Tolerance to environmental conditions

Although individual microbial cell systems usually grow under only a narrow range of physical conditions, there are many cell types which are adapted to extreme but specific environmental conditions. Cells have a series of cardinal conditions, i.e. a maximum, a minimum and an optimum with respect to physical conditions. Environmental conditions such as temperature, pressure, pH and ion concentration can all affect the growth of cells. For the more detailed explanation of the physical conditions of growth the reader is referred to specific texts on the subject 3 U). 

Bacteria Bacillus megaterium Serratia marcescens Staphylococcus albus Streptomyces scabies Rod-shaped Rod-shaped Spherical Filamentous 2.8-1.2-1.5//m 0.7-1.0 x 0.7 pm 1.0 pm 0.5-1.2 pm dia 

Algae Chlamydomonas kleinii Vlothrix subtilis Ovoid Filamentous 28-32 x 8-12 pm 4-8 pm dia 

Protozoa Amoeba proteus Euglena viridis Paramecium caudatum Amorphous Spindle-shaped Slipper-shaped 600 pm dia 40-65 x 14—20 pm 180-300 /rm length 

Slime moulds Badhamia utricularis plasmodia B. utricularis spores Amorphous Spherical Indefinite, extensive 9-12 pm dia 

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