Microbial Diversity

Part 2
Eukaryotic Microbes
•This chapter describes eukaryotic microbes, which include some species of algae, all
protozoa, some species of fungi, all lichens and all slime moulds
•Scientists have not yet determined when the first eukaryotic organisms appeared on
Earth
Algae
•Algae (sing., alga) are photosynthetic, eukaryotic organisms that, together with protozoa, are classified
in the second kingdom (Protista) of the Five-Kingdom System of Classification. Collectively they are
referred to as protists.
•But not taxonomists agree, however that algae and protozoa should be combined in the same kingdom
•The study of algae is phycology (or algology)
•The person who studies algae is called a phycologist or an algologist
•All algal cells consists of cytoplasm, cell wall(usually), cell membrane, a nucleus, plastids, ribosomes,
mitochondria and Golgi bodies
•Some algal cells have pellicle (thickened cell membrane), a stigma (a light sensing organelle known as
an eyespot)
•Algae are not plants but are more plant like than protozoa; Algae lack true roots, stems, and leaves
•Algae range from in size from tiny, unicellular, microscopic organisms to large, multi cellular,
plantlike sea weeds (e.g. kelp)
•Not all algae are microorganisms; they are arranged in colonies, or strands and are found in fresh
water and salt water, wet soil and on wet rocks
•Algae produce their energy by photosynthesis, using energy from the sun, carbon dioxide, water
and inorganic nutrients from the soil to build cellular material
•A few species use organic nutrients and others survive with very little sunlight
•Most algal cell walls contain cellulose (a polysaccharide) not found in the cell walls of any
microorganism
•Depending on the types of photosynthetic pigments that they possess, algae are classified as green,
golden or golden brown, brown or red
•Diatoms ( tiny, usually unicellular algae) that live in both freshwater and sea water,
they are important members of phytoplankton
•Diatoms have silicon dioxide in their cell walls thus they have cell walls made of
glass
•Dinoflagellates are microscopic, unicellular, flagellated, often photosynthetic algae,
they are also important members of phytoplankton, producing much of the oxygen in
our atmosphere and serving as important links in food chains.
•Some Dinoflagellates produce light and for this reason, are sometimes referred to as
fire algae
•DINOFLAGELLATES ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT ARE KNOWN AS “RED
TIDES”.
•Green algae include Desmids , Spyrogyra, Chlamydomonas, Volvox and Euglena, all of
which can be found in pond water
•Desmids are unicellular algae, some of which resemble a microscopic banana
•Spyrogyra is an example of a filamentous alga, often producing long green strands in
pond water
•Chlamydomonas is a unicellular, biflagellated alga, containing one chloroplast and a
stigma
•Volvox is a multicellular alga (sometimes referred to as a colonial alga or colony)
consisting of as many as 60,000 imterconnected, biflagellated cells arranged to form
hollow sphere; they move in a rolling motion (flagella move in coordinated maner)
•Euglena possesses features possessed by both algae and protozoa; like algae , Euglena contains
chlorapoplasts, is photosynthetic, and stores energy in the form of starch. Its protozoan features
include the presence of a primitive mouth (cytostome) and the absence of a cell wall(no cellulose)
•Euglena possesses a photosensing organelle called a stigma and a single flagellum
•With its stigma it can sense light; with its flagellum, it can swim into the light. When there is no
light, Euglena can continue to obtain nutrients by ingesting food through its cytostome; although
it has no cell wall, Euglena does possess a pellicle which serves the same function as a cell wall-
protection
•Algae are easy to find. They include large seaweeds of various colors, brown kelp (up to 10 m in
length) found along ocean shores, the green scum on ponds and the slippery green material on
wet rocks
•Algae are important source of food, iodine and other minerals, fertilizers, emulsifiers
for pudding and stabilizers for ice cream and salad dressings; they are also used as
gelling agent for jams and nutrient media for bacterial growth
•Algae are nearly 50% oil and scientists are studying them as a source of biofuels.
•The agar used as a solidifying agent in laboratory culture media is a complex
polysaccharide derived from a red marine alga
•On the downside, damage to water systems is frequently caused by algae
CLOGGING FILTERS AND PIPES IF MANY NUTRIENTS ARE PRESENT.
