MICRO – ORGANISMS CLASSIFICATION

Before the discovery of micro – organism’s scientist believed that all living things were either
plants or animals.

Although many biologists still adhere to this practice, it has become increasingly clear that these
micro – organisms cannot be assigned unequivocally to either of the two kingdoms since their
characteristics cut across the accepted definition of plants and animals e.g. many bacteria are
motile (a characteristic of animals) but at the same time posses cell walls (a hall mark of plants).

During their growth, plants and animals develop highly differentiated tissue forms, consisting of
specialized cells whereas among micro – organisms this does not occur.

In 1886 Haeckel introduced a third kingdom called Protista kingdom. This kingdom includes;
Bacteria, Algae, Protozoa, Fungi and Slime moulds.

Protista can be distinguished by their one celled structure as compared to plants and animals that
consist of multiple highly differentiated cells.

Some Protista are plant – like while others are animal – like and many share certain
characteristics common to both animals and plants.

However all are distinguishable from higher animals and plants by virtue of their simple
organization.

In 1992, Stanier and Van Niel divided Protista into two kingdoms creating four kingdoms. They
divided Protista into; -

a. Eukaryotes (true Nucleus)

a) Eukaryotes
Are more advanced higher Protista. The contain nucleus bound by a nuclear membrane with the
expected number of chromosomes and a mitotic apparatus. They include Fungi, Slime moulds,
Algae and Protozoa
Eukaryotic cell structure

B)Prokaryotes
These are lower Protists. The contain a single chromosome without a nuclear membrane. They
include Bacteria, Rickettsiae, Chlamydiae, Archaebacteria and Blue green algae.

Bacteria are single-cell organisms that are neither plants nor animals.

They usually measure a few micrometers in length and exist together in communities of millions.

A gram of soil typically contains about 40 million bacterial cells. A milliliter of fresh water
usually holds about one million bacterial cells.The earth is estimated to hold at least 5 nonillion
bacteria, and much of the earth’s biomass is thought to be made up of bacteria.

Types

There are many different types of bacteria. One way of classifying them is by shape. There are
three basic shapes.
Spherical: Bacteria shaped like a ball are called cocci, and a single bacterium is a coccus.
Examples include the streptococcus group, responsible for “strep throat.”

The cocci:-

• May be seen in singly or in pairs

• May be seen in chains(streptococci)

• May be seen in clusters(staphylococci)

• May be in packets of four(tetrads)

• May be in packets of eight(octads)

• Examples of cocci include:- enterococcus spp, neisseria species, staphylococcus species,

Rod-shaped: These are known as bacilli (singular bacillus). Some rod-shaped bacteria are
curved. These are known as vibrio. Examples of rod-shaped bacteria include Bacillus
anthracis (B. anthracis), or anthrax.

 May be May be short or longer(cocobacilli) e.g listeria monocytogenes(common cause of

 thick or thin

 May be pointed or with curve or blunt ends

 May be singly or pairs(diplobacilli)

 May be in chains(streptobacilli)

 May have long filaments or branched

 May be stuck up next to each other

 May be side by side in a palisade arrangement e.g corynebacterium diphtheriae

Spiral: These are known as spirilla (singular spirillus). If their coil is very tight they are known
as spirochetes. Leptospirosis, Lyme disease, and syphilis are caused by bacteria of this shape.
  Are curved(comma shaped) bacilli:-

-a pair of curved bacilli resembles a bird and is described as having a gull-wing

 Spiral shaped bacteria(spirochetes)

• Are cork-crew like spirals.

• they may be singly or in form of pairs

There are many variations within each shape group.

Bacterial cells are different from plant and animal cells. Bacteria are prokaryotes, which means
they have no nucleus.

A bacterial cell includes:

 Capsule: A layer found on the outside of the cell wall in some bacteria.
  Cell wall: A layer that is made of a polymer called peptidoglycan. The cell wall gives the
bacteria its shape. It is located outside the plasma membrane . The cell wall is thicker in
some bacteria, called Gram positive bacteria.

 Plasma membrane: Found within the cell wall, this generates energy and transports
chemicals. The membrane is permeable, which means that substances can pass through it.

 Cytoplasm: A gelatinous substance inside the plasma membrane that contains genetic
material and ribosomes.

 DNA: This contains all the genetic instructions used in the development and function of
the bacterium. It is located inside the cytoplasm.

 Ribosomes: This is where proteins are made, or synthesized. Ribosomes are complex
particles made up of RNA-rich granules.

 Flagellum: This is used for movement, to propel some types of bacteria. There are some
bacteria that can have more than one.

