MY HAND WRITTEN NOTES

**THESE NOTES IS BASED SOLEY ON PREVIOUS YEAR PAPER

ANALYSIS & NCERT BASED ONLY.**

THE BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION

MINOR SUB TOPIC: INTRODUCTION
1. Aristotle = first to attempt a more scientific basis for
classification.
2. Aristotle = used simple morphological characters to classify
plants into trees, shrubs and herbs.
3. Aristotle = also divided animals into two groups, those which
had red blood and those that did not.
4. 2 kingdom system = animal kingdom & plant kingdom
5. TABLE 2.1 Characteristics of the Five Kingdoms.
6. R.H. Whittaker (1969) = proposed a Five Kingdom
Classification.
7. 5 kingdom system = Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae and
Animalia.
8. R.H. Whittaker classification:
 Cell structure
 body organisation
 mode of nutrition
 reproduction
 phylogenetic relationships(based on evolutionary
relationships)
9. The three-domain system has also been proposed that
divides the Kingdom Monera into two domains, leaving the
remaining eukaryotic kingdoms in the third domain and
thereby a six kingdom classification.
10. Fungi cell wall = chitin & plants cell wall = cellulose.
11. Kingdom Protista having cell wall examples are =
Chlamydomonas, Chlorella & having no cell wall examples
are = Paramoecium and Amoeba.

MEANING:
 PROKARYOTIC = having cells that lacks membrane bound
nuclei.
 EUKARYOTIC = having cells with membrane bound nuclei.

MAJOR SUB TOPIC: KINGDOM MONERA

12. Bacteria = only members of kingdom Monera.
13. Bacteria = occur everywhere.
14. Bacteria = live in extreme habitats such as hot springs,
deserts, snow and deep oceans.
15. Bacteria are grouped under four categories based on their
shape: the spherical Coccus (pl.: cocci), the rod-shaped
Bacillus (pl.: bacilli), the comma-shaped Vibrium (pl.: vibrio)
and the spiral Spirillum (pl.: spirilla).
16. The bacteria structure is very simple but they are very
complex in behaviour.
17. Most of the bacteria are heterotrophic in nature.
Archaebacteria:
18. Archaebacteria = live in the most harsh habitat such as:
 extreme salty areas (halophiles)
 hot springs (thermoacidophiles)
 Marshy areas (methanogens).
19. Archaebacteria differ from other bacteria in having
different cell wall structure and this feature is responsible for
their survival in extreme conditions.
20. Methanogens are present in the gut of several ruminant
animals such as cows and buffaloes and they are responsible
for the production of methane (biogas) from the dung of these
animals.

Eubacteria:
21. Eubacteria = True Bacteria.
22. Features :
 presence of a rigid cell wall.
 if motile, a flagellum.
23. Example:
 Cyanobacteria = Blue Green Algae (BGA), have
(chlorophyll a) similar to green plants and are
photosynthetic autotrophs.
24. Cyanobacteria = (unicellular, colonial, filamentous) &&
fresh water or marine or terrestrial algae.
25. The colonies of cyanobacteria are surrounded by
gelatinous sheath.
26. Cyanobacteria form blooms in polluted water bodies.
27. Cyanobacteria can fix atmospheric nitrogen in specialised
cells called heterocysts, e.g., Nostoc and Anabaena.
28. Eubacteria = Chemosynthetic autotrophs & Heterotrophic
bacteria.
29. Eubacteria = play a great role in recycling nutrients like
nitrogen, phosphorous, iron and sulphur.

