BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION

ARISTOTLE

• Aristotle was the earliest to attempt a more scientific basis for classification.
• He used simple morphological characters to classify plants into trees, shrubs and herbs.
• He also divided animals into two groups, those which had red blood and those that did not

LINNAEUS

• Proposed two kingdom classification - Plantae and Animalia kingdoms that included all plants and
animals respectively .

Limitations of two kingdom classification

• Did not distinguish between the eukaryotes and prokaryotes, unicellular and multicellular organisms
and photosynthetic (green algae) and non-photosynthetic (fungi) organisms.

• A large number of organisms did not fall into either category

FIVE KINGDOM CLASSIFICATION

• Proposed by R.H. Whittaker (1969)

• The kingdoms defined by him were named Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia.
• The main criteria for classification used by him include cell structure, body organisation, mode of
nutrition, reproduction and phylogenetic relationships.

THREE DOMAIN CLASSIFICATION

• According to this system of classification all the organisms are grouped into three domains.
• It divided kingdom Monera ( prokaryotes) into 2 domains. ( Each of these domains includes one
kingdom – Archaebacteria and Eubacteria )
• The third domain included the eukaryotic organisms under four kingdoms ( Protista , Fungi, Plantae and
Animalia)
Characteristics of five kingdoms
 Kingdom Monera
 Prokaryotic ,unicellular and microorganisms.
 Occurrence of bacteria
- Everywhere
- Also live in extreme habitats - such as hot springs, deserts, snow and deep oceans where very few
other life forms can survive.
- Many of them live in or on other organisms as parasites.
 Nutrition in bacteria
- Bacteria as a group show the most extensive metabolic diversity.
- Some of the bacteria are autotrophic, i.e., they synthesise their own food from inorganic substrates.
They may be photosynthetic autotrophic or chemosynthetic autotrophic.
- The vast majority of bacteria are heterotrophs, i.e., they depend on other organisms or on dead organic
matter for food ( Saprotrophs) .
- They may be parasitic also.
 Reproduction in bacteria
 Bacteria reproduce mainly by fission

 Under unfavourable conditions, they produce spores.

 They also reproduce by a sort of sexual reproduction by adopting a primitive type of DNA transfer
from one bacterium to the other.
 Classification of bacteria based on shape
 Grouped under four categories based on their shape
1) Spherical - Coccus
2) Rod-shaped - Bacillus
3) Comma-shaped - Vibrium
4) Spiral - Spirillum
 Grouping of Monera
Monera

Archaebacteria Eubacteria Mycoplasma

Halophiles Thermoacidophiles Methanogens

Autotrophs Heterotrophs

Saprophytes Parasites
Photosynthetic Chemosynthetic
autotrophs autotrophs
 Archaebacteria
 They live in some of the most harsh habitats such as
1) Extreme salty areas – halophiles
2) Hot springs - thermoacidophiles
3)Marshy areas - methanogens.
 Archaebacteria differ from other bacteria in having a different cell wall structure and this
feature is responsible for their survival in extreme conditions.
 Methanogens are present in the gut of several ruminant animals such as cows and buffaloes and
they are responsible for the production of methane (biogas) from the dung of these animals.
 Eubacteria
 They are called true bacteria. Nostoc – filamentous
blue green alga
 They are characterised by the presence of a rigid cell wall, and if motile, a
flagellum.
 They can be autotrophs or heterotrophs.
 Autotrophs can be photosynthetic or chemosynthetic.
 The photosynthetic autotrophs are cyanobacteria (also referred to as blue-green
algae) and have chlorophyll a similar to green plants .
 The cyanobacteria are unicellular, colonial or filamentous, freshwater/marine or
terrestrial algae.
 The colonies are generally surrounded by gelatinous sheath.
 They form blooms in polluted water bodies. (An algal bloom is a rapid increase or
accumulation in the population of algae in freshwater or marine water systems,
and is often recognized by the discoloration in the water from their pigments . )
 Some of these organisms can fix atmospheric nitrogen in specialised cells called
heterocysts,
 E.g., Nostoc and Anabaena.
Algal bloom
 Chemosynthetic autotrophic bacteria
- Chemosynthetic bacteria include a group of autotrophic bacteria that use chemical energy to produce
their own food
- They oxidise various inorganic substances such as nitrates, nitrites and ammonia and use the
released energy for their ATP production.
- They play a great role in recycling nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorous, iron and sulphur.
 Heterotrophic bacteria
- Most abundant in nature.
- Majority are important decomposers.
- Many of them have a significant impact on human affairs.
- They are helpful in making curd from milk, production of antibiotics, fixing nitrogen in legume roots, etc.
- Some are pathogens causing damage to human beings, crops, farm animals and pets.
- Cholera, typhoid, tetanus, citrus canker are well known diseases caused by different bacteria.
 Mycoplasma

 Organisms that completely lack a cell wall.

