Bacterial genome size

When our bodies get sick, sometimes it can be because we have bacteria inside of us. Bacteria are tiny, single-celled creatures that can not be seen without a microscope. To help understand bacteria better, scientists have looked at their inside parts and discovered that every single type of bacteria has its own set of instructions that tell it how to function and grow. This set of instructions is known as the bacterial genome and it is made up of many pieces of genetic material, like a puzzle. The number of pieces in the bacterial genome puzzle can differ from type to type, but the average size is about 4 to 6 million pieces. So the bacterial genome size can change from type to type and is usually somewhere between 4 and 6 million pieces.