Classification of Bacteria are divided into five categories based on their fundamental shape: spherical (cocci), rod (bacilli), spiral (spirillum), comma (vibrio’s), or corkscrew (spirochetes). They can exist as individual cells, pairs, chains, or clusters. Bacteria may be found in all habitats on Earth, including soil, rock, seas, and even polar snow.
What are the two main classifications of bacteria?
Based on the two distinct types of cell walls that bacteria have, they may be loosely categorized as either . The names come from how cells respond to the Gram stain, an established technique for identifying different bacterial species.
- Gram-Positive Bacteria
- Gram-Negative Bacteria
Gram-Positive Bacteria
Gram-positive bacteria are bacteria classified by the color they turn in the staining method. Hans Christian Gram developed the staining method in 1884. The staining method uses crystal violet dye, which is retained by the thick peptidoglycan cell wall found in gram-positive organisms
Gram-Negative Bacteria
Gram-negative bacteria are bacteria that do not retain the crystal violet stain used in the Gram staining method of bacterial differentiation.[1] They are characterized by their cell envelopes, which are composed of a thin peptidoglycan cell wall sandwiched between an inner cytoplasmic cell membrane and a bacterial outer membrane.
Gram-negative bacteria are found in virtually all environments on Earth that support life. The gram-negative bacteria include the model organism Escherichia coli, as well as many pathogenic bacteria, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Chlamydia trachomatis, and Yersinia pestis.
there are many classification;
- shapes of bacilli
- composition of cell wall
- mode of respiration
- mode of nutrition
1) Shapes of Bacilli
There are five categories used to categories bacteria. A prokaryotic, unicellular organism, bacteria. Bacteria are the most prevalent living thing on the planet and may be found almost anywhere. They can survive in harsh environments where it would be impossible for other species to survive, such as hot springs, snow, and the deep ocean.Cocci, rod-shaped bacilli, spiral-shaped spirilla, comma-shaped vibrios, and spirochaetes may be broken down to their most fundamental forms.
Salient features of bacteria are the following:
- Unicellular prokaryotic cell
- Present in different shape, size and arrangement
- The cell lack nucleus and membrane-bound cell organelles
- Bacterial DNA is found in the cytoplasm and not packaged to form chromatin as in eukaryotic cell
- Bacteria cell is 10 times smaller than the human cell
- The diameter of a bacteria cell is ~1µm (10-6 m)
- The outer covering of a bacteria cell is the cell wall, which is rigid and provides structural integrity
- The bacteria cell wall is made up of peptidoglycan or murein
- Different shapes of bacteria cell are the characteristic feature of a bacteria species
- Bacteria cells may contain external appendages like cilia, flagella, etc.
- Bacteria can be photoautotrophs, chemoautotrophs or parasite
Morphology of a Germs Cell
The most distinctive feature of a bacterium is its morphology, or cell shape. It is the trait that distinguishes one species from another.
The morphology of a bacterial cell not only indicates its form but also its pathogenic potential. A bacterium cell’s morphological characteristics have a significant role in its capacity for adaptation and evolution. The form of bacteria has an impact on a number of characteristics, including motility and method of nourishment.
The peptidoglycan (murein), a polymer of sugars with an alternating N-acetylglucosamine (NAG) connected to N-acetylmuramic acid (NAM) and amino acid peptide chain, makes up the bacterial cell wall. A bacterium cell’s variable morphology and form are caused by changes in the polymer’s thickness and arrangement.
Size of Germs
Bacteria have a diameter of 0.5 micrometers and a size of 2 micrometers on average. It is well known that bacteria come in a broad range of sizes and forms. They resemble eukaryotic cells in size by around a factor of 10.
Different shapes of bacteria
- Spherical- Cocci
- Rod-shaped- Bacilli
- Spiral bacteria
- Comma shaped- Vibrio
Cocci can be found alone or in groups of two, four, eight, or more. Round, oval, elongated, or bean-shaped cocci bacteria are all possible.
- Cocci can be found alone or in groups of two, four, eight, or more. Round, oval, elongated, or bean-shaped cocci bacteria are all possible.
a. Gonococcus: bacteria exist as a single spherical cu
b. Diplococcus: Following cell division, cells are placed in pairs. Diplococcus bacterium examples include: Gram-negative bacteria include Moraxella catarrhalis and Neisseria spp.Gram-positive microorganisms- Enterococcus species, Streptococcus pneumoniae, etc.