 Pili: These hair-like appendages on the outside of the cell allow it to stick to surfaces and
transfer genetic material to other cells. This can contribute to the spread of illness in
humans.

FEEDING

Bacteria feed in different ways.

Heterotrophic bacteria, or heterotrophs, get their energy through consuming organic carbon.
Most absorb dead organic material, such as decomposing flesh. Some of these parasitic bacteria
kill their host, while others help them.

Autotrophic bacteria (or just autotrophs) make their own food, either through either:

 photosynthesis, using sunlight, water and carbon dioxide, or

 chemosynthesis, using carbon dioxide, water, and chemicals such as ammonia, nitrogen,
sulfur, and others
Bacteria that use photosynthesis are called photoautotrophs. Some types, for example
cyanobacteria, produce oxygen. These probably played a vital role in creating the oxygen in the
earth’s atmosphere. Others, such as heliobacteria, do not produce oxygen.

Those that use chemosynthesis are known as chemoautotrophs. These bacteria are commonly
found in ocean vents and in the roots of legumes, such as alfalfa, clover, peas, beans, lentils, and
peanuts.

Where do they live?

Bacteria can thrive even in extreme environments, such as glaciers.

Bacteria can be found in soil, water, plants, animals, radioactive waste, deep in the earth’s crust,
arctic ice and glaciers, and hot springs. There are bacteria in the stratosphere, between 6 and 30
miles up in the atmosphere, and in the ocean depths, down to 32,800 feet or 10,000 meters deep.

Aerobes, or aerobic bacteria, can only grow where there is oxygen. Some types can cause
problems for the human environment, such as corrosion, fouling, problems with water clarity,
and bad smells.

Anaerobes, or anaerobic bacteria, can only grow where there is no oxygen. In humans, this is
mostly in the gastrointestinal tract. They can also cause gas, gangrene, tetanus, botulism, and
most dental infections.

Facultative anaerobes, or facultative anaerobic bacteria, can live either with or without
oxygen, but they prefer environments where there is oxygen. They are mostly found in soil,
water, vegetation and some normal flora of humans and animals. Examples include Salmonella.

Mesophiles, or mesophilic bacteria, are the bacteria responsible for most human infections.
They thrive in moderate temperatures, around 37°C. This is the temperature of the human body.
Examples include Listeria monocytogenes, Pesudomonas maltophilia, Thiobacillus
novellus, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus
pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, and Clostridium kluyveri.

The human intestinal flora, or gut microbiome, contains beneficial mesophilic bacteria, such as
dietary Lactobacillus acidophilus.

Extremophiles, or extremophilic bacteria, can withstand conditions considered too extreme for
most life forms.

Thermophiles can live in high temperatures, up to 75 to 80°C, and hyperthermophiles can

Deep in the ocean, bacteria live in total darkness by thermal vents, where both temperature and
pressure are high. They make their own food by oxidizing sulfur that comes from deep inside the
earth.

Other extremophiles include:

 halophiles, found only in a salty environment

 acidophiles, some of which live in environments as acidic as pH 0

 alkaliphiles, living in alkiline environments up to pH 10.5

 psychrophiles, found in cold temperatures, for example, in glaciers

Extremophiles can survive where no other organism can.

Bacteria may reproduce and change using the following methods:

 Binary fission: An asexual form of reproduction, in which a cell continues to grow until a
new cell wall grows through the center, forming two cells. These separate, making two
cells with the same genetic material.

 Transfer of genetic material: Cells acquire new genetic material through processes known
as conjugation, transformation, or transduction. These processes can make bacteria
stronger and more able to resist threats, such as antibiotic medication.

 Spores: When some types of bacteria are low on resources, they can form spores. Spores
hold the organism’s DNA material and contain the enzymes needed for germination.
They are very resistant to environmental stresses. The spores can remain inactive for
centuries, until the right conditions occur. Then they can reactivate and become bacteria.

 Spores can survive through periods of environmental stress, including ultraviolet (UV)
and gamma radiation, desiccation, starvation, chemical exposure, and extremes of
temperature.

Some bacteria produce endospores, or internal spores, while others produce exospores, which are
released outside. These are known as cysts.
Clostridium is an example of an endospore-forming bacterium. There are about 100 species
of Clostridium, including Clostridium botulinim (C. botulinim) or botulism, responsible for a
potentially fatal kind of food poisoning, and Clostridium difficile (C. Difficile), which causes
colitis and other intestinal problems.

The population of bacteria follows a predictable pattern, and this can be represented as
follows.

