Microorganisms include all
unicellular organisms and so are extremely diverse, living in almost every
habitat, with some
adapted to extremes such as
very hot or
very cold conditions, others to
high pressure, and a few, such as
Deinococcus radiodurans, which are
adapted to high-radiation environments. 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 many ways, serving to
ferment foods and
treat sewage, and to
produce fuel,
enzymes, and other
bioactive compounds. This low-temperature
electron micrograph shows a cluster of
E. coli bacteria, magnified 10,000 times.
Photograph credit: Eric Erbe; colorized by Christopher Pooley