• Question: How many types of bacteria are there?

    Asked by science1912 to Jane on 18 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Jane Charlesworth

      Jane Charlesworth answered on 18 Mar 2014:


      Oh gosh, we don’t know the answer to that. We know there are loads of different types of bacteria, but we discover new ones all the time, so I really can’t give an answer to that. Also, bacteria can swap genes with each other, so it’s often hard to tell which ones are close or distant relatives.

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