BACTERIA

• ARCHAEBACTERIA • EUBACTERIA
– Introns in DNA – Includes most bacteria
– Lack peptidogycan in – Most have one of
cell walls three shapes
– Live in extreme – May be divided into up
environments to 12 phyla
– Classification is
controversial
 TYPES OF
ARCHAEBACTERIA
Methanogens
living in sewage

Thermoacidophilies
Living in hot springs

Extreme halophile
living in the Great Salt Lake
BASIC SHAPES OF EUBACTERIA

ROD-SHAPED

SPHERICAL SPIRILLA
Most Species of Eubacteria may be
Grouped Based on Staining
• Gram-Negative • Gram-Positive
– Lack thicker layer of – Thicker layer of
peptidoglycan peptidogycan
– Stain purple
– Stain pink
– Exotoxins (released
– Endotoxins when bacteria die)
Gram-positive
Gram- negative
 Nutrition and Growth
• Saprophtes ex: decomposers
• Photoautotrophs ex: blue-green algae
• Obligate anaerobes ex: tetanus
• Facultative anaerobes ex: E.Coli
• Obligate aerobes ex: tuberculosis
• Thermophilic bacteria

Most bacteria grow at at neutral pH but some grow

best at a pH of 6 or lower
– Bacteria that produce yogurt and sour cream
 E. coli
• E. coli is the lab rat of the bacterial
world.
• E. coli is a normal resident of the
large intestine in healthy people. It is
a type of probiotic organism because
it crowds out disease causing
bacteria. E. coli also makes vitamin
K which humans require to be
healthy.
• Although it is generally a good
microbe, some strains make people
sick. The toxic strains of this microbe
are responsible for about half of all
cases of traveler's diarrhea. One
famous strain, O157:H7, has caused
disease in people who eat uncooked
hamburger.
 Thermophiles

• These bacteria feed an animal that cannot eat.

The relatives of this microbe make life possible
deep beneath the ocean near volcanic vents.
This particular microbe lives inside and feeds tall
white worms sporting red, feathery caps, that
live at the dark bottom of the sea.
• The microbes and the worm depend upon each
other for survival in what is called a symbiotic
relationship.
 Sewage Sludge
• Sewage is home to many
microbes. Many of these microbes
are the main workers in cleaning
up sewage sludge. They eat the
sludge and release carbon dioxide
gas,water and trace minerals.
These weird, coiled-shaped
microbes live with other microbes
in a culture from sewage sludge.
• The bacterium shown above is
unusual because it is coiled. No
on knows why they grow in coils.
 Serratia marscescens
• This common microbe is
found in soil, water, on
plants and in animals.
• Most microbiologists are
all too familiar with
Serratia marscescens,
one of the most frequent
contaminants of
Petri plates in the lab.
This same organism also
grows on bread and
communion wafers which
have been stored in a
damp place.
 Bacillus cereus
• Bacillus cereus is a Gram positive, aerobic, spore-
forming, rod-shaped bacterium. Like many bacteria, B.
cereus is both a friend and a foe of humans. Sometimes
it behaves as a friend in that it is used as a form of
biocontrol to help us get rid of unwanted pests. For
example, B. cereus deters certain fungi from rotting
seedling plants.
• B. cereus can also be a serious foe when it causes food
poisoning.
 CYANOBACTERIA
BLUE-GREEN ALGAE
 Genetic Recombination
Transformation - Bacteria take in DNA
from its external environment.

Transduction – a virus obtains

DNA from host bacteris

Conjugation
Conjugation of E. coli
 Antibiotics
• Antibiotics are drugs that combat bacteria
by interfering with cellular functions
– Penicillin – interferes with cell wall production
– Tetracycline – interferes with protein
production
– Sulfa drugs – produced in the laboratory
– Broad-spectrum antibiotics will affect a wide
variety of organisms
 Penicillin
• This amazing fungus produces
the famous antibiotic,
penicillin. In 1928. Alexander
Fleming observed that a mold
called Penicillium notatum
produced a substance, later
known as penicillin, that killed
bacteria in its presence. This
antibiotic was the first of many
to be found and used to treat
infections.
This fungus makes antibiotics and
• Interferes with cell wall
cheese. Other varieties of the fungus production.
produce blue cheese and Roquefort
cheeses.