 They are the smallest living cells known and can survive without oxygen.
 Many mycoplasma are pathogenic in animals and plants.
 Kingdom Protista
 Eukaryotic and unicellular organisms.
 Cell contains a well defined nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles.
 Some have flagella or cilia.
 Protists reproduce asexually and sexually by a process involving cell fusion and zygote formation.
 The boundaries of this kingdom are not well defined. What may be ‘a photosynthetic protistan’ to
one biologist may be ‘a plant’ to another.
 The organisms of this kingdom are classified as :
1) Chrysophytes
2) Dinoflagellates
3) Euglenoids
4) Slime moulds and
5) Protozoans
 Chrysophytes
 Includes diatoms and golden algae (desmids).
 Diatoms are the chief ‘producers’ in the oceans.
 They are found in fresh water as well as in marine environments.
 They are microscopic and float passively in water currents (plankton).
 Most of them are photosynthetic.
 In diatoms the cell walls form two thin overlapping shells, which fit
together as in a soap box. Golden algae
 The walls are embedded with silica and thus the walls are indestructible.
 Thus, diatoms have left behind large amount of cell wall deposits in their
habitat.
 This accumulation over billions of years is referred to as ‘diatomaceous
earth’.
 Being gritty this soil is used in polishing, filtration of oils and syrups.
Cell wall of diatoms Diatomaceous earth
 Dinoflagellates
 Mostly marine and photosynthetic.
 They appear yellow, green, brown, blue or red
depending on the main pigments present in their cells.
 The cell wall has stiff cellulose plates on the outer
surface.
 Most of them have two flagella - one lies longitudinally
and the other transversely in a furrow between the wall
plates.
 Red dinoflagellates like Gonyaulax undergo such rapid
multiplication that they make the sea appear red and
cause red tides.
 Toxins released by such large numbers may even kill
other marine animals such as fishes.
 Euglenoids
 Majority of them are fresh water organisms found in
stagnant water.
 Instead of a cell wall, they have a protein rich layer called
pellicle which makes their body flexible.
 They have two flagella, a short and a long one.
 Though they are photosynthetic in the presence of
sunlight, when deprived of sunlight they behave like
heterotrophs by predating on other smaller organisms.
 The pigments of euglenoids are identical to those present
in higher plants.
 Example: Euglena
 Slime moulds
 Slime moulds are saprophytic protists.
 The body moves along decaying twigs and leaves engulfing organic material.
 Under suitable conditions, they form an aggregation called plasmodium which may grow
and spread over several feet.
 During unfavourable conditions, the plasmodium differentiates and forms fruiting bodies
bearing spores at their tips.
 The spores possess true walls. They are extremely resistant and survive for many years,
even under adverse conditions.
 The spores are dispersed by air currents.
Slime mould – plasmodium and fruiting body formation
 Protozoans
 All protozoans are heterotrophs .
 They live as predators or parasites.
 There are four major groups of protozoans:
1) Amoeboid protozoans
- These organisms live in fresh water, sea water or moist soil.
- They move and capture their prey by putting out
pseudopodia (false feet) as in Amoeba.
- Some of them such as Entamoeba are parasites.
 2) Flagellated protozoans
- Free-living or parasitic.
- They have flagella.
- The parasitic forms cause diseases such as sleeping
sickness.
Example: Trypanosoma.

