Bacterial Cell Structure

By: Hafiza Asfa Shafique

Microbiology
BS Biotechnology V
Structure of bacterial cell
• Bacterial cell is made up of various internal as well as external anatomical structure.
1. Internal structure:
• Cell membrane
• Cytoplasm
• Chromosome
• Plasmid
• Ribosomes
• Inclusions
2. External structure
• Cell wall
• Flagella
• Pilli and Fimbria
• capsule
 1. Cell wall
• The cell wall is the outer covering of bacterial cell in the absence of capsule.
• It is contain peptidoglycan, a polymer composed of modified sugars cross-linked
by short polypeptides containing D-amino acids.
• The backbone of the peptidoglycan molecule is composed of two derivatives of
glucose:
• N-acetylglucosamine (NAG)
• N-acetylmuramic acid (NAM)
• The cell wall is rigid in nature which gives a proper shape to bacteria.
• Cell wall encloses all internal parts of the cell including cell membrane.
• Maintain cell shape, protects the cell, and prevent it from bursting in a hypotonic
environment.
Bacterial Cell wall

• On the basis of typical structure, composition and Gram staining the

bacterial cells are classified into:

1. Gram positive bacterial cell wall

2. Gram negative bacterial cell wall
1. Cell wall of Gram positive bacteria
• cell wall mainly composed of peptidoglycan and teichoic acid
• Peptidoglycan comprises up to 50% of the cell wall material.
• Peptidoglycan layer is 15-50 nm thick.
• Gram positive bacteria are stained with dark blue or violet by Gram staining.

2. Cell wall of Gram negative bacteria

• Composed of peptidoglycan, and outer membrane.
• Peptidoglycan comprises 5-10% of the wall material
• Thickness 2-6 nm
• Outer membrane components: lipoprotein, phospholipid and lipopolysaccharide (LPS; endotoxin).
• This membrane has special channels, consisting of protein molecules called porins.
• Gram staining: cannot retain the crystal violet stain, instead take up the counterstain and
appeared as pink
Gram positive
cell wall

Gram negative
cell wall
 1. Glycocalyx/Capsule/Slime
• Glycocalyx: A gelatinous polysaccharide and proteins outer
covering of certain bacteria is called glycocalyx.
• These are the structures that surround the outside of the
cell envelope.
• Capsule: The glycocalyx is referred to as a capsule if it is
firmly attached to the cell wall.
• Slime layer: If glycocalyx loosely attached to the cell wall, it
is called slime layer.
• The chemical nature of bacterial capsules is mostly
polysaccharides.
• Capsules may be covalently linked to the underlying cell wall
or just loosely bound to it. They have no net charge and will
not bind charged dye particles, hence they can’t be stained.
 Capsule
• Bacteria with capsules form smooth (S) colonies while those without capsules form
rough (R) colonies.
• A given species may undergo a phenomenon called S-R variation whereby the cell loses
the ability to form a capsule.
• Some capsules are very large and absorb water (e.g., Klebsiella pneumoniae) forming
mucoid (M) colonies.
• Capsules are often lost during in vitro culture. They are not essential to cell viability and
some strains within a species will produce a capsule, while others do not.
• Function: The glycocalyx has several functions including protection, attachment to
surfaces and formation of biofilms.
• The glycocalyx helps protect the bacteria cell by preventing immune cells from
attaching to it and destroying it through phagocytosis.
2. Flagella
• Long, whip-like semi-rigid cylindrical structures that aids in cellular locomotion.
• Made up of protein subunits called flagellin.
• About 20nm in diameter and up to 20 micro meters in length.
• Each flagellin is attached to cell membrane with the help of proteins other
than flagellin.
• The basal body has a hook like structure consists of central rod or shaft
surrounded by a set of rings.
• Function much like the propeller on a ship.
• Flagella are driven by the energy released by the transfer of ions down an
electrochemical gradient across the cell membrane.
Flagella
Arrangement of Flagella
3. Fimbria and Pili
Fimbria and Pili
Cell/plasma membrane
 CYTOPLASM
• The cytoplasm or protoplasm is the portion of the cell that lies within
the cytoplasmic membrane.
• It is gel-like matrix composed of mostly water, enzymes, nutrients,
wastes, and gases.
• The cytoplasm also lacks organelles such as mitochondria, golgi
apparatus or endoplasmic reticulum.
• Recent studies suggest that some bacteria (Bacillus subtilis) possess
cytoskeleton.
• Cytoplasm carries out very important functions for the cell growth,
metabolism, and replication.
 Cytoplasm
• Cytoplasm contain cell structure including: the prokaryotic
chromosome, plasmid, ribosomes, and components necessary for
bacterial metabolism.
• Constituents of cytoplasm include:
• proteins (including enzymes), vitamins, ions, nucleic acids and their
precursors, amino acids and their precursors, carbohydrates and their
derivatives, fatty acids and their derivatives.
 Chromosome
• The chromosome in bacteria is typically a single, closed circular, double
stranded DNA that is concentrated in a nucleoid region. It is not
membrane bound as in eukaryotes.
• In some cases, DNA of bacterial chromosome is linear.
• Mitotic apparatus and nuclear membrane are completely lacking.
• The length of E.coli chromosome is approximately 1.4 mm but is
condensed inside the cell by supercoiling.
• The amount of chromosomal DNA is typically 4000 kb, e.g. the amount of
DNA in E.coli chromosome is 4,700,000 base pairs.
• DNA is mainly negatively charged hence bind readily to basic dyes.
Chromosomal DNA and plasmid
Plasmids (extrachromosomal DNA)
• Some bacteria possess smaller extrachromosomal pieces of DNA
called plasmids.
• Plasmids are covalently closed circular DNA. In a few species, linear
plasmids have been found
• Plasmids replicate independently of the chromosome and are not
involved in reproduction.
• Size: plasmid DNA ranges from 1-200 kb.
• Number of plasmids: 1-700 copies of plasmid in a cell.
• Contains genes for antibiotic resistance or virulence.
Transformation of plasmid between bacteria
• Plasmids and the associated traits can be transferred between
bacteria, even from one bacterial species to another.
• Plasmids are passed to other bacteria by two means:
1. For most plasmid types, copies in the cytoplasm are passed on to
daughter cells during binary fission.
2. Other types of plasmids, form tube like structure at the surface
called a pilus that passes copies of plasmid to other bacteria during
conjugation, a process by which bacteria exchange genetic
information.
Function
• Antibiotic resistance: some plasmids code for proteins that degrade
antibiotics which is a big advantage for pathogens.
• Some encode for proteins which confer virulence factors on the host. For
example, E.coli plasmid Ent P307 codes for an enterotoxin which makes
E.coli pathogenic.
• the ability to insert specific genes into plasmids have made them extremely
useful tools in the area of genetic engineering or rDNA technology.
 Ribosomes
• Bacterial cells can contain thousands of ribosomes, which are the sites of
protein synthesis.
• The distinct granular appearance of prokaryotic cytoplasm is due to the
presence and distribution of ribosomes. Often they aggregate to form
structures known as polysomes.
• Bacterial ribosomes have sedimentation rate of 70S (Svedberg units), their
subunits have rates of 30S and 50S.
• Bacterial ribosomes are never bounded to other organelles and free-standing
structures distributed throughout the cytoplasm.
• Some antibiotics will inhibit the functioning of bacterial ribosomes, but not a
eukaryote’s ribosome, thus killing bacteria but not the eukaryotic organisms
they are infecting. E.g. streptomycin antibiotic
Inclusion bodies
Inclusion bodies- Granules