Aerobic Bacteria

Mention bacteria and nearly all of us assume them to be disease causing microbes. However, there is more than the harmful side of these tiny organisms. In fact, bacteria play a major role in the overall functioning of the ecosystem. Believe it or not, a major biomass of the earth is contributed by minute bacterial cells. Consequently, the variability of bacteria in terms of shape, size, dwelling place, feeding habit and surviving requirements is extremely vast.

Bacteria are omnipresent, meaning that they are found in any type of environmental conditions. Some of the species are isolated from the least hospitable areas like hot springs, below earth's crust and radioactive wastes. So, you can imagine the adaptability of bacteria, as compared to other living entities. Based on whether oxygen is required for survival or not, they are classified as aerobic bacteria and anaerobic bacteria. Over here, we will take a look about aerobic bacteria definition and examples.

What is Aerobic Bacteria?

By obligate aerobic bacteria, we mean those bacterial strains that require oxygen for their survival, growth and reproduction. In short, they need oxygen for cellular respiration. Contrary to this, there are anaerobic bacteria, which live in a non-oxygenated environment throughout their life. Intermediary to these two groups are facultative bacteria (e.g., E. coli, Staphylococcus) and microaerophilic bacteria (e.g., Campylobacter, Helicobacter pylori). The former type behaves both aerobically and anaerobically, according to the prevailing conditions. In case of microaerophilic type, they require oxygen, but in a very low concentration.

Aerobic Bacteria Examples

In microbiology and biology experiments, obligate aerobic bacteria can be isolated easily by culturing mass of bacterial strains in a liquid medium. Since they are oxygen needing organisms, they tend to collect in the top surface of the liquid medium, so as to absorb maximal oxygen available to them. Studying the characteristic features and importance of bacteria is a huge subject in bacteriology. Mentioned below are some of the examples of aerobic bacteria and their characteristic features:

Bacillus
The genus Bacillus encompasses both obligate and facultative types of bacterial species. They include free living or pathogenic strains. For example, B. subtilis is a free-living soil bacterium, while B. anthrax infection causes anthrax disease. Ubiquitous in habit and having large size genome, various species of Bacillus are commercially used for enzyme production and genetic researches.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis
As the name suggests, it is a pathogenic bacteria species that cause tuberculosis. It is a rod shaped, obligate aerobic bacteria, characterized by presence of a waxy layer on the wall. Being an oxygen needing species, M. tuberculosis infests the lungs of mammalians, where oxygen is present in very high amounts. It divides at a very slow rate, after about 15 hours of infection.

Nocardia
Rod shaped and gram positive type, the genus nocardia comprises more than 80 species. Out of these, some are capable of causing health conditions, while others are non-pathogenic. The disease caused by infection of nocardia is called nocardiosis, affecting only the lungs or the whole body. Usually, nocardia thrives in the oral cavity, mostly in the gums and periodontal pockets.

Lactobacillus
Lactobacillus is not a true aerobic bacteria, but it is included in the facultative type. You might have already heard about the application of this bacterium in curdling and fermentation of food items. It is normally found in the oral cavity and intestines without causing any symptoms. Rather, some Lactobacillus species are beneficial for health and classified as probiotic flora.

In addition to the above discussed strains, aerobic bacteria list includes Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus (facultative) and Enterobacteriacae species (facultative). The major roles of aerobic bacteria are recycling of nutrients, decomposing waste products and assisting in plant nutrient absorption. As they play a crucial role in efficient working of septic systems, aerobic bacteria generator is configured for introducing in the tanks. Bacteria from the generator aids in digesting harmful gases, foul odor and other waste digesting problems.