3) Ciliated protozoans
- They are aquatic
- Actively moving organisms because of the presence of
thousands of cilia.
- They have a cavity (gullet) that opens to the outside of the
cell surface.
- The coordinated movement of rows of cilia causes the
water laden with food to be steered into the gullet.
Example: Paramoecium
,
4) Sporozoans
- Organisms that have an infectious spore-like stage in their life cycle.
Example - Plasmodium (malarial parasite) which causes malaria
 Kingdom fungi
 Fungi are cosmopolitan and occur in air, water, soil and on animals and plants.
 They prefer to grow in warm and humid places .
 Mostly multicellular with the exception of yeast which is unicellular.
 The cell walls of fungi are composed of chitin and polysaccharides.
 The body of fungus consist of long, slender thread-like structures called hyphae.
 The network of hyphae is known as mycelium.
 Hyphae are of 2 types :
1) Coenocytic and aseptate - Hyphae are continuous tubes without cross walls or septa and are filled
with multinucleated cytoplasm .
2) Septate hyphae - Have septae or cross walls in their hyphae .
Mycelium
HYPHA AND MYCELIUM SEPTATE AND COENOCYTIC HYPHAE
 Nutrition in fungi
 All fungi are heterotrophs .
 Saprophytes - absorb soluble organic matter from dead substrates .
 Parasites – depend on living plants and animals are called parasites.
 They can also live as symbionts such as :
- Fungi in association with algae as lichens
- Fungi in association with roots of higher plants as mycorrhiza.
 Examples of fungi
 Mushroom ( edible) and toadstools
 Some are parasitic - White spots seen on
mustard leaves are due to a parasitic fungus.
 Some unicellular fungi like yeast are used to
make bread and beer.
 Some fungi cause diseases in plants and animals
Eg. Wheat rust-causing Puccinia.
 Some are the source of antibiotics, e.g.
Penicillium.
 Reproduction in fungi
 By vegetative means – fragmentation, fission and budding.
 Asexual reproduction is by formation of asexual spores. Eg - conidia , sporangiospores ,zoospores .
 Sexual reproduction by sexual spores . Eg - oospores, ascospores and basidiospores.
 The various spores are produced in distinct structures called fruiting bodies.
Formation of spores in fruiting bodies
 Steps in the sexual cycle of fungus
(i) Fusion of protoplasms between two motile or non-motile gametes called plasmogamy.
(ii) Fusion of two nuclei called karyogamy.
(iii) Meiosis in zygote resulting in haploid spores.
 Dikaryophase of fungus
 When a fungus reproduces sexually, two haploid hyphae of compatible mating types come together
and fuse.
 In some fungi the fusion of two haploid cells immediately results in diploid cells (2n).
 In other fungi (ascomycetes and basidiomycetes), an intervening dikaryotic stage (n + n, i.e., two
nuclei per cell) occurs. Such a condition is called a dikaryon and the phase is called dikaryophase of
fungus.
 Later, the parental nuclei fuse and the cells become diploid. The fungi form fruiting bodies in which
reduction division occurs, leading to formation of haploid spores.
 Division of kingdom fungi
 Based on the morphology of the mycelium, mode of spore formation , mode of sexual
reproduction and nature of fruiting bodies, kingdom fungi is divided into four classes :
1) Phycomycetes
2) Ascomycetes
3) Basidiomycetes
4) Deuteromycetes
 Phycomycetes
 Found in aquatic habitats and on decaying wood in moist and damp places or as obligate parasites on
plants.
 The mycelium is aseptate and coenocytic.
 Asexual reproduction takes place by zoospores (motile) or by aplanospores (non-motile).
 The spores are endogenously produced in sporangium.
 A zygospore is formed by fusion of two gametes.
 These gametes are similar in morphology (isogamous) or dissimilar (anisogamous or oogamous).
Isogamy is the fusion of gametes similar in size .Anisogamy is the fusion of gametes dissimilar in size
and oogamy is the fusion of large, immotile female gametes with small, motile male gametes
 Examples - examples are Mucor , Rhizopus (the bread mould) , Albugo (the parasitic fungi on mustard).
 Ascomycetes Sac fungi
 Commonly known as sac-fungi.
 Mostly multicellular, e.g., Penicillium
 Rarely unicellular, e.g., yeast (Saccharomyces).
 They are saprophytic, decomposers, parasitic or coprophilous
(growing on dung).
 Mycelium branched and septate. Truffle

 The asexual spores are conidia produced exogenously on the special

mycelium called conidiophores.
 Conidia on germination produce mycelium.
 Sexual spores are called ascospores which are produced
endogenously in sac like asci . These asci are arranged in different
types of fruiting bodies called ascocarps.
 Examples are Aspergillus , Claviceps and Neurospora.
 Neurospora is used extensively in biochemical and genetic work.
 Many members like morels and truffles are edible .