What type of shape is Bacillus?
Gramm positive, rod-shaped bacteria are known as bacilli.
Why are bacteria rod-shaped?
The intrinsic symmetry of the bacillus bacterium’s rod form allows it to store or concentrate proteins at particular spots with ease.
What does coccus shape look like?
Cocci are round bacteria with a flattened appearance when placed next to one another.
What does cocci bacteria cause?
The primary cause of illnesses in people, including food poisoning, pneumonia, and skin infections, is the cocci bacterium.
2) composition of the cell wall of Germs
Peptidoglycan, an integral barrier of defense for bacterial cells that encloses the cytoplasmic membrane of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial cells, makes up the bacterial cell wall. A complex, hard structure made up of polymeric carbohydrates and amino acids is called a peptidoglycan.
It has been demonstrated that various commensal bacteria, including particular Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Clostridium strains, increase the number of T-regulatory cells in mice. Notably, administration of Bifidobacterium lignum 35624 to healthy human volunteers increased Foxp3+ T-regulatory cells in peripheral blood, whereas doing the same for patients with psoriasis, chronic fatigue syndrome, or ulcerative colitis consistently led to lower levels of serum proinflammatory biomarkers like CRP, which may have been mediated by higher numbers of T-regulatory cells [9,10]. The discovery of new bacterial elements that influence mucosal immunoregulatory responses raises the prospect of using a bug-to-drug strategy to treat patients. For instance, it has been demonstrated that the capsular polysaccharide A from Bacteroides fragilis directly interacts with mouse plasmacytoid dendritic cells, promoting the release of IL-10.
Bacterial metabolites have considerable influence on immunoregulatory mechanisms in addition to the bacterial components. By binding to G-protein-coupled receptors and inhibiting histone deacetylases, SCFAs (i.e., acetate, propionate, and butyrate), which are produced by the gut microbiota, have been shown to affect dendritic cell and T-cell responses and thus promote epigenetic changes. In mouse models, it has consistently been demonstrated that intentional administration of SCFAs or dietary fibers that are metabolized to SCFAs reduces airway inflammation [13]. Bacterial biogenic amine production, which results from the metabolism of amino acids, can also affect inflammatory and immunological responses. It’s interesting to note that taurine, histamine, and spermine from the microbiota have been found to affect host-microbiome interactions in mouse models by co-regulating NLRP6 inflammasome signaling, epithelial IL-18 production, and downstream antimicrobial peptide secretion.
Interactions of Immunoglobulin: Bacterial Immunoglobulin-Binding Proteins
Is and their fragments can be purified and measured using the potent immunochemical reagents found in bacterial cell wall proteins that can bind to Is. The two bacterial Ig-binding proteins that have been examined the most intensively are protein A from Staphylococcus aureus and protein G from Streptococcus. Each of the five highly homologous domains (E, D, A, B, and C) that make up protein A’s extracellular portion can bind to the Fc region of IgG. The NMR spectroscopy-determined three-dimensional structures of the B and E domains adopt up-down three -helix bundles.46,47 The X-ray crystallographic and solution NMR experiments have identified the binding location on the Fc segment for the B domain.8,48 The interaction between the B domain and
Movement of Bacteria That Lack Cell Walls: The Mycoplasmas and Spiro plasmas
Most bacteria depend on their cell walls to survive because they stop osmotic lysis from occurring. The absence of peptidoglycan, a crucial component of the bacterial cell wall in virtually all bacteria, is characteristic of members of the genus Mycoplasma and allied bacteria in the class Mollicutes. The absence of cell walls in mycoplasmas, the majority of which are parasitic, was established by electron microscopy. How do mycoplasmas survive in the absence of the cell wall given the established significance of this structure to the survival of other bacteria? They reportedly use the incorporation of sterols into their cytoplasmic membranes and the presence of glycoproteins on the cell surface to make up for the lack of a cell wall. Both of these might aid in cellular stabilization. Additionally, they have an unusual cytoskeleton, which could
Mycoplasmas and related bacteria have developed a number of unique cell-movement methods. Mycoplasma gliding is the most typical. Cells are moving over surfaces in this. The cell body, a narrower neck area, and a head region are often flask-shaped (Fig. 7). This shape is likely the result of a complex cytoskeleton, which is particularly visible in the neck region. Always migrating towards the head is gliding cells. Uenoyama and Miyata’s ingenious experiment from 2005 proved that ATP is the movement’s energy source. They used detergent to treat motile Mycoplasma mobile cells on a glass slide, which caused the cytoplasm to seep out and the development of cell “ghosts.” These ghosts stood still. But the addition of ATP produced
