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Republic of the Philippines

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
The National Engineering University
Alangilan Campus
Golden Country Homes, Alangilan, Batangas City, Batangas, Philippines 4200
Tel Nos.: (+63 43) 425-0139; (+63 43) 425-0143 loc. 2103
E-mail Address: [email protected] | Website Address: http://www.batstate-u.edu.ph

MICROBIOLOGY
In our study of microbiology, we will see the smallest of living organisms. These small
organisms show the most basic properties of the living condition. In the virus, we find the lack
of cellular organization. But the virus still can reproduce under suitable conditions. As our study
progresses from the primitive virus, cells increase in complexity. Among these simple
organisms, we find cells grouping together to form colonies. Other organisms are organized on
the multicellular level. By studying these simple organisms, we will be able to better understand
higher forms of life.
VIRUSES- LIVING OR NONLIVING?
The study of viruses is one of the newest and most interesting fields of biology. This
study also raises basic questions about what we mean by the word life. When little was known
of viruses, it was much easier to draw a line between the living and nonliving worlds. Then it
was found that viruses seem to shift between these worlds, and the line became less clear.

Consider a virus alone. It is a particle unlike any other form of nonliving matter. And
there are definite links to biochemical processes in the way a virus is organized. Yet the virus
itself is not alive. Only in the presence of a living system in a cell does it show signs of life and
then it seems very much alive. Could viruses be living at some times and nonliving at others?
It all depends on how we define life, and biologists have yet to agree on such a definition.
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Whether viruses are living or nonliving, they belong in our Unit on microbiology. If
nonliving, their effects on cells are different from those of any other nonliving material. If living,
they are clearly the most basic organisms-life at the molecular level.

WHAT ARE VIRUSES LIKE?

At the mention of the word virus, you probably think of an agent of disease. Many
viruses do cause diseases, polio, smallpox, influenza, rabies, and the common cold. All in all,
more than 300 viruses are known to cause diseases in certain organisms. Until recently, in fact,
scientists thought that all viruses were pathogenic, or able to produce disease. However, many
viruses are now known that seem to be harmless.
Virus particles are not cells. They are subcellular or organized below the level of the
cell. A virus has no nucleus, no cytoplasm, and no surrounding membrane. It is larger than a
molecule but much smaller than the smallest cell. We call viruses filterable viruses because they
pass through the very small pores of filters used to separate bacteria from fluids. Only the largest
viruses are visible through a light microscope. Thus, little was known of the structure of viruses
before the electron microscope came into use. With this instrument, even the smallest viruses
have been photographed. We are now familiar with the forms and sizes of many viruses.

Viruses occur in many shapes. Some are like needles or rods, others are round. Some
are shaped like cubes or like bricks. Still, others have oval or many-sided heads and slender
tails. As for size, we measure viruses in millimicrons (mu). A millimicron is one-millionth of a
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millimeter. To understand how very small this is, consider that the smallest bacteria range from
500 to 750 milli microns. Such bacteria appear only as tiny specks through a light microscope
at high power. Still, these bacteria are large compared to viruses.

