a small cluster of flagella, which rotate in coordinated fashion, much like the propeller on a boat engine, to push the organism forward. The hook: Many bacteria also use appendages called pilli to move along a surface.

It’s no coincidence that Thiovulum majus is among the fastest swimming bacteria known. Capable of moving up to 60 body lengths per second while rotating rapidly, these microbes propel themselves using whip-like flagella that cover their surfaces.

three types

Many bacteria move using a structure called a flagellum. Each cell may have several flagella and some bacteria can rotate them at up to 1,500 times per second so that they act in a similar way to a propeller, allowing a bacterium to travel 10 times its length every second.

From their size, bacteria don’t look the the sort of organisms to travel far. Many of them are certainly capable of movement but it’s usually in the micrometer scale.

Diagnosis of Bacterial and Viral Infections But your doctor may be able to determine the cause by listening to your medical history and doing a physical exam. If necessary, they also can order a blood or urine test to help confirm a diagnosis, or a “culture test” of tissue to identify bacteria or viruses.

Summary: Respiratory viral infections may facilitate secondary bacterial infections and increase host immunopathology through the overproduction of inflammatory cytokines.

Some examples of bacterial infections include:

• strep throat.
• bacterial urinary tract infections (UTIs), often caused by coliform bacteria.
• bacterial food poisoning, often caused by E. coli, Salmonella, or Shigella.
• bacterial cellulitis, such as due to Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
• bacterial vaginosis.
• gonorrhea.
• chlamydia.