Technical

lyami cr
oorganism ormicrobei sanor
ganism t
hatismicr
oscopic.Thestudy
ofmi croorganisms is called mi
crobiology
.Microor
gani
sms can be bacteri
a,fungi
,
archaeaorpr oti
sts.Thet erm microorgani
smsdoesnoti ncludevi
rusesandpr i
ons,
whicharegener all
yclassi
fiedasnon-li
ving.

Thereiscurr
entlyagreatdealofdiscussionaboutt heor gani
sati
onandclassi
ficat
ionof
l
ife,parti
cul
arl
yi nthestudyofmi croorgani
sms.Thebasi cdisti
nct
iondividesliv
ing
organi
sms intot wo groups:pr okaryot
es (cell
s wi thoutinter
nalmembr ane bound
organel
les -the moner a,includi
ng mostmi cr
oor ganisms)and eukar y
otes (cell
s
contai
ningmembr aneboundor ganell
es-proti
sts,fungi,plant
sandanimals).

Beforet headv entoft hemicroscope,li

vi
ngor gani
smswer econvenientl
ydivi
dedinto
twoki ngdoms:pl antoranimal.Thisdivi
sionwasunsati
sfactor
y,howev er-whatabout
fungi?Todayki ngdom taxonomistshavedefinedsyst
emsbasedonf i
veorsi xki
ngdoms
(Archaea-t hesixth,Monera,Protoct
ist
a,Fungi,Pl
ant
ae,andAnimali
a),neit
herofwhich
i
ncludev i
ruses(orprions)
.Virusesareconsideredtobeonthel i
nebetweenl i
vi
ngand
non-li
ving.

Ithasbeenarguedext ensi
velywhethervir
usesarelivi
ngor gani
sms.Mostv ir
ologi
sts
considert
hem non-l
iv
ing,astheydonotmeetal lthecrit
eriaofthegener all
yaccept ed
defi
niti
on ofli
fe.Fori nst
ance,mostv ir
uses do notr espond to changes i nt he
envi
ronment,whichisadef init
ivetrai
tforli
vi
ngor gani
sms.I nadditi
on,v i
rusescan
repl
icatet
hemselvesonlybyinfecti
ngahostcell.Theythereforecannotr eproduceon
thei
rown.

Pri
onsarear ecentl
ydiscover
edinf
ecti
ousagent .Theyareprotei
nsthatar
efolded
abnormal
ly(foldi
ngisapr oper
tyofprot
einsenabli
ngthem totakeonashapethatis
cri
ti
calf
ortheirfunct
ion)
,andwhichcanconvertnormal
lyf
oldedprot
einst
oabnor
mal l
y
fol
dedones.

Theadv entofgenomeanal y
sishasbothsimpl i
fi
edandcompl icat
edt hequesti
on. 
DNA
sequenceanal ysisledDr.CarlWoesei nthe70st opr oposeat hreedomaindi v
isi
on:
bacter
ia,archaeaandeukar y
ota.Thegroundsforthisdivi
sioncanbeseeni nthetreeof
l
ife he produced f rom the sequence dat
a.Thi st r
ee ofl if
e clearl
y shows that
microorganismsaccountbyf arforthemajori
tyofli
feonear th.Scienti
stsest
imatethat
99%oft hemi croorgani
smsonear thhavenotyetbeenidentif
ied!

Microor gani smsormi cr

obesar emicroscopi
corgani
smst hatexi
stasuni
cell
ular
,
multicellular,orcel
lcl
uster
s.Mi cr
oorganimsarewidespr
eadi nnatur
eandarebenef
ici
al
toli
fe,butsomecancauseser i
oushar m.Theycanbedivi
dedi nt
osixmajort
ypes:
bacteria, archaea,f
ungi,
protozoa,al
gae,andvir
uses.

Bact
eri
a
Bacteri
aareunicel
lularorgani
sms.Thecellsar edescri
bedaspr okar
y ot
icbecausethey
l
ackanucl eus.Theyexistinfourmajorshapes: baci
ll
us(rodshape),coccus(spheri
cal
shape),spi
ri
lla(
spiralshape),
andv i
bri
o(curvedshape) .Mostbacter
iahav ea
pepti
doglycancellwall;
theydivi
debybinaryfission;
andt heymaypossessf l
agell
afor
mot i
l
ity
.Thedi f
fer
encei nthei
rcell
wallstr
ucturei samajorfeat
ureusedi nclassi
fyi
ng
theseorganisms.

Accordingt
ot hewaytheircellwallstr
ucturest
ains,
bacteriacanbeclassif
iedaseit her
Gram-posit
iveorGram-negativewhenusi ngtheGram staini
ng.Bacter
iacanbef urther
di
videdbasedont hei
rresponset ogaseousoxy genint
ot hefoll
owinggroups:aerobic
(l
ivi
nginthepresenceofoxy gen),anaerobi
c(li
vi
ngwi t
houtoxy gen)
,andfacult
ati
v e
anaerobes(canli
veinbothenv ir
onment s).

Accordingt
othewayt heyobtainenergy
,bact
eri
aareclassi
fi
edasheterot
rophsor
autotr
ophs.Autot
rophsmaket hei
rownf oodbyusi
ngt heener
gyofsunli
ghtorchemical
reacti
ons,i
nwhichcasetheyarecalledchemoaut
otrophs.Het
erot
rophsobtai
nthei
r
energybyconsumingotherorganisms.Bact
eri
athatusedecayi
nglif
eformsasasour ce
ofenergyarecall
edsaprophy
tes.