THE DISCOVERY OF VIRUSES

Scientists had learned to prevent certain virus diseases long before anyone knew that
viruses existed. Edward Jenner gave the first vaccination for smallpox in 1796. About a century
later Louis Pasteur developed his vaccine for rabies. Yet neither of these men had ever seen or
heard of viruses.
Even into the twentieth century, viruses themselves remained unknown, though many
scientists were studying virus diseases One such scientist was the Russian biologist Dmitri
Iwanowski. In his work, important though it was, we can see some of the reasons viruses were not
found sooner.
In 1892, Iwanowski was studying a virus disease of tobacco plants known as tobacco
mosaic. The word mosaic refers to a pattern of light green and yellow areas that appears on the
diseased tobacco leaves. Iwanowski first squeezed fluid from diseased leaves, then rubbed this
fluid onto healthy plants. The healthy leaves soon showed the mosaic pattern of the disease.
Iwanowski repeated the experiment. But this time, he passed the fluid through a filter with
pores small enough to remove all bacteria. The microscope showed no bacteria or other bodies that
might cause disease in this fluid. But when the fluid was rubbed on healthy plants, it still caused
the disease.
These results puzzled Iwanowski and no wonder. In his day, bacteria were thought to be
the smallest possible agents of disease. The viruses, of course, were far too small to be seen through
his light microscope. He could only assume that some invisible poison, given off by the bacteria,
had passed through the filter.
Six years later, the Dutch botanist Martinus Beijerinck repeated Iwanowski's work. He
reached a different conclusion. He believed that the fluid must contain some invisible agent smaller
than the smallest bacteria. He named this unknown agent virus, a Latin word meaning "poison."
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Still, it was not until 1935 that the virus itself was found. The discoverer was Dr. Wendell
Stanley. Stanley ground and removed the fluid from more than a ton of diseased tobacco leaves.
From this fluid, he obtained about a teaspoonful of needlelike crystals. Stored in a bottle, these
crystals seemed to have no life. Yet when they were put in water and rubbed on tobacco leaves,
they produced the mosaic disease. Stanley had isolated the tobacco mosaic virus. For this work,
he received the Nobel prize in chemistry in 1946.
OTHER PROPERTIES OF VIRUSES
The living condition is a state of constant chemical activity. This activity takes several
forms-growth, respiration, and so on. These processes go on constantly in all living cells.
On its own, a virus shows no such activity. Only when in direct contact with the content
of a specific host cell does a virus show any signs of life. The host cell is any cell attacked by a
virus. Even then, its activity is limited and is made possible only by the activity of the cell itself.
Removed from the cell, the virus again loses all signs of life. However, it still could infect a
cell.
A virus cannot reproduce on its own. That is, it cannot divide like a cell and produce
new viruses. To reproduce, a virus must invade a host cell and take control of the cell's activity.
Biologists are not sure how this is done, and different viruses may affect cells in different ways.
However, one hypothesis has received support. According to it, the virus changes the enzyme
patterns that control protein synthesis in the cell. The virus does this by injecting its own DNA
or RNA into the host cell. This change causes the cell to build viruses rather than normal cell
structures.
If this hypothesis is correct, the virus acts in much the same way as a gene. Could a virus
be a gene (or group of genes) that has no "home" until it invades a cell? On the other hand,
many viruses are themselves affected by the environment in which they grow. For example, the
rabies virus is grown in cells of the brain and spinal cord of a dog. If so, the strength, or virulence
(VIR-uh-lenss), of the virus increases for dogs and human beings. If the virus is grown in
rabbits, it loses virulence for people and dogs but gains virulence for rabbits.
Viruses also vary by mutation. More than fifty mutant strains of the tobacco mosaic
virus have been discovered. These strains differ in virulence and in the symptoms, they produce
in the host plant. Such variations may explain why some epidemics of the same disease are
worse than others. Perhaps the virus gains in virulence as the disease is passed from person to
person. Or perhaps a mutant strain with greater virulence is involved.

CLASSIFICATION OF VIRUSES
Viruses in general invade only specific kinds of cells. For this reason, we classify viruses
according to their host organisms. This system gives us the following types:
•Bacterial viruses invade the cells of bacteria.
•Plant viruses are found in the cells of seed plants.
•Human and animal viruses, invade human and animal cells.

The relationship between virus and host is much more specific than these large groups
indicate. Bacterial viruses invade only certain kinds of bacteria. A plant virus may invade only a
specific plant and only specific cells, such as leaf cells, within that plant. An animal virus may
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become active only in certain tissue cells, such as skin cells, in a specific animal. Some viruses
are still more specific. Polio viruses attack only one kind of nerve cell in the brain and spinal
cord. The mumps virus infects only one pair of salivary glands, it never invades the other pairs.

BACTERIOPHAGES
Much of what we know about viruses has come from a study of bacterial viruses, also
known as phages (FAH-jiz). Phages look a bit like tadpoles. They have round or many-sided
heads, and slender tails with several fibers for attaching to bacteria. The coat of a phage is made
up of protein. The core is usually DNA, but some phages contain RNA instead.
The first discoveries about phages were made in England in 1915. Scientists had noticed
something strange that happened in cultures of a certain bacterium. Small circles appeared in
which the bacteria had been killed. These circles, or plaques, spread until the whole colony of
bacteria was destroyed. It was also found that the unknown agent that destroyed the bacteria
could be transferred to other colonies with a needle.