Medical significance
•One genus of algae (Prototheca) is a very rare cause of human infections (causing a
disease known as protothecosis)
•Prototheca lives in soil and can enter wounds, especially those located on the feet
•Prototheca produces a small subcutaneous lesion that can progress to a crusty, warty
looking lesion. It may cause a debilitating, sometimes fatal infection if the organism
enters the lymphatic system
•Algae in several other genera secrete substances (phycotoxins) that are poisonous to
humans, fish and other animals
Protozoa
•Protozoa (sing., Protozoan) are eukaryotic organisms that, together with algae, are classified in the
second kingdom (Protista) of the Five-Kingdom System of Classification
•Protozoology: is the study of protozoa
•Protozoolist: a person who studies protozoa
•Most protozoa are single-celled free-living microorganisms; most are free-living organisms found in
soil and water.
•Protozoal cells are more animal-like than plant-like
•All protozoal cells possess a variety of eukaryotic structures and organelles, including cell membranes,
nuclei, endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, Golgi bodies, lysosomes, centrioles and food vacuoles
•Some protozoa possess pellicles, cytostomes, contractile vacuoles, pseudopodia, cilia and flagella
•Protozoa have no chlorophyll and therefore cannot make their own food by
photosynthesis. Some ingest whole algae,yeasts, bacteria and smaller protozoans as
their source of nutrients; others live on dead and decaying organic matter
•Protozoa do not have cell walls but some including flagellates and some ciliates,
possess a pellicle which serves the same purpose as cell wall-protection.
•Some flagellates and some ciliates ingest food through a primitive mouth or opening,
called a cytostome.
•Paramecium and Vorticella spp. Are examples of free-living pond protozoa
•Paramecium spp. (common pond water ciliates) possess both pellicle and cytostome)
•some pond water protozoa (amebae and Paramecium) contain an organelle called a
contractile vacuole, which pumps water out of the cell
•Vorticella spp. (pond water ciliates) have contractile stalk
•A typical protozoan life cycle consists of two stages:Trophozoite stage and the Cyst stage
•Trophozoite is the motile, feeding, dividing stage in a protozoan’s life cycle
•Cyst is the nonmotile, dormant, survival stage.In some ways, cysts are like bacterial
spores
•Some protozoa are parasites
•Parasitic protozoa breakdown and absorb nutrients from the body of the host in
which they live. Many parasitic protozoa are pathogens such as those that cause
Malaria, giardiasis, African sleeping sickness and amebic dysentery.
•Other protozoa coexist with the host animal in a type of mutualistic symbiotic
relationship in which both organisms benefit. Example is the termite and its
intestinal protozoa.The protozoa digests the wood that the termite eats enabling both
organisms to absorb the nutrients necessary for life.
Classification and medical significance
•In some classification schemes, protozoa are divided into groups according to their method of
locomotion
•Amebae move by means of cytoplasmic extensions called pseudopodia (sing.;pseudopodium,
false feet)
•Amoeboid movement: ameba extends its pseudopodium in the direction it intends to move and
the rest of the cell flows into it
•An ameba ingests a food particle (yeast or bacterial cell) by surrounding the particle with
pseudopodia, which then fuse together –a process called phagocytosis
•The ingested particle surrounded by a membrane is referred to as food vacuole (phagosome)
•Digestive enzymes released from lysosomes, then digest or break down the food into nutrients
•Entamoeba histolytica, one medically important ameba which causes amebic dysentery (amebiasis) and
extraintestinal (away from intestine) amebic abscesses.
•Others; Naegleria fowleri –causative agent of primary amebic meningoencephalitis; Acanthamoeba spp.
(cause eye infections)
•Ciliates are the most complex of all protozoa, a pathogenic ciliate, Balantidium coli causes dysentery in
underdeveloped countries, transmitted to humans from drinking water contaminated by swine feces. B. coli
is the ONLY ciliated protozoan that causes disease in humans
•Examples of pond water ciliates: Blepharisma, Didinium, Euplotes, Paramecium, Stentor and Vorticela spp.