30. Heterotrophic bacteria:

 helps in making curd from milk
 production of antibiotics
 fixing nitrogen in legume roots, etc.
31. Causes :
 Cholera, typhoid, tetanus, citrus canker
32. Bacteria reproduce mainly by fission && under unfavourable
conditions, they produce spores.
33. Bacteria also reproduce by sexual reproduction by adopting
a primitive type of DNA transfer from one bacterium to the
other.
34. Example:
 Mycoplasma = completely lack a cell wall.
 Mycoplasma = are the smallest living cells known and
can survive without oxygen.
 Mycoplasma = are pathogenic in animals and plants.
**IMPORTANT FIGURES:
FIGURE (2.1; 2.2&2.3)
MAJOR SUB TOPIC: KINGDOM PROTISTA
35. All single-celled eukaryotes are placed under Protista.
36. The boundaries of kingdom protista are not well defined.
37. Examples:
 Chrysophytes
 Dinoflagellates
 Euglenoids
 Slime moulds
 Protozoans
38. Protista = Aquatic organisms.
39. Being eukaryotes, the protistan cell body contains a well-
defined nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles.
40. Some Protista organisms have flagella or cilia.
41. Protists reproduce asexually and sexually by a process
involving cell fusion and zygote formation.

Chrysophytes:
42. Examples:
 Diatoms
 Golden algae(desmids)
43. Chrysophytes are found in fresh water as well as in marine
environments.
44. Chrysophytes are microscopic and float passively in water
currents (plankton).
45. Chrysophytes = photosynthetic (mostly).
46. In diatoms the cell walls form two thin overlapping shells,
which fit together as in a soap box.
47. The walls are embedded with silica and thus the walls are
indestructible.
48. Diatoms have left behind large amount of cell wall deposits
in their habitat; this accumulation over billions of years is
referred to as ‘diatomaceous earth’.
49. Being gritty(means coarse grained) the diatomaceous
earth soil is used in polishing, filtration of oils and syrups.
50. Diatoms are the chief ‘producers’ in the oceans.

Dinoflagellates:
51. Dinoflagellates = mostly marine and photosynthetic
52. Dinoflagellates appear yellow, green, brown, blue or red
depending on the main pigments present in their cells.
53. The cell wall of Dinoflagellates has stiff cellulose plates on
the outer surface.
54. Most of dinoflagellates have two flagella; one lies
longitudinally and the other transversely in a furrow between
the wall plates.
55. Red dinoflagellates (Example: Gonyaulax) undergo such
rapid multiplication that they make the sea appear red (red
tides).
56. Toxins released by red dinoflagellates in such large numbers
may even kill other marine animals such as fishes.

Euglenoids:
57. Majority of the euglenoids are fresh water organisms found
in stagnant water.
58. Instead of a cell wall, the euglenoids have a protein rich
layer called pellicle which makes their body flexible.
59. The euglenoids have two flagella, a short and a long one.
60. The euglenoids are photosynthetic in the presence of
sunlight, when deprived of sunlight they behave like
heterotrophs by predating on other smaller organisms.
61. The pigments of euglenoids are identical to those present in
higher plants.
62. Examples: Euglena

Slime Moulds:
63. Slime moulds = are saprophytic protists.
64. Under suitable conditions, slime moulds form an
aggregation called plasmodium which may grow and spread
over several feet.
65. During unfavourable conditions, the plasmodium
differentiates and forms fruiting bodies bearing spores at their
tips.
66. The spores possess true walls.
67. The spores are extremely resistant and survive for many
years, even under adverse conditions.
68. The spores are dispersed by air currents.