Studies on M. mobile’s genetic makeup, biochemistry, and microscopic structure revealed the cell surface proteins necessary for motility. The exterior motility machinery that may serve as “legs” appear to be made up of three big proteins (Gli123, Gli349, and Gli521) (Fig. 7). These legs were mostly located near the cell’s head and neck. The “centipede-like” movement of the mycoplasma cells is assumed to be the consequence of cytoskeletal proteins changing their shape as a result of ATP hydrolysis in the cytoplasm, which in turn pushes or pulls on the many legs. It is yet unknown how the other gliding mycoplasmas, such Mycoplasma pneumoniae, travel. The other gliding mycoplasmas do not share the surface proteins of M. mobile. M. pneumoniae could travel similarly to the way that
3) Mode of Respiration
Internal, external, and cellular respiration are three different forms of respiration. The act of breathing is known as external respiration. Gases are inhaled and exhaled during it. During internal respiration, blood and bodily cells exchange gases.
Both aerobic and anaerobic cellular respiration are processes used by bacteria. There are three primary processes in aerobic cellular respiration: the citric acid cycle and glycolysis, which take place in the cytoplasm, and the electron transport chain, which takes place in the plasma membrane.
How Do Bacteria Get Energy?
Bacteria are prokaryotic cells, which means they don’t have a nucleus and have a straightforward cellular structure. However, bacteria must obtain food and produce energy to support cellular functions, just like all other living things. Both autotrophic and heterotrophic bacteria exist. Simple sugars are produced by autotrophic bacteria through a process known as photosynthesis or chemosynthesis, which may subsequently be utilized to produce energy. Bacteria utilize light energy from the sun during photosynthesis to produce sugar. Chemosynthetic sugar molecules are produced by bacteria using the energy contained in inorganic substances. Since they are heterotrophs, other bacteria need food to produce energy. They can accomplish this by breaking down other species or by acquiring food molecules from other organisms through various symbiotic connections. Bacteria consume other living things and
What Is Cellular Respiration in Organisms.?
For the purpose of producing ATP, all cells, including bacteria, engage in cellular respiration. In bacteria, there are two different forms of cellular respiration:
- respiratory process in aerobic cells
- respiration within anaerobic cells
a) respiratory process in aerobic cells
In bacteria, archaea, and mitochondria, oxygen reductase members of the hemi-copper oxidoreductase superfamily carry out aerobic respiration. These enzymes function as redox-driven proton pumps, storing some of the free energy produced during the reduction of oxygen to produce a proton motive force.
The hemi-copper oxidoreductase superfamily’s oxygen reductase members carry out aerobic respiration in bacteria, archaea, and mitochondria. Redox-driven proton pumps, these enzymes use some of the free energy generated during oxygen reduction to produce a proton motive force. Based on evolutionary and structural investigations, the oxygen reductases (A-, B-, and C-families) may be split into three major families, with the B- and C-families developing after the A-family. In contrast to the B- and C-families, the A-family only needs one proton input channel to transfer protons for pumping and chemistry. In general, compared to the A-family, the B- and C-families have greater apparent oxygen affinities. Here, we employ whole-cell proton pumping measurements to show differences in proton pumping efficiency between members of the A-,
The recognized metabolic mechanism that requires the most energy is aerobic respiration. It is crucial in shaping the structure of many microbial ecosystems and plays a major part in the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and Sulphur (1). The great majority of eukaryotes, as well as a large number of bacteria and archaea, are capable of aerobic respiration, which couples the reduction of oxygen to the conservation of free energy in a proton electrochemical gradient (2, 3). The bid family of oxygen reductases and the members of the hemi-copper oxidoreductase superfamily are the two categories of respiratory oxygen reductases that are currently identified. Charge separation and proton pumping are the two separate methods that these enzymes use to produce and preserve a steady-state proton motive force (4).
