BACTERIA!
• bacillus is rod-shaped
• coccus is ball-shaped
• spirilium is spiral-shaped
• vibrio is comma-shaped
• cocco-bacillus is ovoid-shaped
• other combinations
(mostly spherical, rod, and spiral)
Gram positive bacteria
• stain purple under Gram stain
• have a thick bilayer wall of the
polymer peptidoglycan.
Gram negative bacteria
• stain red
• have a thin layer of this polymer and an
additional lipopolysaccharide outer layer,
LPS,
• often endotoxic - capable of initiating
inflammation and cell-mediated immune
responses
• e.g., Salmonella, Shigella, and
Escherichia.
Some are photoautotrophic - make their own food
as plants and give off oxygen – Cyanobacteria are
also aerobic – use oxygen for respiration Purple
and green bacteria
are anaerobic
• Some are chemoautotrophic - synthesize their own
food using energy from chemical reactions
ANIMAL-LIKE PROTISTS (PROTOZOA) – important for recycling in nitrogen and sulfur cycles
Amoeba • Some have flagella - rotates like a tiny outboard
• Protozoa means “little animal” – act like tiny animals - Eukaryotic motor, others secrete a slime layer and move
• Hunt other microbes for food over surfaces like slugs, while others are immobile.
• Mainly feed on bacteria, also other protozoa and some algae • Some form spores
• Digest food in digestive organelles
• Ciliates, Amoebaes, Flagellates – organized by mode of
transportation
• Amoeba, Paramecium, Euglena are examples ARCHAEA
• Most are not harmful – a few are harmful • Are Prokaryotic
• Certain protozoa can cause dysentery and malaria • Similar to bacteria in many characteristics
• Cell walls lack peptidoglycan + other differences
FUNGI Yeast • Origin very old - during formation of the earth
• Cellular level, more like animals than plants – Eukaryotic • Extremely tolerant to heat, acid, and toxic gases
• Can’t synthesize their own food • Found in extreme habitats in anaerobic environments to produce
• Single celled as yeast or multicellular clusters as molds & mushrooms methane, high salt concentrations or hot acid environments
• Multicellular ones form filament like strands – hyphae • Involved in carbon & nitrogen cycles, assist in digestion, & can be
• Grow best in slightly acidic environment – can grow in low moisture used in sewage treatment
• Live in soil, on plants & animals, in fresh & salt water
• One teaspoon of topsoil has about 120,000 fungi ALGAL PROTISTS (ALGAE)
• Baker’s yeast for bread and brewing, some fungi are used for antibiotics, others • Are Eukaryotic
are • Found in fresh and salt water environments
decomposers in the ecosystem • Can live on rocks, trees, and in soils with enough moisture
• Some cause disease in humans, animals and plants – ruin ¼ to ½ of fruits & • Can carry on photosynthesis – produce large amount of oxygen
vegetables per year for life on earth
• Diatoms, Volvox, Clamydomonas , Spirogyra
VIRUSES • Shells of diatoms – silica – mined to make abrasives
• Are acellular • Algal blooms can use up oxygen in water – harming other organisms as fish
• Consists of a piece of nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) encased in protein
and in some cases a membrane-like envelope
• They come in many shapes
• Found anywhere there are cells to infest PRIONS
• Exist to reproduce – must take over a suitable host cell • proteinaceous infectious particles, associated with a number of diseases such as
• Uses the cell machinery of the host cell to reproduce o Creutzfeld-Jacob disease (CJD) in humans
o Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome (GSS) in humans
o Alpers syndrome (in infants),
o Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI) in humans
o Kuru in humans
o Scrapie in sheep,
o Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or Mad Cow Disease in cattle
o Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in wild ungulates such as Mule deer and elk
• These diseases are characterized by loss of motor control, dementia, paralysis, wasting
and
eventually death.
