BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION
5 KINGDOM CLASSIFICATION
• R. H. Whttakar in the year 1969 proposed 5
kingdom classification:
• 1. Monera
• 2. Protista
• 3. Fungi
• 4. Plantae
• 5. Animalia
[Link] MONERA
• 1. Monera
• This group includes all kinds of bacteria, made up of a
single prokaryotic cell.
• The cell does not contain a well-defined nucleus.
.
They mainly reproduce by fission, spore formation under
unfavourable conditions and also by DNA transfer from one
bacterium cell to another.
• Mycoplasma lack the cell wall and are the smallest cell to
survive without oxygen. Most of them are pathogenic.
SHAPES OF BACTERIA
KINGDOM MONERA INCLUDES
• I. ARCHAEBACTERIA
• They are group of most primitive prokaryotes which
live under most hostile conditions like extreme salty
area (halophiles), hot springs (thermoacidophiles)
and marshy area (methanogens). They differ from
other bacteria in having different cell wall structure
(absence of peptidoglycan). Methanogens are
present in the gut of several ruminant animals like
cows and buffalo, which is responsible for production
of biogas (methane) from dung of these animals.
II. Eubacteria
• These are true bacteria and have a rigid cell wall, and motile organisms have flagella.
• Photosynthetic Autotrophs- They include Cyanobacteria (Blue-green Algae). They
have chlorophylls and carotenoids. They are unicellular, filamentous or colonial and
body is covered by a mucilaginous sheath. Nostoc and Anabaena have
heterocysts, where they can fix atmospheric nitrogen.
• Chemosynthetic Autotrophs- They play an important role in recycling nutrients.
They get the required energy for ATP generation from the oxidation of various
inorganic substances such as ammonia, nitrates and nitrites.
• Heterotrophic- There is a wide variety of heterotrophic bacteria. They act as a
decomposer. They are used for various purposes such as nitrogen-fixing, curd and
antibiotics production. Many bacteria are pathogen causing various diseases of
plants and animals, e.g. citrus canker, tetanus, typhoid, cholera.
2. Protista
• The group includes unicellular eukaryotes
• They contain a well-defined nucleus and other
membrane-bound cell organelles
• They include protozoan, slime moulds,
chrysophytes, dinoflagellates and euglenoids
Chrysophytes
• Include diatoms and desmids (golden algae)
• They are mostly photosynthetic and have
indestructible cell wall due to the presence of silica
• The cell wall makes two thin overlapping shells,
which fit like a soapbox on the outer surface
• Diatomaceous earth is the deposit of the cell wall
that gets accumulated. It is used for filtration and
polishing
Dinoflagellates
• They are photosynthetic and marine
• They are found in many colours like yellow,
green, red, blue, brown, according to the
pigment present
• Stiff cellulose plates are present on the cell wall
• They multiply rapidly and cause red tide
• Many dinoflagellates emit blue-green light and
are bioluminescent
Euglenoids
• They are photosynthetic flagellated protist
• They are a link between plants and animals.
They perform photosynthesis but lack a cell
wall
• The characteristic feature is the presence of
pellicle, a protein-rich layer, which makes their
body flexible
• In the absence of sunlight, they feed on small
organisms and behave as a heterotroph
Slime moulds
• They are saprophytic protists feeding on organic
materials from decaying twigs and leaves
• Aggregation/group of slime moulds is called
plasmodium, which they form under favourable
conditions
• Under unfavourable conditions, fruiting bodies
containing spores develop at the tip of plasmodium
• These spores can survive for very long under
adverse conditions and have true wall
PROTOZOANS-LITTLE ANIMALS
• The group contains all the unicellular, eukaryotic, heterotrophs, which are
parasites or predators
• These are divided into 4 major groups:
– Amoeboid- They are characterised by the presence of pseudopodia, which are
used for movement and catching of prey, e.g. Amoeba. Marine amoeboids have
silica shells. Some of the amoeboids are parasites, e.g. Entamoeba
histolytica causes amoebic dysentery
– Flagellated- They are characterised by the presence of flagella. Some of them
are parasites causing various diseases, e.g Trypanosoma causes sleeping sickness
– Ciliated- They have thousands of cilia on their body surface. The coordinated
movement of cilia helps in steering the water having food into the gullet (body
cavity, which opens outside the body surface), e.g. Paramoecium
– Sporozoans- They are characterised by the formation of spores, which is the
infectious stage, e.g. Plasmodium
[Link]
• Fungi are cosmopolitan and found everywhere
• They are heterotrophic and get the nutrients by absorption
• Their cell wall is made up of chitin or fungal cellulose
• Their mode of nutrition is saprophytic, parasitic or symbiotic and the main food reserve
is glycogen
• Vegetative reproduction is by fragmentation, budding or fission
• Asexual reproduction is by spores formation such as conidia, zoospores,
sporangiospores
• Sexual reproduction is by oospore, ascospore or basidiospore formation in distinct
fruiting bodies
• In sexual reproduction, plasmogamy (fusion of protoplasm) is followed by karyogamy
(fusion of nuclei)
• In basidiomycetes and ascomycetes, plasmogamy is not immediately followed by
karyogamy, resulting in a distinct dikaryon (n+n) cell having 2 nuclei per cell
• Fungi are divided into four major classes on the basis of types and mode of spore
formation and the structure of mycelium
[Link]
• They are found in aquatic habitat and on
decaying wood in moist and damp places.
