Bacteria Shapes and Arrangements

coccus, bacillus, spirillum

3 shapes of bacteria

Coccus

A spherical bacterium.

Spirals

Always single

Spirochetes

Flexible cells, corkscrew motility

Tetrad

Group of 4 bacterias

Palisade

Group of 4 in X, Y, or V formation -from snapping post-fission movement -rare, Corynebacterium

Spirillum

Rigid cells with flagella

Bacillus

Rod shaped bacteria

coccobacillus

Rounded rods

vibrios, spirilla, spirochetes

Spiraled bacterias

The plane of the cell division and whether cells remain attached after division

What factors play into the arrangement of bacteria?

Streptococci

bacteria that form a chain

Streptobacillus (streptobacilli)

chain(s) of bacilli

Diplococci

cocci growing in pairs

sarcina

cubic configuration of 8 or 16 bacteria

Vibrios

curved rods (comma shaped)

Amphitrichous

flagella at both poles of the cell

petritrichous

flagella distributed over the entire cell

Staphylococci

grape-like clusters of bacteria

diplobacillus

pairs of bacilli

Monotrichous

single flagellum

Lophotrichous

small bunches emerging from the same site