The actual agent that killed the bacteria was not discovered for several years. But this
agent was given the name we still use today -bacteriophage, or "bacteria eater."

HOPES FOR MEDICAL USE OF PHAGES

Many diseases are caused by bacteria. Couldn't we cure these diseases by using virulent
phages to destroy the bacteria? At one time, there was great hope that this could be done. But
further studies have run into many problems.
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For example, some diseases infect tissues deep in the body. It may be difficult to introduce
a phage into such tissues. In other diseases, the infection is very widespread. Thus, the phages may
not be able to reach enough bacteria to be helpful. Still, another problem is that the human tissue
environment may not be suited for phage action. For these and other reasons, we are less hopeful
today about using phages as major weapons against disease.

HUMAN AND ANIMAL VIRUSES

Many familiar diseases of human beings and animals are caused by viruses. In most
cases, the virus invades only specific tissues. Symptoms of virus diseases are as different as the
viruses that cause them. However, most virus infections interfere with normal cell activity and
may damage or destroy tissue. We have already mentioned several virus diseases that affect
human beings. To this list, we could add chicken pox, measles, warts, virus pneumonia, yellow
fever, cold sores, fever blisters, and many others.
A victim who recovers from certain virus diseases, such as chicken pox, becomes
immune to the disease. In other cases, such as the common cold, the victim does not become
immune.

CAN VIRUSES CAUSE CANCER?

Much recent cancer research has focused on viruses. Several vi. ruses may be linked to
certain types of human cancer. Results of experiments with animals have been encouraging. For
example, a form of leukemia can be caused in mice by injecting them with a certain virus. By
similar methods, more than twenty kinds of malignant tumors have been produced in mice,
guinea pigs, and hamsters.

In 1975, Doctors Temin, Baltimore, and Dulbecco received the Nobel prize for their work
showing that cancer viruses make an enzyme that affects human DNA. This was a major step in
discovering how viruses might play a role in cancer. If scientists can find viruses that do cause
human cancers, they may also find a way to prevent or cure some cancers.