• The mycelium is aseptate and coenocytic.
• Asexual reproduction by zoospores( motile) or
aplanospores (non-motile).
• Example- Mucus, Rhizopus, etc.
[Link] (The sac fungi)
• They are saprophytic, decomposers, parasitic
or coprophilous (growing on dung).
• Mycelium are branched and septate and
asexual spores are conidia.
• Sexual spores are called ascospores produced
inside the fruiting body called ascocarps.
• Example- Neurospora, Aspergillus,
Claviceps etc.
[Link] (The club
fungi/mushrooms/bracketfungi/puffballs)
• The mycelium is branched and septate.
• Vegetative reproduction is by fragmentation.
Asexual spores are not found. Sexual reproduction is
by two vegetative or somatic cells forming basidium.
• Basidiospores are produced in basidium by
developing a fruiting body called basidiocarps.
• Example- Agaricus
[Link] (The fungi imperfecti)
• Only vegetative and asexual phase is known.
• Sexual mode of reproduction is not known.
• Mycelium is septate and branched. Some
members are saprophytes or parsites.
• Example- Trichoderma,
4. Plantae
• Mostly autotrophic, chlorophyll-containing, eukaryotic
organisms
• Characterised by the presence of rigid cell wall made up of
cellulose
• Some plants are partially heterotrophic such as
Insectivorous (Venus flytrap, Bladderwort) and parasites
(Cuscuta)
• Kingdom Plantae includes Algae, Bryophytes,
Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms and Angiosperms
[Link]
• All the heterotrophic, eukaryotic and
multicellular organisms are included in the
Kingdom Animalia
• They lack a cell wall
Some of the acellular organism and lichens, which are not classified in the
five-kingdom classification by Whittaker are the following:
• Viruses
• Dmitri Ivanowsky gave the name “virus” to the causal organism of tobacco mosaic
disease
• Beijerinek called the fluid extracted from diseased plants of tobacco, “Contagium
vivum fluidum” and observed it as being infectious to healthy plants
• Stanley crystallised TMV (tobacco mosaic virus) for the first time
• They are acellular containing nucleic acid core (either DNA or RNA), which is
surrounded by a protein coat called the capsid
• Viruses use the host machinery to multiply inside the host cell, they exist in a
crystalline form outside the host cell
• They are obligate parasite and cause various diseases in plants and animals, e.g.
common cold, AIDS, polio, mumps, measles, chickenpox, etc. in animals and various
mosaic diseases in plants such as tobacco, cucumber, tomato, etc. leaf curling,
yellowing of vein, etc.
• Viruses that infect plants have single-stranded RNA
• Bacteriophages, viruses infecting bacteria have double-stranded DNA
Some of the acellular organism and lichens, which are
not classified in the five-kingdom classification by
Whittaker are the following:
• Viroids
• They are the smallest infectious agents found. They consist of nucleic acid but lack a protein coat
• Diener discovered viroids as a causative agent of potato spindle tuber disease, that was a free RNA
• Prions
• They contain abnormally folded proteins and have a size similar to viruses
• They can change the shape of normal proteins by transmitting their misfolded proteins
• They cause many neurodegenerative diseases, e.g. bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle
and Cr-Jacob disease in humans
• Lichens
• They are a symbiotic, mutually beneficial association of algae (phycobiont) and fungi (mycobiont). The
alga is autotrophic and provides food, whereas the fungus provides protection and shelter
• Lichens do not grow in polluted areas so they are a good pollution indicator