The first phase is the lag phase, the cells are active but do not increase very much. The
exponential phase follows where a plentiful supply of nutrients and space allow an ever-
increasing rate of growth, and bacterial production outstrips bacterial death.

Once the carrying capacity (the maximum population the environment can support), is reached,
the population enters the stationery phase where no net change in population occurs. The
environment is changed by the bacteria as metabolic waste builds up and the conditions become
increasingly difficult. This leads to the death (or final) phase where more cells die that are
produced, as a result of waste toxicity, starvation and oxygen shortage; and the population
declines.

In some species, the cell wall septum or cross splits into two and the daughter cells separate
almost immediately. In others, the cells wall of the daughter cells remain continuous for some
time after cell division and the organism grows adhering in pairs, clusters, chains or filaments.

The rate at which fission occurs vary with different species e.g. Escherichia coli and many gram
negative bacilli multiply very rapidly once in every 20 – 30 minutes. Some organism, however
e.g. Tubercle bacilli have a generation of 24 hours.
Bacteria are very flexible and obtain energy in a number of ways. This includes respiration at the
mesosomes; many bacteria perform photosynthesis at additional sites with specialized pigments.
Energy can also be obtained by oxidizing inorganic compounds, using the energy to synthesize
organic compounds e.g. nitrifying bacteria

Uses

Bacteria are often thought of as bad, but many are helpful. We would not exist without them. The
oxygen we breathe was probably created by the activity of bacteria.

Human survival

Many of the bacteria in the body play an important role in human survival. Bacteria in the
digestive system break down nutrients, such as complex sugars, into forms the body can use.

Non-hazardous bacteria also help prevent diseases by occupying places that the pathogenic, or
disease-causing, bacteria want to attach to. Some bacteria protect us from disease by attacking
the pathogens.

Nitrogen fixation

Bacteria take in nitrogen and release it for plant use when they die. Plants need nitrogen in the
soil to live, but they cannot do this themselves. To ensure this, many plant seeds have a small
container of bacteria that is used when the plant sprouts.

Food technology

Cheese making involves bacteria.

Lactic acid bacteria, such as Lactobacillus and Lactococcus together with yeast and molds, or
fungi, are used to prepare foods such as as cheese, soy sauce, natto (fermented soy beans),
vinegar, yogurt, and pickles.
Not only is fermentation useful for preserving foods, but some of these foods may offer health
benefits.

For example, some fermented foods contain types of bacteria that are similar to those linked with
gastrointestinal health. Some fermentation processes lead to new compounds, such as lactic acid,
which that appear to have an anti-inflammatory effect.

More investigation is needed to confirm the health benefits of fermented foods.

Bacteria in industry and research

Bacteria can break down organic compounds. This is useful for activities such as waste
processing and cleaning up oil spills and toxic waste.

The pharmaceutical and chemical industries use bacteria in the production of certain chemicals.

Bacteria are used in molecular biology, biochemistry and genetic research, because they can
grow quickly and are relatively easy to manipulate. Scientists use bacteria to study how genes
and enzymes work.

Bacteria are needed to make antibiotics.

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a bacterium that can be used in agriculture instead of pesticides. It
does not have the undesirable environmental consequences associated with pesticide use.

Hazards

Some types of bacteria can cause diseases in humans, such as cholera, diptheria, dysentery,
bubonic plague, pneumonia, tuberculosis (TB), typhoid, and many more.

If the human body is exposed to bacteria that the body does not recognize as helpful, the immune
system will attack them. This reaction can lead to the symptoms of swelling
and inflammation that we see, for example, in an infected wound.
Resistance

In 1900, pneumonia, TB, and diarrhea were the three biggest killers in the United States.
Sterilization techniques and antibiotic medications have led to a significant drop in deaths from
bacterial diseases.

However, the overuse of antibiotics is making bacterial infection harder to treat. As the bacteria
mutate, they become more resistant to existing antibiotics, making infections harder to treat.
Bacteria transform naturally, but the overuse of antibiotics is speeding up this process.

“Even if new medicines are developed, without behaviour change, antibiotic resistance will
remain a major threat.”

World Health Organization (WHO)

For this reason, scientists and health authorities are calling on doctors not to prescribe antibiotics
unless it is necessary, and for people to practice other ways of preventing disease, such as good
food hygiene, hand washing, vaccination, and using condoms.

The gut microbiome

Recent research has led to a new and growing awareness of how the human body interacts with
bacteria, and particularly the communities of bacteria living in the intestinal tract, known as the
gut microbiome, or gut flora.