BACTERIA AND RELATED ORGANISMS

BACTERIA- THE MOST COMMON FORM OF LIFE

As our study moves from viruses to bacteria and their relatives, we will see living cells at
their simplest level. In fact, bacteria may have been the first form of life on earth. Many biologists
believe that bacteria existed long before the first photosynthetic green plants. These early bacteria
may have taken energy from iron, sulfur, and nitrogen compounds rather than from the sun.
Geologists think that the great deposits of iron ore we use today resulted from bacterial action
billions of years ago.
Later, green plants arose and began building up stores of organic compounds. New kinds
of bacteria developed that used these compounds as food. Still, other bacteria invaded the tissues
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of the plants themselves. When animals came into being, bacteria developed that could live off
them as well.
Bacteria have survived through the ages. Today, they are the most common life form on
our planet. Too small to be seen by the naked eye, they live almost everywhere. There are bacteria
in the air, water, soil, our foods, and the bodies of all plants and animals. In fact, any environment
that can support life has its population of bacteria.
LOUIS PASTEUR AND THE BIRTH OF BACTERIOLOGY
In any science, a few names stand out above all others. In biology, one such name is Louis
Pasteur. We have already mentioned Pasteur's vaccine for rabies and his defeat of the theory of
spontaneous generation. Even if he had done nothing else, he would still be remembered for these
works. Yet, in fact, they represent only a small part of his total achievement.
Born in France in 1822, Pasteur began his scientific career as a chemist. In 1854, he was
appointed professor of chemistry and dean at the University of Lille. This location turned out to
be quite important. The city of Lille was a center for making alcohol by fermentation of the juice
of sugar beets. And it was Pasteur's studies of fermentation that opened a whole new world to the
science of biology.
With his microscope, Pasteur studied the juice that was fermenting normally. He saw many
yeast cells spread through the liquid. Over several hours, more yeast cells grew. As they did so,
the alcohol content of the juice rose.
Were the yeasts producing the alcohol? In trying to learn the answer, Pasteur next examined
the sour juice. This juice contained no alcohol but lactic acid. Further, instead of yeasts, it
contained smaller, rod-shaped bodies. These bodies moved and seemed to be alive. They increased
in number as the yeasts had. As these rod-shaped bodies increased, the lactic acid content of the
juice also increased.
These discoveries led Pasteur to begin a much more complete study of fermentation After
three years, he set up a small laboratory in Paris. There he finally proved his theory. Fermentation
does result from the action of microorganisms, and the products formed depend on the organisms
involved. Yeasts produce alcohol Lactic acid is formed by bacteria.
Pasteur did not end his studies of bacteria here. Much greater discoveries lay ahead.
Perhaps the most important was his germ theory, which changed the course of modern medicine.
According to this theory, bacteria could not only affect fermentation but could cause diseases.
Modern bacteriology and microbiology both springs largely from Pasteur's work.
WHAT ARE BACTERIA?
Since Pasteur's time, bacteria have been thought of either as plants or as animals. Recently,
however, biologists have placed them in the kingdom Protista. Along with their relatives, bacteria
make up the protist phylum Schizomycophyta (SKIZZ-uh-MY-KAH fuh-tuh). This name means
"fission fungi."
Compared with a virus, a bacterium is quite large. A single bacterium can contain as many
as 300 phage viruses. But compared with the cells of most other organisms, bacteria are very small.
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Like viruses, bacteria are measured in millimicrons (mµ). Sphere-shaped bacteria range from about
500 mµ to 1,500 mµ in diameter. Rodshaped bacteria may be from 200 to 2,000 mµ thick and from
500 to 10,000 mµ long. If these figures mean little to you, consider that several thousand bacteria
could fit into the period at the end of this sentence.
At high power (430x), a laboratory microscope will show some bacteria and give you an
idea of their shapes. However, magnification of 1,000× to 1.500x is needed to see them clearly.
No light microscope is strong enough to show most cell structures of bacteria. For this, an electron
microscope must be used.

FORMS OF BACTERIA
While bacteria vary in size, their cells are of three basic shapes. Some bacteria tend to
live as single cells. Others tend to remain attached after cell division, forming colonies. These
colonies, too, have certain basic shapes. The shapes of bacteria and their colonies are as follows:
● coccus (plural, cocci): sphere-shaped cells
o diplococcus: cells often joined in pairs or short filaments
o staphylococcus: clusters of cells
o streptococcus: filaments, or strings, of cells
o tetrad: four cells arranged in a square
o sarcina: cubes or similar groups of cells

● bacillus (plural, bacilli): rod-shaped cells

o diplobacillus: cells in pairs
o streptobacillus: cells joined end to end, forming a filament
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● spirillum (plural, spirilla): cells shaped like bent rods or corkscrews.

STRUCTURE OF BACTERIAL CELLS

In some ways, bacteria are much like other organisms. A bacterium has a cell wall that
gives it its shape. Within this wall, a thin plasma membrane surrounds the cytoplasm. There is
no nuclear membrane, but a nuclear area near the center of the cell. This area contains chromatin
bodies made up of DNA in the form of genes. Some biologists think that these bodies make up
a single chromosome.
Mitosis does not occur in bacteria, but the chromatin bodies do divide when the cell
splits. Thus, each daughter cell receives an equal amount of DNA.
Many bacteria have granules of stored food and other substances spread through the
cytoplasm. A few also contain vacuoles of water and dissolved materials. Respiratory enzymes
are usually found on mitochondria in cells, but bacteria have no mitochondria. Instead, the
respiratory enzymes seem to be concentrated on or near the cell membrane.
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Another important difference between bacteria and other cells is the slime layer that
surrounds a bacterium. Lying outside the cell wall, this slime may protect the bacterium and
help it to stick to a food supply or host cell.
The slime layer varies in thickness in different bacteria. Some have a thick slime layer
called a capsule. The pneumonia bacterium has such a capsule. In fact, the capsule is a key to
the virulence of the pneumonia organism. Forms with the capsule produce serious infections.
Forms without the capsule produce milder infections or even none at all. It may be that the
capsule protects the bacteria against the natural defenses of the victim's body