Ar
chaea

ArchaeaorAr chaebacteri
adi f
ferfrom truebact eri
ai ntheircellwallstructureandl ack
pepti
dogly cans.Theyar eprokar y
oticcel l
swi t
hav idi
tytoext remeenv i
ronment al
conditi
ons.Basedont heirhabitat,al
l Archaeanscanbedi vi
dedi ntothef oll
owing
groups:met hanogens( methane-produci ngorganisms) ,halophil
es( archaeanst hatliv
e
i
nsal t
yenv i
ronment s)
,thermophi l
es( archaeanst hatliveatextremel yhott emper atur
es)
,
andpsy chrophiles(cold-t
emper atureAr chaeans).Ar chaeansusedi ff
erentener gy
sourceslikehy drogengas, carbondi oxi
de, andsul phur.Someoft hem usesunl i
ghtt o
makeener gy,butnotthesamewaypl ant sdo.Theyabsor bsunl ightusingt heir
membr anepi gment,bacteri
orhodopsi n.Thisreact swi t
hlight,l
eadingt othef ormat i
on
oftheener gymol eculeadenosi netri
phosphat e(ATP) .

Fungi

Fungi(mushroom, mol ds,andy easts)areeukary

oticcell
s(wi t
hat ruenucleus).Most
fungiar
emul ti
cell
ularandt hei
rcellwalli
scomposedofchi tin.Theyobt ai
nnutrientsby
absorbi
ngor gani
cmat eri
al fr
om theirenvi
ronment(decomposer s),thr
oughsy mbi oti
c
rel
ati
onshi
pswi thplant s(sy mbi
onts),orharmfulr
elati
onshipswi t
hahost( par
asites).
Theyform characteri
sticfi
lament oustubescall
edhy phaethathelpabsor bmat eri
al.The
coll
ecti
onofhy phaeiscal ledmy celi
um.Fungi r
eproducebyr eleasi
ngspor es.

Pr
otozoa

Prot
ozoaareuni
cel
lul
araer
obiceukary
otes.Theyhaveanucl
eus,complexor
ganell
es,
andobtai
nnouri
shmentbyabsorpt
ionoringest
ionthr
oughspeci
ali
zedstr
uct
ures.They
makeupt helargestgr oupoforgani smsi nthewor l
dint ermsofnumber s,bi
omass, and
diversi
ty.Theircellwallsaremadeupofcel l
ulose.Protozoahavebeent radi
ti
onall
y
divi
dedbasedont heirmodeofl ocomot ion:fl
agell
atespr oducethei
rownf oodanduse
theirwhip-l
ikestructuretopropelfor ward,ci
li
ateshav etinyhai
rthatbeattoproduce
mov ement ,amoeboi dshav efal
sef eetorpseudopodi ausedf orfeedi
ngandl ocomot i
on,
andspor ozoansar enon- motil
e.Theyal sohav ediff
erentmeansofnut rit
ion,whi
ch
groupst hem asaut otrophsorheterot r
ophs.

Al
gae

Algae,al
socal l
edcy anobact
eri
aorblue-greenalgae,ar
euni cel
lul
arormulti
cel
lul
ar
eukary
ot est
hatobt ainnouri
shmentbyphot osynthesi
s.Theyl i
veinwater
,dampsoi l
,and
rocksandpr oduceoxy genandcarbohydratesusedbyot herorganisms.I
tisbeli
eved
thatcyanobacteri
aar etheori
ginsofgr
eenl andplants.

Vi
ruses

Vir
usesarenoncell
ularenti
ti
esthatconsistofanucleicacidcore(
DNAorRNA)
surr
oundedbyapr ot
eincoat.Al
thoughv ir
usesareclassif
iedasmi cr
oor
ganisms,t
hey
arenotconsi
deredli
vingorgani
sms.Vi r
usescannotr epr
oduceoutsideahostcel
land
cannotmetaboli
zeont hei
rown.Virusesofteni
nfestprokaryot
icandeukar
yoti
ccell
s
causi
ngdiseases.

Mul
ti
cel
lul
arAni
malPar
asi
tes

Agr oupofeukar yot

icorganismsconsisti
ngoftheflat
wor msandr oundwor ms, which
arecollecti
vel
yreferr
edtoast hehelminths.Al
thoughtheyarenotmi croorganismsby
defi
niti
on, si
ncetheyarelargeenoughtobeeasi l
yseenwi ththenakedey e,theyli
vea
partoft hei
rli
fecycl
einmi croscopi
cform.Sincetheparasit
ichelminthsareofcl i
nical
i
mpor tance,theyareoft
endi scussedalongwiththeothergroupsofmi crobes.

ht
tps:
//www.
uib.
no/
en/
geobi
o/56846/
what
-ar
e-mi
croor
gani
sms
ht
tps:
//sci
enci
ng.
com/
rol
e-mi
crobes-
indust
ry-
8044034.
html

I
nthasecondl
i
nkl
aful
l
arol
esofmi
crobesi
ruku.Shor
tpanni
edut
huko