•Pathogenic flagellates: A basal body called a kinetosome or kinetoplast anchors each flagellum within the
cytoplasm. Flagella exhibita wavelike motion
•Some flagellates are pathogenic for example: Trypanosoma brucei subspecies
gambiense transmitted by the tsetse fly causes African sleeping sickness in humans
•Trypanosoma cruzi causes American trypanosomiasis (Chagass disease)
•Trichomonas vaginalis causes persistent sexually transmitted infections
(trichomoniasis) of the male and female genital tracts and Giardia lamblia (Giardia
intestinalis) causes persistent diarrheal disease (giardiasis)
•Nonmotile protozoa (no flagellum, cilia or pseudopodia) are classified together in a
category called sporozoa
•Most important sporozoan pathogens are the Plasmodium spp. that cause malaria in many areas
of the world
•Plasmodium vivax: causes malaria in the USA. Malarial parasites are transmitted by female
Anopheles mosquitoes which become infected when they take a blood meal from a person with
malaria.
•Cryptosporidium parvum, causes severe diarrheal disease (cryptosporidiosis) in
immunosuppressed patients, especially those with AIDS
•Other pathogenic sporozoans include Babesia spp (the cause of babesiosis), Cyclospora
cayetanensis (the cause of a diarrheal disease called cyclosporiasis) and Toxoplasma gondii ( the
cause of toxoplasmosis
Fungi
•Characteristics: Under Kingdom Fungi
•Mycology: study of fungi
•Mycologist:a person who studies fungi
•Saprophytic living on organic matter in water and soil; Parasitic fungi living on on and within
animals and plants.
•Some fungi are harmful and some are beneficial
•Fungi also live on unlikely materials causing deterioration on leather and plastics and spoilage of
jams, pickles and many other foods
•Beneficial fungi are important in the production of cheeses, beer, wine and other foods as well as
certain drugs (e.g immunosuppressant drug cyclosporine) and antibiotics (e.g. penicillin)
Fungi as “recyclers”
•Fungi are diverse group of eukaryotic organisms that include yeasts, moulds and
mushrooms.As saprophytes, their main source of food is dead and decaying organic matter
•Fungi are the “garbage disposers” of nature-the “vultures” of the microbial world.By
secreting digestive enzymes into dead plants and animal matter, they decompose this
material into absorbable nutrients for themselves and other living organisms thus, they are
original “recyclers”
•Fungi are not plants. Fungi are not photosynthetic , they have no chlorophyll. Fungal cell
walls do not have cellulose. Fungal cell walls have chitin (a polysaccharide)
•Many fungi are unicellular (yeasts) other grow as filaments (hyphae, sing. hypha) which
intertwine to form a mass called mycelium (plural: mycelia) or thallus
Decomposers VS Saprophytes
DECOMPOSERS
•Break materials down
•Not all decomposers are
saprophytes
•Some decompose minerals, rocks,
inorganic industrial wastes, rubber,
plastic and textiles
SAPROPHYTES
Absorb nutrients from dead and
decaying matter
All saprophytes are decomposer
They decompose organic materials
such as corpses,dead plants and
feces
Difference between parasite and
saprophytes
•A parasite obtains nutrients from LIVING ORGANISMS
•Saprophytes obtains nutrients from dead ones
Reproduction
•Depending on the particular species, fungal cells can reproduce by budding, hyphal
extension. Or the formation of spores
•The two general categories of fungal spores are sexual spores and asexual spores
•Sexual spores are produced by the fusion of two gametes (thus, by the fusion of two nuclei)
•Sexual spores have a variety of names depending on the exact manner in which they are
formed.
•Fungi are classified taxonomically in accordance with the type of sexual spore that they
produce or the type of structure on which the spores are produced
•Asexual spores are also called conidia (sing.,conidium)
•Some species of fungi produce both asexual and sexual.
• Fungal spores are very resistant structures that are carried great distances by wind
•They are resistant to heat, cold, bases and other chemicals.