MOVEMENT OF BACTERIA
Certain bacillus and spirillum bacteria move by means of flagella (fluh-JELL-uh), These
threadlike whips extend from the cell membrane and are used in "swimming" through water and
other fluids. In some bacteria, flagella are found as single strands or tufts of strands at either end
of the cell. In others, the flagella are all around the cell.
Flagella are visible only when treated with special stains. Through a light microscope at
high power, they look like tiny threads. The electron microscope shows that they are actually
part of the cytoplasm, which extends through openings in the cell wall. They are made up mainly
of strands of protein molecules. In some ways, these strands are muscle fibers. Thus, the basis
for muscle contractions in animals may lie in the beating flagella of bacteria.

You can see the movement of bacteria through the microscope. True movement,
motility, by means of flagella is a quivering, twisting motion. It should not be confused with
the flowing or bouncing motion known as the Brownian movement. Brownian movement is
seen mainly in very small bacteria, especially coccus forms. It is caused by the bumping of
molecules and other moving particles against the bacteria.

CONDITIONS FOR GROWTH OF

BACTERIA
Bacteria do not have to remain active in order to survive. They can lie dormant, or
inactive when conditions are not right for growth and other normal activity. When conditions
improve, they may become active again, growing and reproducing very rapidly. The conditions
most important to bacteria for normal activity are as follows:
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● Temperature. Many bacteria are most active at fairly warm temperatures, about 26°
C to 38 C. Those that cause human infections grow best at 37° C- normal human body
temperature However, some bacteria grow best at temperatures as low as or C. the
freezing point. These forms occur mainly in the far north, the ocean depths, and at very
high altitudes. Still, other bacteria are active at temperatures as high as 85° C. They
are found in hot springs and in the hot environment of decaying organic matter such
as sewage.

● Moisture. Active bacteria are about 90 percent water. In dry surroundings, water loss
makes the cells inactive. Dryness over a long period will kill most species.

● Darkness. Most bacteria grow best in the dark. Sunlight may slow down growth.
Ultraviolet rays actually kill most bacteria. This is why special lamps that give off such
rays are used to sterilize hospital operating rooms.

● Food. Bacteria vary greatly in terms of their food needs. Some forms require very
specific foods. Most pathogenic forms, for example, need living tissues or substances
much like their own in chemical makeup. Many other bacteria are less specific and
can live on a wide range of foods.

NUTRITION IN BACTERIA
Some bacteria can build their own food compounds from carbon dioxide and other
inorganic substances. Organisms that are able to make their own food from inorganic
matter are called autotrophs. Energy is needed in this process. In some cases, energy is
obtained by breaking down inorganic compounds of iron, sulfur, or nitrogen. We noted that this
process is called chemosynthesis. Further, a few bacteria carry on a form of photosynthesis.
Most bacteria, however, cannot build their own foods. Instead, their nutrition must rely
on organic compounds formed by other organisms. Organisms that depend upon other living
things for food are called heterotrophs. For this reason, such bacteria are in direct competition
for food with human beings and other animals.
Some of these bacteria are saprophytes. That is, they use nonliving or dead organic
matter for food. Such substances include many food products intended for human use. Bacteria
are a major cause of food spoilage. Other bacteria are parasites. These forms invade the bodies
of plants and animals and take their food directly from living tissue. The organism invaded by
a parasite is called the host. Parasitic bacteria directly harm their hosts.
Bacteria secrete powerful enzymes that act as catalysts in chemical changes both inside
and outside the bacterial cell. In many of these reactions, food substances are broken down into
forms that can be absorbed through the cell membrane. Each enzyme acts on only one kind of
food. Enzymes allow saprophytes to break down and use a wide range of substances as foods.
Some of these substances, such as wood and other forms of cellulose, are of little use to other
organisms.
Parasites lack many of the enzymes found in saprophytes. This explains why parasites
must be in contact with living tissue, using the enzyme action of the host cells.
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BACTERIAL REPRODUCTION
Bacteria reproduce by binary fission. Under good conditions, they multiply at a very
rapid rate. A cell may be formed by division, mature, and begin its own division within as little
as 20 minutes.

