Classification of Bacteria

Survey of Clinically Relevant Bacteria

Modern Prokaryotic Classification

Eubacteria

Archeabacteria

Cyanobacteria

Thermophiles
We will not forget the Archaea
Have no cell nucleus or any other
membrane organelles within their
cells.

In the past they were viewed as an

unusual group of bacteria and named
archaebacteria but since the Archaea
have an independent evolutionary
history and show many differences in
their biochemistry from other forms
of life.

They are now classified as a separate

domain
Diversity of Bacteria
 Classification of Bacteria
 Classification – ordering

 Nomenclature – naming
 Often immortalizes the person
who discovered it or its origin
◦ Escherichia coli  Theodor
Escherich
◦ coli  from colon

 Distinguishing –identification
 Classification of Bacteria
 *Kingdom
 Phylum
 Class
 Order
 Family
 *Genus ( 1st name)
 *Species ( 2nd name identifier)

Remember: King Philip Came

Over For Good Spaghetti
Classification of Bacteria
 Morphology – shape, color,
gram specificity

 Metabolism

 Molecular techniques –
Forensics, DNA finger
prints, RNA, protein
analysis
1 Gram Negative Spiral Bacteria
 Slender and flexible, come in a
lot of different shapes

 More rigid than spirochetes

 Ex. – Campylobacter jejuni

◦ Symptom – tenesmus: the

sensation of desire to
defecate, which is common
and occurs frequently , with
out the production of
significant amounts of feces
(often small amounts of
mucous or blood are alone
passed).
2 Gram Negative Spirochetes
 pathogenic
 very flexible
 tightly coiled, helically coiled

 Example
◦ syphilis
Treponema pallidum
Gram Negative Spirochetes
 Most of pathogenic
 Very flexible
 Tightly coiled, helically coiled

 Example
◦ Lyme disease
Borrelia burgdorferi
(organism gets lodged in
tissues)
3 Gram Negative Aerobic Rods

◦ Legionella pneumophila
 Lower respiratory tract
infection
 Needs oxygen
Gram Negative Aerobic Rods

Bordetella pertussis –
whooping cough
 Needs oxygen
Gram Negative Aerobic Rods

◦ Pseudomonas aeruginosa
(pigmented)
 Needs moisture
 Common in hospitals
 Opportunistic pathogen –
causes UTI, skin, and lung
infection
4 Gram Negative Facultative Rods
Vibrio
◦ V. cholerae
 Most well known of group
 Very severe dysentery. Can lose
10-15 liters of water/day. Leads
to hypovolemia – low water, hardly
any water in body

◦ V. vulnificus
 Very pathogenic
 Can cause flesh eating disease,
if it gets in a wound

◦ V. parahaemolyticus
 Found in shellfish – oysters
 Halophile – loves salt (will find in oceans, estuaries)
 Self limiting
Gram Negative Facultative Rods
 Enteric
◦ Salmonella
◦ Shigella
◦ E. coli (0157H7)
5 Gram Negative Anaerobic Rods

 Fusobacterium
◦ Live in between teeth and
gums

◦ Cause tooth abscesses

and periodontal disease

◦ Teeth have nothing to

anchor – bone is
destroyed

 6 Gram Negative Cocci or Coccobaccilli
(plump rods)
Neisseria gonorrhoeae –

Usually a diplococcus in
PMN

Sexually Transmitted
Disease

very antibiotic resistant

Gram Negative Cocci or Coccobaccilli (plump
rods)
 Neisseria meningitidis
very infectious and
communicable.
Gram Negative Cocci or Coccobaccilli (plump
rods)
Acinetobacter baumanni iv.
lwoffi

opportunistic, UTI, skin,

and upper respiratory
 7 Chlamydia Gram Negative Rods (Transitional)
 Very short little rods
 Gram negative
 Transitional – doesn’t hold stain
well
 Do not have the ability to
synthesize own ATP, therefore and
obligate intracellular parasite of
other animals (humans)
 Can go asymptomatic for a long
time
 Ex.
◦ C. trachomatis – STD, causes eye
infection
◦ C. psittaci – parrot (associated
with birds)
8 Rickettsia Gram Negative Rod (Transitional)

 Small gram negative rods

 Transitional – doesn’t hold

stain well

 Can’t synthesize it’s own

NAD, coenzyme A, therefore
an obligate intracellular
parasite

 Causative agent of Rocky

Mountain Spotted Fever
 Example
◦ R. Prowazekii
9 Mycoplasma Gram Positive (Transitional )
 Gram positive – only because
they take in dye in cell
membrane but it washes away
 Transitional – doesn’t hold stain
well.
 Have no cell wall
 Can not treat with penicillin
 Ex.
◦ Mycoplasma pneumoniae – causes
LRTI
◦ Ureaplasma urealyticum – causes UTI
◦ Both imbed themselves in the tissue.
The most cell damage is done by
the immune system destroying the
tissue.
10 Gram Positive Cocci
Staphyloccocus aureus
MRSA

These bacteria can break

down all tissues of body.
Gram Positive Cocci

Streptococcus pyogenes –
no antibiotic resistance
right now

These bacteria can break

down all tissues of body.
11 Gram positive Endospore Forming Rods
 Difficult to get rid of
because of endospores

 Example
◦ Clostridium tetani
Gram positive Endospore Forming Rods
 Difficult to get rid of
because of endospores

 Example
 C. perfringens – gangrene
Gram positive Endospore Forming Rods
 Difficult to get rid of
because of endospores
 Common in hospitals
 Example
 C. difficile

antibiotic associated
pseudmembraneous
enterocolitis
Clostridium difficile
Gram positive Endospore Forming Rods
Bacillus
 B. anthracis – anthrax
 zoonosis
Gram positive Endospore Forming Rods
Bacillus
 B. cereus – food poising
Especially in high carb
foods – rice, vermicelli

 B. thuringiensis – natures
insecticide
 12 Coryneforms
 Pleomorphic (many shapes)
 Example

Corynebacterium diphtheriae
13 Mycobacteria
 Gram positive and Acid Fast
Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Respiratory Pathogen

MDR-TB

In the 1950s we sent people

with TB to the sanitariums
 Mycobacteria
 Gram positive and Acid Fast
◦ M. avium intracellular complex (MAC)
 Really bad bug
 Currently no drugs can cure it
 Especially bad for people with
AIDS
 Can cause atypical TB
Mycobacteria
 Gram positive and Acid Fast

◦ M. leprae
 Causative agent of leprosy
 Not very common
 Only affects areas of body
that are below body
temperature
 Natural reservoir is the
armadillo