In many bioenergetic redox processes, charge separation through “vectoral chemistry” is a frequent mechanism that contributes to the transmembrane electric potential () (5). The chemistry of oxygen reduction is connected to charge separation across the membrane since the bid and hemi-copper oxygen reductases both need electrons from the periplasm and protons from the cytoplasm to catalyze the reduction of O2 to two H2O (6). One charge moves across the membrane for every electron that is transported to the chemistry’s active site.
Protons are actively moved across the membrane during proton pumping from the bacterial cytoplasm to the outside. The only known oxygen reductases that pump protons are those found in hemi and copper. One indicator of the effectiveness of proton pumping is the stoichiometry (n).
b) respiration within anaerobic cells of Organisms
Anaerobic respiration is a special type of respiration used by certain microorganisms. These heterotrophic bacteria cannot develop anaerobically without the addition of a particular chemical substance that acts as a terminal electron acceptor to the media.
Anaerobic respiration is a special type of respiration used by certain microorganisms. These heterotrophic bacteria cannot develop anaerobically without the addition of a particular chemical substance that acts as a terminal electron acceptor to the media. These electron acceptors include the organic compound fumarate, NO3-, SO42-, and CO2. Anaerobic respires are bacteria that need one of these substances to develop anaerobically.
The nitrate reducers make up a sizable group of anaerobic respires (Table 4-6). The majority of the bacteria that produce nitrate reducers are heterotrophic, and they have sophisticated electron transport systems that enable the NO3- ion to function anaerobically as a terminal acceptor of electrons.
ch4e5.jpg is the image. Table lists the organic substances that act as particular electron donors for these three recognized nitrate reduction mechanisms.
4) Mode of Respiration
Bacteria may eat both autotrophically and heterotrophically.
Prokaryotes have four main ways of obtaining nutrients. photoautotrophs are creatures that only rely on carbon dioxide and other carbon molecules for energy, chemoautotrophs are organisms that use chemicals as their source of energy, and heterotrophs are organisms that acquire their energy from an outside source.
a) autotrophically
Bacteria with the ability to synthesis their own nourishment are considered autotrophic. They engage in a number of chemical and light-based processes to generate the energy necessary for their biological viability. They achieve this by using inorganic substances like as carbon dioxide, water, hydrogen supplied, etc.
Bacteria with the ability to synthesize their own nourishment are considered autotrophic. They engage in a number of chemical and light-based processes to generate the energy necessary for their biological viability. They achieve this by converting inorganic substances, such as carbon dioxide, water, hydrogen supplied, etc., into organic substances, such as carbohydrates, proteins, etc., which are recognized to be molecules that provide energy in biological systems. Therefore, in terms of their reliance on nutrients, autotrophic bacteria are self-sustaining organisms very similar to plants.
b) heterotrophically.
Heterotrophic bacteria: what are they? Every form of water has heterotrophs, a category of microbes that feed on organic carbon as opposed to autotrophs like algae, which rely on sunlight.
What is Heterotrophic Organisms?
Every form of water has heterotrophs, a category of microbes that feed on organic carbon as opposed to autotrophs like algae, which rely on sunlight. Heterotrophic Plate Count (HPC), a technique, is used to find heterotrophs in water. In both public and private water systems, the bacteriological quality of the drinking water is assessed using HPC, also known as Standard Plate Count.
Other types of contaminants can be effectively handled by heterotrophic bacteria. They can be employed in aquariums to break down organic muck that might accumulate in the water.
Autotrophs are referred to as producers since they can generate their own food using energy and basic resources. Plants, algae, and several varieties of bacteria are examples. Because they eat producers or other consumers, heterotrophs are referred to as consumers. Examples of heterotrophs include dogs, birds, fish, and people.
Reference
- https://byjus.com/question-answer/are-bacteria-autotrophic-or-heterotrophic/#:~:text=Bacteria%20can%20be%20both%20autotrophic,bacteriochlorophyll%20that%20help%20in%20photosynthesis.
- https://byjus.com/question-answer/mode-of-nutrition-in-bacteria-are/#:~:text=Final%20answer%3A%20Mode%20of%20nutrition,are%20both%20autotrophic%20and%20heterotrophic.