HELPFUL ACTIVITIES OF BACTERIA

Not all bacteria are disease-causing, or pathogenic. In fact, most species are harmless,
having no direct effect on our lives. Many bacteria are actually helpful, and there are some that
we could not live without. Among these are certain bacteria that live in the soil.
As you know, green plants are the basis of the food chain upon which almost all life
depends. Plants use many substances from the soil in building organic compounds. Where do
these substances come from? In great part, they come from other plants and animals that have
died.
It is here that soil bacteria play an important role. The compounds found in dead plants
and animals are too complex for plants to use. These compounds must be broken down into
simpler substances. This is exactly what soil bacteria do. We see this breaking down as the
process of decay that attacks all dead organisms. In fact, if not for bacteria, every organism that
died might lie about for thousands of years with little change.
Life on earth is a system made up of many cycles of building up and breaking down. All
organisms, from bacteria to human beings, have their place in this system.

USES OF BACTERIA IN INDUSTRY

Bacteria are important in making many foods and other products of industry. We have
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already mentioned their function in making alcohol. Vinegar is another product of bacterial
action. So is silage, a plant food given to cattle. Because of fermentation by bacteria, silage
contains lactic acid. This is of great value in the diet of milk cows.
Bacteria are very important in the dairy industry. Some forms must be guarded against
carefully. For example, milk may contain bacteria that cause diseases such as tuberculosis. It
also contains bacteria that tend to turn the milk sour. Bacteria in milk are killed by
pasteurization, a heating process discovered by Louis Pasteur.
Some bacteria, however, are very helpful in making dairy products. Different types of
"starter" bacteria are used in making and flavoring butter, buttermilk, and milk curds which are
the basic form of cheese. Other bacteria are used in flavoring and ripening the many hard and
soft cheeses.
PRESERVING FOOD FROM BACTERIAL ACTION
Bacteria are among our chief competitors for food. We cannot even estimate the amount
of food that is spoiled by the activity of bacteria.
Most foods would remain edible for years if bacteria were not present or could not
reproduce. For this reason, we have developed efficient methods for preserving food. One method
involves killing all bacteria present, then sealing the food in a container. Canning is an example
of this method.
Another method involves keeping foods in conditions under which bacteria reproduce more
slowly or cannot reproduce at all. This method includes such processes as cooling or freezing,
salt curing, and dehydration. Chemical preservatives may also be used. However, their use has
declined somewhat in recent years.
Radiation may be an important aid in preserving foods. The foods could be packaged and
sealed, then exposed to radiation to destroy all bacteria.
What are Protozoans?
In older classification systems, the phylum Protozoa was included in the animal kingdom.
The members of this phylum were a large number of related one-celled organisms. They were
further divided into four classes according to their means of movement.

The four different classes are now thought of as four separate phyla.
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1. Phylum Sarcodina – AMOEBA

The genus Amoeba includes several interesting protozoan species. It moves, feels,
reproduces, and performs all other life functions. Pseudopodia means "false feet." The motion is
a sort of flowing, with new pseudopodia reaching out and ones disappearing back into the
cytoplasm. On the basis of this ameboid movement, amoebas are placed in the protist phylum
Sarcodina.

RESPONSE IN THE AMOEBA

Amoebas respond to the conditions around them. Though they have no eyes, they are
sensitive to light and seek dim or dark areas. Amoebas also respond to food. Some species of
amoeba respond to conditions such as dryness, coldness, or lack of food. Such amoebas become
inactive and withdraw into a round mass called a cyst. When conditions improve, the amoebas
become active again.
REPRODUCTION OF AMOEBAS
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2. Phylum Ciliophora – Paramecium

PARAMECIA- COMPLEX
PROTOZOANS
In the genus Paramecium, we come to a
much more complex form of one-celled life.
Species of this genus live mainly in quiet or
stagnant ponds. The paramecium cell is shaped like
a slipper. Paramecia move by means of hairlike
threads of cytoplasm called cilia. These cilia are arranged in rows and beat back and forth like
tiny oars.

