<P> Coxiella burnetti is also a coccobacillus . </P> <P> Important human pathogens caused by coccoid bacteria those include staphylococci infections, some types of food poisoning, some urinary tract infections, toxic shock syndrome, gonorrhea, as well as some forms of meningitis, throat infections, pneumonias, and sinusitis . </P> <P> Bacteria are known to evolve specific traits to survive in their ideal environment . Bacteria - caused illnesses hinge on the bacteria's physiology and their ability to interact with their environment, including the ability to shapeshift . Researchers discovered a protein that allows the bacterium Vibrio cholerae to morph into a corkscrew shape that likely helps it twist into--and then escape--the protective mucus that lines the inside of the gut . </P> <P> A bacillus (plural bacilli) is a rod - shaped bacterium . Although Bacillus, capitalized and italicized, specifically refers to the genus, the word bacillus (plural bacilli) may also be used to describe any rod - shaped bacterium, and in this sense, bacilli are found in many different taxonomic groups of bacteria . There is no connection between the shape of a bacterium and its colors in the Gram staining . </P>

A chain of spherical bacterial cells is called a