What are Bacteria?
• Bacteria are PROKARYOTES
– The smallest known living cells
They are found
Bacteria on
head of a pin everywhere!!
Starr, 317
Did you know? There are over 80
species of bacteria in your mouth! Bacteria in dental plaque
microbeworld.org
Some cause disease
We call these “pathogens”
Anthrax, as seen by Koch
microbeworld.org
But most are
beneficial
Bacteria ferment cheese
Schraer, 641
Characteristics of Bacteria
Most have a cell wall
Many have a capsule (jelly or
slimy coating outside the cell
wall, for protection)
They have a single, circular
chromosome.
Some have plasmids (tiny
rings of DNA separate
from the chromosome.)
Cytoplasmic Pili help them
Schraer, 632
talk to other cells.
Many can MOVE
Some have flagella - made of
rope-like proteins, not
microtubules.
Salmonella
Some slide on a slimy secretion. www.iwate.jp
Many can form dormant
cells called endospores
to survive harsh conditions.
Streptomyces spores
Three basic
shapes
• Spherical – coccus
• Rod – bacillus
• Coiled - spirillum
Schraer, 633
Simple Colonies
Staphylo = clusters
Strepto = chains
Staphylococcus
wisc.edu
Streptobacillus
Diplo = double
Diplococcus
cat.cc.md.us
Binary fission (for a quick clone)
Normal bacterial reproduction
1) chromosome replicates
2) copies separate as cell
wall lengthens
3) cell membrane pinches in
4) septum/new wall grows
5) cells divide
Steps in binary fission
maricopa.edu
Bacillus dividing by fission
SixKingdoms.html
How Bacteria Populations Grow!!
Growth Curve (in Culture)
Schraer, 634
See Fission in Action
•
• Did you know? In ideal conditions, some
species can divide every 10 MINUTES.
What stops them?
They run out of food or space,
or wastes build up and poison them.
Metabolic Needs
• Respiration
– Most are obligate aerobes.
– Others are facultative or obligate
anaerobes.
- Anaerobes make a variety of fermentation
products:
- acids, alcohols, methane gas
- food products
Nutrition
Most are heterotrophs
- saprobes or parasites
Autotrophs
-photosynthetic or chemosynthetic
Did you know? Chemosynthetic bacteria are
the base of the food chain at ocean floor vents.
Little is Better!!
Metabolism is FAST
Bacteria can absorb nutrients and secrete
wastes rapidly because of high
surface-to-volume ratio
Did you know? Lactose fermenters break down
10,000 times their weight in lactose in an
HOUR!
Two Kingdoms of Bacteria
• Kingdom Archaebacteria
- “Ancient”, most primitive
earliest known form of life
- Fluorescent micrograph
•Kingdom Eubacteria of an archaeon
- includes bacteria and
microbeworld.org
cyanobacteria (blue-green)
Kingdom Archaebacteria
Why a separate kingdom?
Archae differ chemically from other bacteria.
1) cell wall - different amino acids and sugars.
Eubacteria have peptidoglycan
Archaebacteria have varied polysaccharides
but not peptidoglycan.
2) membrane lipids
3) ribosomes
4) enzymes - - - - - - - - - - - - >
5) cytochromes
6) gene sequences . . . And MORE
RNA polymerase
Archae are extremophiles
Live in habitats like early earth
Too harsh for most organisms
1) methanogens – decomposers,
live in intestines, swamps & bogs
sewage treatment
2) Halophiles – “love salt”
Great Salt Lake, Dead Sea
3) Thermophiles – hot springs, geysers
Starr,635
4) Acidophiles – Guess where?
Kingdom Eubacteria
Photosynthetic – 2 groups
1) cyanobacteria (aerobes)
– Have chlorophyll a
and phycocyanin (blue)
– Other colors, too
– Most live in fresh water
– Others live in salt water,
soil and lichens
Starr, 315
Nostoc
Schraer, 637
More photosynthetics
2) green-sulfur and purple bacteria
- anaerobic
- colors range from pink to black
- photosynthesize without water
- make no oxygen
- live in pond and sea mud
Chemosynthetic
make glucose using energy
from chemical compounds
Tube worms at ocean vent
Fed by chemoautotrophs
Starr, 745
Nitrogen-fixing
Fix nitrogen in special
cells called heterocysts
Legume roots – nodules contain
nitrogen-fixing bacteria Starr, 314
Heterotrophic Bacteria
Many groups and types, but divided into
two classes by GRAM STAIN
Schraer
637
Gram positive Gram negative
Purple Pink - Cell wall resists stain
Respond to normal Harder to treat if
antibiotics pathogenic
Biologic Importance of
Bacteria
1) Essential to nutrient cycling
2) Decomposers – in soil, inside animals
Enterobacteria – live inside us,
break down waste, make vitamins
3) Process foods – cheese, yogurt, pickles
4) Some MAKE antibiotics (streptomyacin)
5) Used in cell and molecular research,
genetic engineering, medical research..
Sources
• Schraer and Stoltz, Biology, the Study of Life, 7th ed. Prentice-Hall, 1999
• Starr, Cecie, Biology, Concepts and Application, Wadsworth Group, 2003
• Fission www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/BIOBK/BioBookmito.html
www.biology.hawaii.edu/bio171/Notes/Bacteria/page6.htm
• Archaebacteria http://biology.com/learning/archaea/introduction.html
• Staphylococcus http://www.bact.wisc.edu/Bact330/lecturestaph
• Conjugation http://tidepool.st.usm.edu/crswr/bactconjug.html
• Legume nodules http://www.danieldeepak.com/bacteria.htm
• Salmonella http://www.office.pref.iwate.jp/~hp1002/eiseika/salmonella.jpg
• Bacteria reproducing
http://marshallteachers.sandi.net/teacher_sites/mcquillan/04.Classification/Re
adings/SixKingdoms.html
• Dental plaque
http://www.microbeworld.org/htm/aboutmicro/microbes/types/.htm
• Fission time-lapse http://www.cellsalive.com/ecoli.htm
• Diplococcus http://www.cat.cc.md.us/courses/bio141/labmanua/lab16/diplo.html
