In the case of bacteria, the polymer seems to work by gouging holes in a microbe's cell wall and spilling out its contents.
Rous was cautious, hesitant to claim that the microbe causing cancer in chickens was a virus.
Also noteworthy, this is not the only common microbe found in humans having genes which can manipulate host neurotransmitters.
For a microbe already adapted to one species to adapt to another can be difficult and require a lot of evolutionary time.
Sometimes, it unleashes a potentially lethal overreaction to the invading microbe.
Thus once the arms race has been won, using the same old antibiotics is useless against a microbe which has evolved resistance.
Families no longer drink microbe soup, so they spend less time sick or caring for loved ones stricken with waterborne diseases.
Basically, if you have a gene patent, it means you've managed to isolate a new gene from a microbe and it's yours to profit from.
The microbe becomes locked in a sugar-feasting feedback loop.
It's metabolically inefficient for a microbe to be resistant to both an extreme environment and high radiation.
British Dictionary definitions for microbe
microbe
/ˈmaɪkrəʊb/
noun
1.
any microscopic organism, esp a disease-causing bacterium
Derived Forms
microbial, microbic, (rare) microbian, adjective
Word Origin
C19: from French, from micro- + Greek bios life
Word Origin and History for microbe
n.
popular name for a bacterium, 1878, from French microbe, "badly coined ... by Sédillot" [Weekley] in 1878 from Greek mikros "small" (see mica) + bios "life" (see bio-). It is an incorrect use of bios; in Greek the word would mean literally "short-lived."
microbe in Medicine
microbe mi·crobe (mī'krōb') n. A microorganism, especially a bacterium that causes disease; a minute life form. No longer in technical use.
mi·cro'bi·al (mī-krō'bē-əl) adj.
microbe in Science
microbe
(mī'krōb') A microorganism, especially a bacterium that causes disease. See Note at germ.