Taxon

Bacteria

Bacteria

One of the three domains of cellular life, comprising prokaryotic organisms with extensive metabolic and ecological diversity.

NCBI TAXONOMY IDENTIFIER2View source record ↗

Overview

EXPLORE BY LEVEL

Bacteria are single-celled organisms found in nearly every environment. Many are harmless or helpful; some can cause disease.

Quick Facts

AT A GLANCE

TopicMicrobiology & Immunity

Follow the Connections

See how Bacteria links to other biological records.

TaxonEscherichia coliincludes ConceptBiogeochemical Cyclesinvolve TaxonCyanobacteriabelongs to TaxonArchaeadiffers from

All 4 Structured Connections

Bacteria · TaxonINCLUDES →Escherichia coli · Taxon

Biogeochemical Cycles · ConceptINVOLVE →Bacteria · Taxon

Cyanobacteria · TaxonBELONGS TO →Bacteria · Taxon

Bacteria · TaxonDIFFERS FROM →Archaea · Taxon

Recommended Reading

Trusted references for learning more about Bacteria.

databaseBacteria (Taxonomy ID 2)NCBI Taxonomy textbookStructure of Prokaryotes: Bacteria and ArchaeaOpenStax Biology 2e databaseEscherichia coli (Taxonomy ID 562)NCBI Taxonomy guideWinogradsky Columns: Microbial Ecology in the ClassroomHHMI BioInteractive

Show 1 more sources

Cyanobacteria (Taxonomy ID 1117)NCBI Taxonomy · database

Research Claims

Bacterial diversity spans deep phylogenetic lineages and complex gene exchange. A domain-level record is a taxon, not one species or one kind of cell behavior.

[1] NCBI Taxonomy · [2] OpenStax Biology 2e