Spirillum in microbiology

Microbiology

Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are defined as any microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters or no cell at all . This includes eukaryotes, such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes...

 refers to a bacterium with a cell body that twists like a spiral. It is the third distinct bacterial cell shape type besides coccus

Coccus

Coccus can be used to describe any bacterium that has a spherical shape. It is one of the three distinct types of bacteria shapes, the other two being bacillus and spirillum cells...

 and bacillus

Bacillus (shape)

The word bacillus may be used to describe any rod-shaped bacterium, and such bacilli are found in many different taxonomic groups of bacteria. However, the name Bacillus, capitalized and italicized, refers to a specific genus of bacteria...

 cells.

Taxonomic

Spirillum is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of Gram-negative

Gram-negative

Gram-negative bacteria are bacteria that do not retain crystal violet dye in the Gram staining protocol. In a Gram stain test, a counterstain is added after the crystal violet, coloring all Gram-negative bacteria with a red or pink color...

 bacteria (family Spirillaceae

Spirillaceae

Spirillaceae is a family of bacteria. It has been described as a member of Nitrosomonadales, in Betaproteobacteria.It includes the species Spirillum minus which causes Rat bite fever....

). There are two species, Spirillum volutans and Spirillum winogradskyi. The taxonomic position of Spirillum minus and Spirillum pulli is uncertain. Spirillum minus

Spirillum minus

Spirillum minus is a species of Spirillum.Spirillum minus is associated with rat-bite fever....

is associated with rat-bite fever

Rat-bite fever

Rat-bite fever is an acute, febrile human illness caused by bacteria transmitted by rodents, rats in most cases, which is passed from rodent to human via the rodent's urine or mucous secretions. Alternative names for rat bite fever include streptobacillary fever, streptobacillosis, spirillary...

.

Appearance

It is a genus comprising elongated forms having tufts of flagellae at both poles and usually living in stagnant water rich in organic matter. They are twisted and aerobic.