•Many people are allergic to fungal spores
Classification
•The taxonomic classification of fungi changes periodically. One current classification
divides the Kingdom fungi into Five Phyla
•Classification of fungi into these phyla is based primarily on their mode of sexual
reproduction
•The two phyla known as “lower fungi” Zygomycotina (Zygomycota) and
Chytridiomycotina (chytridiomycota)
•Zygomycotina include the common bread moulds and other fungi that cause food spoilage
•Chytridiomycotina which are not considered to be true fungi by some taxonomists, live in
water (“water moulds”) and soil.
•The two phyla known as “ higher fungi”Ascomycotina and Basidiomycotina
•Ascomycotina include certain yeasts and some fungi that cause plant diseases (e.g
Dutch Elm disease)
•Basidiomycotina include some yeasts, some fungi that cause some plant diseases,
and the large “fleshy fungi” that live in the woods (e.g. mushroom, toadstools,
bracket, fungi, puffballs)
•The fifth Phylum: Deuteromycotina-contains fungi having no mode of sexual
reproduction or in which the mode of sexual reproduction is not known.This phylum
is sometimes referred to as Fungi Imperfecti
•Deuteromycetes include certain medically important moulds such as Aspergillus and
Penicillium
Yeasts
•Yeasts are eukaryotic single-celled (unicellular) organisms that lack mycelia
•Individual yeast cells sometimes referred to as blastospores or blastoconidia can be
observed only through a microscope
•They usually reproduce by budding but occasionally do so by a type of spore formation
•Some yeasts produce thick -walled, spore-like structures called chlamydospores
•Yeasts are found in soil and water and on the skins of many fruits and vegetables
•Wine, beer and alcoholic beverages had been produced for centuries before Louis
Pasteur discovered that naturally occurring yeasts on the skin of grapes and other fruits
and grains were responsible for these fermentation processes
•The common yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae(“Baker’s yeast”) ferments sugar to
alcohol under anaerobic conditions
•Under aerobic conditions, this yeast breaks down simple sugars to carbon dioxide
and water;for this reason it has long been used as a leavening agent in bread
production
•Yeasts are also good source of nutrients for humans because they produce many
vitamins and proteins. Some yeasts are human pathogens examples are Candida
albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans
Historical Note on Moulds
•Phytophthora infestans , the mould which destroyed potato crops in Ireland in 1845,
1846 and 1848 causing 1 million people to die of starvation and illnesses resulting
from malnutrition.
•Antoine De Bary proved that it was a fungus that had caused the blight (plant
disease)
•“Late blight of potato was the first disease known with certainty to be caused by a
microorganism
Moulds
•Moulds are found in water, and soil and on food.
•They grow in the form of cytoplasmic filaments or hyphae that make –up the
mycelium of the mould
•Aerial hyphae (also called reproductive hyphae)extend above the surface of whatever
the mould is growing on
•Vegetative hyphae are beneath the surface
•Reproduction is by spore formation either sexually or asexually on the aerial hyphae
•Moulds have great commercial importance. Antibiotic-producing moulds are found
within Ascomycotina such as Penicillium and Acremonium
Penicillin
•Penicillin, the first antibiotic to be discovered by a scientist was discovered by
accident (Alexander Fleming, 1928, he noticed the mould Penicillium notatum,
inhibited the growth of Staphylococcus bacteria on his culture plates)
Fleshy fungi
•Mushrooms, toadstools, puffballs and bracket fungi collectively referred to as fleshy
fungi, they are NOT MICROORGANISMS
•Mushrooms are a class of true fungi that consist of a network of filaments or
strands(the mycelium) that grow in soil or in rotting log and a fruiting body
(mushroom rising from the ground) that forms and releases spores. Each spore ,
much like the seed of a plant, germinates into a new organism
•Many mushrooms are delicious to eat but others including some that resemble edible
fungi are extremely TOXIC and may cause permanent liver and brain damage or
death if ingested
Medical significance
•Plant diseases are referred to as blights and rusts
•Not only do fungi destroy crops but some produce toxins (mycotoxins) that cause
disease humans and animals
•Moulds and yeasts also cause a variety of infectious diseases of humans and animals
•Fungal infections of Humans are known as mycoses (sing.,mycosis) are categorized
as superficial cutaneous, subcutaneous,or systemic mycoses
•Superficial and Cutaneous Mycoses
•Superficial mycoses are fungal infections of the outermost areas of the human body:
hair, fingernails, toenails and the epidermis of the skin.