Morels
 Ascocarp
Asexual spores - conidia
 Basidiomycetes
 Commonly known forms of basidiomycetes are mushrooms, bracket fungi or puffballs.
 They grow in soil, on logs and tree stumps and in living plant bodies as parasites, e.g., rusts and
smuts.
 The mycelium is branched and septate.
 The asexual spores are generally not found, but vegetative reproduction by fragmentation is
common.
 The sex organs are absent, but plasmogamy is brought about by fusion of two vegetative or
somatic cells of different strains or genotypes.
 The resultant structure is dikaryotic which ultimately gives rise to basidium.
 Karyogamy and meiosis take place in the basidium producing four basidiospores.
 The basidiospores are exogenously produced on the basidium (pl.: basidia).
 The basidia are arranged in fruiting bodies called basidiocarps.
 Examples are Agaricus (mushroom) , Ustilago (smut) and Puccinia (rust fungus).
Agaricus Ustilago Puccinia
 Deuteromycetes
 Commonly known as imperfect fungi because only the asexual or vegetative phases of these fungi
are known.
 When the sexual forms of these fungi were discovered they were moved into classes they rightly
belong to.
 The asexual and vegetative stage have been given one name (and placed under deuteromycetes)
and the sexual stage another (and placed under another class).
 Once perfect (sexual) stages of members of deuteromycetes were discovered they were moved to
ascomycetes and basidiomycetes.
 The deuteromycetes reproduce only by asexual spores known as conidia.
 The mycelium is septate and branched.
 Some members are saprophytes or parasites while a large number of them are decomposers of
litter and help in mineral cycling.
 Examples are Alternaria, Colletotrichum and Trichoderma.
 Kingdom Plantae
 Includes all eukaryotic chlorophyll-containing organisms commonly called plants.
 A few members are partially heterotrophic such as the insectivorous plants or parasites.
 Bladderwort and Venus fly trap are examples of insectivorous plants and Cuscuta is a parasite.
 The plant cells have an eukaryotic structure with prominent chloroplasts and cell wall mainly made of
cellulose .
 Life cycle of plants has two distinct phases – the diploid sporophytic phase and the haploid gametophytic
phase that alternate with each other. This phenomenon is called alternation of generation.
 The lengths of the haploid and diploid phases, and whether these phases are free– living or dependent on
others, vary among different groups in plants.
 Kingdom Animalia

 Includes heterotrophic eukaryotic organisms that are multicellular and their cells lack cell walls.
 They directly or indirectly depend on plants for food.
 They digest their food in an internal cavity and store food reserves as glycogen or fat.
 Their mode of nutrition is holozoic – by ingestion of food.
 They follow a definite growth pattern and grow into adults that have a definite shape and size.
 Higher forms show elaborate sensory and neuromotor mechanism.
 Most of them are capable of locomotion.
 The sexual reproduction is by copulation of male and female followed by embryological
development.
 Viruses – Structure
 Viruses are nucleoproteins containing a nucleic acid ( DNA/RNA) surrounded by a protein coat
called capsid.
 The genetic material of virus is infectious.
 Viruses that infect plants have single stranded RNA.
 Viruses that infect animals have either single or double stranded RNA or double stranded DNA.
 Bacteriophages are viruses that infect the bacteria are usually double stranded DNA viruses.
 The protein coat called capsid made of small subunits called capsomeres, protects the nucleic acid.
 These capsomeres are arranged in helical or polyhedral geometric forms.
 Viruses cause diseases like mumps, small pox, herpes, influenza ,AIDS in humans .
 In plants, the symptoms of viral diseases include :
(1) mosaic formation (2) leaf rolling and curling
(3) yellowing and vein clearing (4) dwarfing and stunted growth.
 Viruses
 Viruses did not find a place in Whittaker’s classification since they are not considered truly ‘living’.
 The viruses are non-cellular organisms that are characterised by having an inert crystalline structure
outside the living cell.
 Once they infect a cell they take over the machinery of the host cell to replicate themselves, killing the
host.
 The name virus means venom or poisonous fluid .
 D.J . Ivanowsky (1892) recognised certain microbes as causal organism of the mosaic disease of
tobacco.
 These were found to be smaller than bacteria because they passed through bacteria-proof filters.
 M.W. Beijerinek (1898) demonstrated that the extract of the infected plants of tobacco could cause
infection in healthy plants and called the fluid as Contagium vivum fluidum (infectious living fluid).
 W.M. Stanley (1935) showed that viruses could be crystallised and crystals consist largely of
proteins.
 They are inert outside their specific host cell.
 Viruses are obligate parasites.
Tobacco Mosaic Virus ( TMV) Bacteriophage
SYMPTOMS OF VIRAL DISEASES IN PLANTS
 Viroids

 Discovered by T.O. Diener (1971).

 Infectious agent that was smaller than viruses and caused potato spindle tuber disease .
 It was found to be a free RNA. It lacked the protein coat that is found in viruses,
The RNA of the viroid was of low molecular weight.
 Prions
 A prion is a type of protein that can trigger normal proteins in the brain to fold abnormally.
 In modern medicine certain infectious neurological diseases were found to be transmitted by an agent
consisting of abnormally folded protein.
 The agent was similar in size to viruses. These agents were called prions.
 The most notable diseases caused by prions are bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) commonly
called mad cow disease in cattle and its analogous variant Cr–Jacob disease (CJD-Creutzfeldt-Jakob
disease ) in humans.
 Lichens
 Lichens are symbiotic associations or mutually useful associations, between algae and fungi.
 The algal component is known as phycobiont and fungal component as mycobiont, which are
autotrophic and heterotrophic, respectively.
 Algae prepare food for fungi and fungi provide shelter and absorb mineral nutrients and water
for its partner.
 Lichens are very good pollution indicators as t they do not grow in polluted areas.