RESPONSE IN PARAMECIA
Like amoebas, paramecia have no specialized sense organs. Yet paramecia, too, respond
to conditions around them.
Except when feeding, the cells swim constantly. when they bump into something, they
reverse, turn, and swim off in a new direction. This kind of trial-and-error response is called the
avoiding reaction.
REPRODUCTION IN PARAMECIA
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3. Phylum Mastigophora – Euglena

A PROTOZOAN THAT SEEMS PART PLANT
Several species of the genus Euglena live in
ponds and streams. Under the microscope, euglenas
have an oval or pear shape.
Euglenas were classed as plants in some
systems and as animals in others since the cells have
certain traits of both kingdoms. Today, they are
often placed in the protist phylum Mastigophora.
This classification is based on the fact that the
euglena swims by means of a flagellum.

Euglena has a second method of movement.

This euglenoid movement involves a gradual change
in the shape of the cell. First, the cell becomes
rounded as the posterior part is drawn forward. Then
the anterior part is stretched forward, resulting in
movement. This contraction and stretching are
caused by specialized contractile fibers in the cell.
A typical euglena is Euglena gracilis. This
cell is surrounded by a thin, flexible pellicle. At the
anterior end, a small gullet opening leads into a larger
reservoir.
A red eyespot is clearly seen near the gullet.
This tiny bit of specialized protoplasm is highly
sensitive to light. Light is helpful because most species of euglena carry on photosynthesis.
Perhaps the most striking feature of the euglena is the presence of many oval chloroplasts spread
through the cell.

4. Phylum Sporozoa-Plasmodium
PROTOZOAN PARASITES THAT FORM SPORES
Protozoans in the protist phylum Sporozoa have no method of movement on their own.
These protists are all parasites. They live by absorbing food from the cells or body fluids of a
host organism. Many species live in two hosts during their life cycle.
A good example of this type of protozoan is Plasmodium. This is the organism that
causes malaria in human beings and other warm-blooded animals.
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Malaria is transmitted by the female Anopheles

mosquito. When this mosquito bites a person who has malaria, some
of the Plasmodium cells are taken into the mosquito’s
stomach.
Quinine has been used for many years.

Other Pathogenic Protozoans

Cysts containing
inactive ameba cells are
excreted in the feces of infected
people. In many areas, sewage
disposal methods are crude,
and human waste may be used
as fertilizer. It is in these areas
that amebic dysentery is most
common.
Two protozoans are
known as Trypanosoma cause African sleeping sickness. Trypanosomes live in the blood of
many African mammals and insects. They are transmitted to human beings by the bite of the
tsetse fly.

What are Fungi?

Most species of fungi are multicellular,
but fungi never form roots, stems, or leaves.
Fungi vary in size from microscopic yeasts to
mushrooms weighing a half kilogram or more.
All fungi are alike in one important way:
they all lack chlorophyll.
Certain fungi break down the organic
remains of dead plants and animals. This
process is necessary for keeping the soil
fertile.
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Classifying Fungi
We divide the fungi into two protist phyla. The
smaller of these is the phylum Myxomycophyta.
This phylum includes the slime molds, which
lack cell walls. All other fungi have cell walls
and are placed in the phylum Eumycophyta.

A. Phylum Eumycophyta:

❑ Phycomycetes - the alga-like fungi.

❑ Ascomycetes - the sac fungi.

❑ Basidiomycetes - the club fungi.

All true fungi that cannot be placed in one of
these classes are grouped in a fourth class:

❑ Deuteromycetes - the imperfect fungi.

A. Eumycophyta – The True Fungi

These include such types as molds, mildews,
blights, yeasts, mushrooms, and others. The bodies of
most true fungi are made up of branching filaments
called hyphae. The whole mass of hyphae formed by a
fungus is known as the mycelium.

❑ Fungi do not contain chlorophyll.