•Cutaneous mycoses are fungal infections of the living layers of the skin (dermis)
•Dermatophytes(a group of moulds) cause tinea infections referred as “ringworm”
infections
•Tinea infections are named in accordance with the part of the anatomy that is infected
e.g. tinea pedis (athlete’s foot), tinea unguium (fingernails and toenails), tinea capitis
( scalp), tinea barbae (face and neck), tinea corporis (trunk of the body) and tinea
cruris (groin area)
•Candida Albicans is an opportunistic yeast that lives harmlessly on the skin and
mucous membranes of the mouth, GIT, Genitourinary Tract when conditions change
C. albicans flourishes, leading to yeast infections of the mouth (thrush), skin, and
vagina (yeast vaginitis). This may become a focal site from which the
organisms invade the blood stream to become a systemic infection in
many internal areas of the body.
Subcutaneous and Systemic Mycoses
•They are the more severe types of Mycoses
•Subcutaneous Mycoses are fungal infections of the dermis and underlying tissues
(grotesque in in appearance) e.g Madura foot (eukaryotic mycetoma), the foot is
covered with large, unsightly, fungus, containing bumps
•Systemic Mycoses or Generalized Mycoses are fungal infections of internal organs
of the body, sometimes affecting two or more different organ systems
simultaneously (infection of the respiratory system and bloodstream, or respiratory
system and central nervous system)
•Spores of some pathogenic fungi may be inhaled with dust from contaminated soil or
dried bird and bat feces (guano), or they may enter through wounds of the hands and
feet
•If spores are inhaled into the lungs they may germinate there to cause a respiratory
infection similar to TB e.g histoplasmosis, blastomycosis
•Common bread moulds can cause human disease and even death. Bread moulds such
as Rhizopus and Mucor spp. When inhaled by immunosuppressed patients can lead to
respiratory disease called zygomycosis or mucormycosis
Dimorphic Fungi
•Can live either as yeasts or as mould depending on growth conditions
•Within the human body (in vivo) at 37 deg centigrade, dimorphic fungi exist as
yeasts
However, when grown in vitro at room temperature (25 deg centigrade) dimorphic
fungi exist as moulds, producing mould colonies (mycelia)
Dimorphic fungi that cause human diseases: Histoplasma capsulatum (causes
histoplasmosis), Sporothrix schenkii (causes sporotrichosis), Coccidioides immitis
(causes coccidioidomycosis) and Blastomyces dermatitidis (causes blastomycosis)
Lichens
•A combination of 2 organisms ( an alga or cyanobacterium) and fungus-living
together in such a close relationship that they appear to be one organism. Close
relationships of this type are referred to as symbiotic relationships and these
organism are called symbionts.
•Lichen represents a particular type of symbiotic relationship known as mutualism-a
relationship in which both parties benefit
•Alga or cyanobacterium in a lichen is sometimes referred to as the photobiont
(photosynthetic partner in the relationship) and the fungus is referred to as the
mycobiont.
•There are about 20,000 different species of lichens,they may be gray,brown, black,
orange, various shades of green and other colors, depending on the specific
combination of alga and fungus
•Foliose lichens are leaflike, whereas crustose lichens appear as a crust on the rock or
tree trunk surface. Other lichens may be shrubby ( fruticose lichens)or gelatinous.
•Lichens are protists. They are not associated with human disease, but some
substances produced by lichens have been shown to have antibacterial properties
Slime Moulds
•Are found in soil and on rotting logs, have both fungal and protozoal characteristics
•Some slime moulds (cellular slime moulds)start out in life as independent amebae,
ingesting bacteria and fungi by phagocytosis. When they run out of food, they fuse together
to form a motile, multicellular form known as a slug which is only about 0.5 mm. long.
•The slug then becomes a fruiting body, consisting of a stalk and a spore cap. Spores
produced within the spore cap becomes disseminated and from each spore emerges an
ameba
•Plasmodial or acellular slime moulds produce stalks and spores
•Some taxonomists classify slime moulds as fungi, whereas others classify them as protists.
They are not known to cause human disease
END OF SLIDE
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