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Bacterial cell
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Bacteria
• BACTERIA are prokaryotic
microorganisms that do not contain
chlorophyll

• Are unicellular and do not show true

branching

• Morphology – size, shape and

arrangement of bacteria

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The size of bacteria

• The size of bacteria is measured in micrometer (µm) or
micron (µ)
•1µ = 1/1000mm
• 1 mµ/1 nm = 1/1000µ
•1Å =1/10nm
• Resolution power of unaided eye is 200 µ.
• Bacteria of medical importance measures about 2 - 5 µ
in length and 0.2 – 1.5 µ in width.
• Hence study of bacteria requires the use of microscope.
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Shape of bacteria
• Depending on shape bacteria is classified into

• 1.MONOMORPHIC BACTERIA
• Bacteria with single shape genetically
• Environmental condition do not alter shape of
bacteria

• 2.PLEOMORPHIC BACTERIA
• Bacteria with varying shape genetically
• Shape change according to environment
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Different shapes and arrangement of

bacteria

• COCCI
• Oval or spherical shaped cells
1.DIPLOCOCCI - cocci in pairs
2.STERPTOCOCCI - in chains
3.STAPHYLOCOCCI - grape like clusters
4.TETRADS - group of 4
5.SARCINA - group of 8

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• BACILLI
• Rod shaped cells
1.DIPLOBACILLI - in pairs

2.STERPTOBACILLI - in chains

3.COCCOBACILLI - Length of bacilli same as width

4.CUNIEFORM OR CHINESE LETTER PATTERN -

arranged at angles to each other.
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• COMMA SHAPED - curved rods

Vibrios – vibratory motility

• SPIRILLA - rigid spiral forms

Spirillum minus - Sodoku – rat bite fever
Helicobacter pylori – stomach ulcer

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• SPIROCHETES
• Flexuous spiral or Coiled forms
Treponema pallidum
Borrelia recurrentis
Leptospira interrogans

• ACTINOMYCETES
• filamentous branching

• MYCOPLASMA
• Cell wall deficient bacteria
• No definite shape Bivila

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Bacterial anatomy
CELLWALL
CELL
ENVELOPE
CYTOPLASMIC
MEMBRANE
BACTERIAL
CELL
CYTOPLASM
PROTOPLASM
CIRCULAR
DNA
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Bacterial cell

Bivila
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Bacterial cell wall

• It’s a rigid and tough structure which maintains
shape of bacteria

• Surrounds plasma membrane

• 10 - 25 nm thick

• Accounts for about 20 - 30% dry weight of cell

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Functions of cell wall

• Maintain shape of cell

• Prevent osmotic damage
• Contains antigen - important in virulence and
immunity
• Confers rigidity and ductility
• Takes part in cell division
• Posses target site for antibiotics, lysozymes and
bacteriophages

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Types of cell wall

BASED ON GRAMS STAINING
1. GRAM POSITIVE CELL WALL
2. GRAM NEGATIVE CELL WALL

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Gram positive cell wall

• Simpler chemical nature than gram negative cell wall
• Various components :
1. Peptidoglycan/ murein
• two alternating sugars - N- acetylglucosamine (NAG)
& N- acetylmuramic acid
• Peptidoglycan chains are crosslinked by peptides for
strength
• Peptidoglycan in gram positive bacteria is thicker
than gram negative bacteria (2nm)
• 16-80 nm
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Peptidoglycan structure

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2.TEICHOIC ACID
• Significant amount
• Absent in gram negative
• Are water soluble polymers containing ribitol or
glycerol polymers
• Act as surface antigen
2 types
1. Cell wall teichoic acid-linked to peptidoglycan
2. Membrane teichoic acid or lipoteichoic acid-
linked to plasma membrane
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• Functions
• help maintain cell envelope
• protect from environmental substances
• may bind to host cells

3.OTHER COMPONENTS
• Teichuronic acid, polysaccharides, proteins

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Gram positive cell wall

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Gram negative cell wall

• More complex than Gram – positive
• components
1. Peptidoglycan
• a thin layer of peptidoglycan(2nm)
2. Lipoprotein layer
• Connects peptidoglycan to outer membrane
• Stabilise and anchor outer membrane to peptidoglycan
• Composed of lipids and amino acids

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• 3.Outer membrane
• outer membrane lies outside the thin peptidoglycan
layer
• Bilayered structure resembling plasma membrane
• Contains proteins-outer membrane proteins
• Target sites of phages, antibiotics and bacteriocin
• Act as barriers

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4.Lipopolysaccharides
• Consists of three parts
1. Lipid A
2. core polysaccharide
3. O polysaccharide (O antigen)
1. Lipid A
• embedded in outer membrane
• Constitutes endotoxin
• Core polysaccharide, O side chain extend out
from the cell
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2. Core polysaccharide
• Located at membrane surface
3. O-polysaccharide / O antigen
• Extend from membrane surface to surrounding
• Act as receptors for bacteriophage

5.Periplasmic space
• Space between cytoplasmic membrane and
outer membrane
• Rich in proteins like hydrolytic enzymes, binding
proteins, detoxifying enzymes and
chemoreceptors
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Demonstration of cell wall

• Plasmolysis
• When bacteria placed in a hypertonic solution
shrinkage of cytoplasm occur while cell wall
retains original size and shape
• Microdissection
• Reaction with specific antibody
• Differential staining of different parts of bacterial cell
• Electron microscopy

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Cell wall deficient bacteria

• PROTOPLAST
• When lysozyme acts on gram positive bacterium
in hypertonic solution

• SPHEROPLAST
• Derived from gram negative bacteria, produced
artificially by lysozyme or by growth with penicillin
or any agents capable of breaking peptidoglycan
layer.

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Cell wall deficient bacteria

• MYCOPLASMA
• Naturally occuring cell wall deficient bacteria

• L FORMS
• Develop either spontaneously or in presence of
agents that interfere with synthesis of cell wall
• Usually produced in the body of patients treated
with penicillin.

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Expected questions
• 10 MARKS
– BACTERIAL CELLWALL
• 5 MARKS
– CLASSIFY BACTERIA BASED ON SHAPE
– EXPLAIN MORPHOLOGY OF BACTERIA
– DIFFERENTIATE GRAM POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE
CELLWALL
• 3 MARKS
– CELLWALL DEFICIENT BACTERIA
– DRAW DIAGRAM FOR GRAM NEGATIVE CELLWALL
– PEPTIDOGLYCAN
– CELLWALL FUNCTIONS Bivila

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Thank You

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