❑ Fungi secrete enzymes into their food supply.

❑ Fungi do not require light, and many grow best in darkness. Moisture and, for most
species, warm temperatures are necessary for life.

❑ All true fungi reproduce asexually by forming spores, often in great numbers.
 19

1. Phycomycetes- The molds include several

kinds of fungi. Some molds are
Phycomycetes, other Ascomycetes. One familiar mold is
bread mold (Rhizopus nigricans).

Related to bread mold are the water molds of the genus

Saprolegnia. These Phycomycetes, like bread mold, have tube-
like hyphae without cross walls.

2. Ascomycetes

❑ Blue-green molds and powdery

mildews.

❑ Molds of the genus Penicillium often

form blue- green growths on oranges,
lemons, and other fruits. They also
appear on bread, meat, leather, and
cloth.

❑ Molds of the genus Aspergillus are common on foods, too, forming yellow or black
rings.

❑ Both of these genera are Ascomycetes and have

hyphae with cross walls. Surface hyphae form
branches known as conidiophores.

❑ Powdery mildews attack grapes, roses, clover,

apples, wheat, barley, and several other plants.

3. Basidiomycetes
 20

❑ The Basidiomycetes, or club fungi, get their name from the club-shaped basidium found
at the end of certain hyphae.

❑ Four groups of fungi make up the class Basidiomycetes. These include rust fungi, smut
fungi, mushrooms, and bracket fungi, and puffballs.

4. Deuteromycetes- Sometimes study produces evidence of sexual reproduction in an imperfect

fungus. If so, the fungus usually is placed in the fitting class of true fungi. Most imperfect fungi
are much like Ascomycetes

Phylum Myxomycophyta
SLIME MOLDS

❑ They are like giant masses of amoebas. Thus, they might be classed as animals. However,
they also form sporangia and spores, like fungi.

❑ Some biologists have called them “slime fungi” or “fungus animals”. This confusion is
avoided by placing the slime molds in their own protest phylum, the Myxomycophyta.

❑ The body of a slime mold is called a plasmodium. It is a mass of protoplasm with many
nuclei but no cell walls. A plasmodium often appears as a slimy network of living matter.
 21

Name: SR-Code:

Section: Date:

Activity No. 2
Introduction to Microbiology

DIRECTIONS: Read and answer the following questions comprehensively. Please refer
to the rubric below.

5 4 3 2 1 0

The answer has

The answer is The answer The answer has
some relevance
clear, focused, The answer indicates an many flaws;
to the required
and indicates an indicates a clear adequate indicates a very
concepts; No
in-depth understanding understanding minimal
indicates a answer
understanding of concepts. of concepts but understanding
limited
of relevant has some of relevant
understanding
concepts. misconceptions. concepts.
of concepts.

1. Define microbiology and explain its significance in understanding higher forms of life.

2. Discuss the reasons for considering viruses living or nonliving.

3. In what way is a temperate phage a potential “seed of destruction”? Explain.

4. Explain the structure and composition of bacteriophages. Discuss their significance in virus
research.
 22

5. Describe the structure and size of viruses compared to cells.

6. Name five diseases caused by viruses. Explain why many viruses were initially thought to be
pathogenic.
Diseases Caused by Viruses:
1. ________________________________________
2. ________________________________________
3. ________________________________________
4. ________________________________________
5. ________________________________________
Reasons for Initial Perception of Viruses as Pathogenic:

7. Explain the discovery of viruses, including the contributions of Dmitri Iwanowski and
Wendell Stanley.
Discovery of Viruses:
________________________________________
________________________________________

Contributions of Dmitri Iwanowski:

________________________________________
Contributions of Wendell Stanley:

8. Name three virus diseases that affect human beings. Explain the impact of viruses on
normal cell activity.
Virus Diseases Affecting Human Beings:
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
 23

Impact of Viruses on Normal Cell Activity:

9. Biologists frequently say that understanding the life processes of single-celled protozoans
helps them to understand the life processes of complicated organisms like a man. Why is this
probably true?

10. Compare methods of locomotion, digestion, and sensitive response in the amoeba,
paramecium, and euglena.