Protozoans:
69. All protozoans are heterotrophs and live as predators or
parasites.
70. The protozoans are believed to be primitive relatives of
animals.
71. There are four major groups of protozoans:
 Amoeboid protozoans:
*These organisms live in fresh
water, sea water or moist soil.
*They move and capture their prey by putting out
pseudopodia (false feet) as in Amoeba.
* Marine forms have silica shells on their surface. Some of
them such as Entamoeba are parasites.
 Flagellated protozoans:
* The members of this group are either free-living
or parasitic.
* They have flagella.
* The parasitic forms cause diseases such
as sleeping sickness.
* Example: Trypanosoma.
 Ciliated protozoans:
* These are aquatic, actively moving organisms because
of the presence of thousands of cilia.
* They have a cavity (gullet) that opens
to the outside of the cell surface.
* The coordinated movement of rows of
cilia cause the water laden (filled) with food to be steered
(guided) into the gullet.
* Example: Paramoecium
 Sporozoans:
* This includes diverse organisms that have an infectious
spore-like stage in their life cycle.
* The most notorious is Plasmodium (malarial parasite)
which causes malaria, a disease which has a staggering
effect on human population.
MAJOR SUB TOPIC: KINGDOM FUNGI
72. The fungi constitute a heterotrophic organism.
73. Examples:
 Mushrooms
 Toadstools
74. White spots seen on mustard leaves are due to a parasitic
fungus.
75. Some unicellular fungi, e.g., yeast are used to make bread
and beer.
76. Other fungi cause diseases in plants like wheat rust-causing
Puccinia.
77. Some Fungi are the source of antibiotics, e.g., Penicillium.
78. Fungi are cosmopolitan and occur in air, water, soil and on
animals and plants.
79. Fungi prefer to grow in warm and humid places.
80. With the exception of yeasts which are unicellular, fungi are
filamentous.
81. Fungi bodies consist of long, slender thread-like structures
called hyphae.
82. The network of hyphae is known as mycelium.
83. Some hyphae are continuous tubes filled with
multinucleated cytoplasm – these are called coenocytic hyphae.
84. Others have septae or cross walls in their hyphae.
85. The cell walls of fungi are composed of chitin and
polysaccharides.
86. Most fungi are heterotrophic and absorb soluble organic
matter from dead substrates and hence are called saprophytes.
87. Those that depend on living plants and animals are called
parasites.
88. Fungi can also live as symbionts – in association with algae
as lichens and with roots of higher plants as mycorrhiza.
89. Reproduction in fungi can take place by vegetative means
fragmentation, fission and budding.
90. Asexual reproduction is by spores called conidia or
sporangiospores or zoospores.
91. sexual reproduction is by oospores, ascospores and
basidiospores.
92. The various spores are produced in distinct structures called
fruiting bodies.
93. The sexual cycle involves the following three steps:
(i) Fusion of protoplasms between two motile or non-motile
gametes called plasmogamy.
(ii) Fusion of two nuclei called karyogamy.
(iii) Meiosis in zygote resulting in haploid spores.
94. When a fungus reproduces sexually, two haploid hyphae of
compatible mating types come together and fuse. In some fungi
the fusion of two haploid cells immediately results in diploid
cells (2n).
95. In other fungi (ascomycetes and basidiomycetes), an
intervening dikaryotic stage (n + n, i.e., two nuclei per cell)
occurs; such a condition is called a dikaryon and the phase is
called dikaryophase of fungus.
96. Later, the parental nuclei fuse and the cells become diploid.
97. The fungi form fruiting bodies in which reduction division
occurs, leading to formation of haploid spores.
Phycomycetes:
98. Members of phycomycetes are found in:
 aquatic habitats
 On decaying wood in moist
 Damp places or as obligate parasites on plants.
99. The mycelium is aseptate and coenocytic.
100. Asexual reproduction takes place by zoospores (motile) or
by aplanospores (non-motile).
101. These spores are endogenously produced in sporangium.
102. zygospore is formed by fusion of two gametes. These
gametes are similar in morphology (isogamous) or dissimilar
(anisogamous or oogamous).
103. Some common examples are :
 Mucor (Figure 2.5a),
 Rhizopus (the breadmould mentioned earlier)
 Albugo (the parasitic fungi on mustard).

