Bacteria

Our invisible friends

 Bacteria are prokaryotes
Pro – before
Karyon – nucleus
The simplest forms of life are
prokaryotes.
Earth’s first cells were
prokaryotes.
 Lots of Them!
Prokaryotes are Earth’s most
abundant life forms.
They can survive in many
environments.
They can get energy from many
different sources.
 Prokaryote Review
 Mostly single-celled
 No nucleus or organelles
 Circular chromosomes
 Cell walls
 Reproduce mostly asexually
 Anaerobic or aerobic
 Heterotrophic or autotrophic
 Archaebacteria
Methane producers – anaerobic
Halophiles
 Halo = salt
 Philia = love

Thermophiles
 Thermo = heat
 Eubacteria
 Parasitic heterotrophs (Streptococcus)
 Saprophages
 Sapro = death
 Phage = eat

 Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae)

 Photosynthetic
 Chemosynthetic autotrophs (Rhizobium)
 Bacteria are Named by Shape

Cocci (ball-shaped)
 Streptococcus mutans
Bacillus (rod-shaped)
 Clostridium botulinum
Spirilli (spiral-shaped)
 Treponema palladium
 Germ Theory of Disease

Joseph Lister – Aseptic

Techniques
Robert Koch – Germ Theory
 A specific microorganism causes
a specific disease