Ascomycetes:
104. Commonly known as sac-fungi
105. The ascomycetes are mostly multicellular
106. Examples:
 Penicillium,
 Rarely unicellular, e.g., yeast (Saccharomyces).
107. They are saprophytic, decomposers, parasitic or
coprophilous (growing on dung).
108. Mycelium is branched and septate.
109. The asexual spores are conidia produced exogenously on the
special mycelium called conidiophores.
110. Conidia on germination produce mycelium.
111. Sexual spores are called ascospores which are produced
endogenously in sac like asci (singular ascus).
112. These asci are arranged in different types of fruiting bodies
called ascocarps.
113. Some examples are:
 Aspergillus (Figure 2.5b)
 Claviceps
 Neurospora.
114. Neurospora is used extensively in biochemical and genetic
work.
115. Many members like morels and truffles are edible and are
considered delicacies.

Basidiomycetes:
116. Commonly known forms of basidiomycetes are mushrooms,
bracket fungi or puffballs.
117. They grow in soil, on logs and tree stumps and in living plant
bodies as parasites, e.g., rusts and smuts.
118. The mycelium is branched and septate.
119. The asexual spores are generally not found, but vegetative
reproduction by fragmentation is common.
120. The sex organs are absent, but plasmogamy is brought about
by fusion of two vegetative or somatic cells of different strains
or genotypes.
121. The resultant structure is dikaryotic which ultimately gives
rise to basidium.
122. Karyogamy and meiosis take place in the basidium
producing four basidiospores.
123. The basidiospores are exogenously produced on the
basidium (pl.: basidia).
124. The basidia are arranged in fruiting bodies called
basidiocarps.
125. Some common members are:
 Agaricus (mushroom) (Figure 2.5c)
 Ustilago (smut)
 Puccinia (rust fungus).
Deuteromycetes:
126. Commonly known as imperfect fungi because only the
asexual or vegetative phases of these fungi are known.
127. The deuteromycetes reproduce only by asexual spores
known as conidia.
128. The mycelium is septate and branched.
129. Some members are saprophytes or parasites while a large
number of them are decomposers of litter and help in mineral
cycling.
130. Examples:
 Alternaria
 Colletotrichum
 Trichoderma.

MINOR SUB TOPIC: KINGDOM PLANTAE

131. A few members are partially heterotrophic such as the
insectivorous plants or parasites.
132. Bladderwort and Venus fly trap are examples of
insectivorous plants.
133. Cuscuta is a parasite.
134. Cell wall mainly made of cellulose.
135. Life cycle of plants has two distinct phases – the diploid
sporophytic and the haploid gametophytic – that alternate with
each other. The lengths of the haploid and diploid phases, and
whether these phases are free living or dependent on others,
vary among different groups in plants. This phenomenon is
called alternation of generation.
MINOR SUB TOPIC: KINGDOM ANIMALIA
136. Their mode of nutrition is holozoic – by ingestion of food.

MAJOR SUB TOPIC: VIRUSES, VIROIDS, PRIONS AND

LICHENS
137. The viruses are non-cellular organisms that are
characterised by having an inert crystalline structure outside
the living cell.
138. Once the virus infects a cell they take over the machinery of
the host cell to replicate themselves, killing the host.
139. The name virus that means venom or poisonous fluid was
given by Pasteur. D.J. Ivanowsky (1892) recognised certain
microbes as causal organism of the mosaic disease of tobacco
(Figure 2.6a).
140. Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) was found to be smaller than
bacteria because they passed through bacteria-proof filters.
141. M.W. Beijerinek (1898) demonstrated that the extract of the
infected plants of tobacco could cause infection in healthy
plants and called the fluid as Contagium vivum fluidum
(infectious living fluid).
142. W.M. Stanley (1935) showed that viruses could be
crystallised and crystals consist largely of proteins. They are
inert outside their specific host cell.
143. Viruses are obligate parasites.
144. In addition to proteins, viruses also contain genetic material
that could be either RNA or DNA.
145. No virus contains both RNA and DNA.
146. A virus is a nucleoprotein and the genetic material is
infectious.
147. In general, viruses that infect plants have single stranded
RNA and viruses that infect animals have either single or
double stranded RNA or double stranded DNA.
148. Bacterial viruses or bacteriophages (viruses that infect the
bacteria) are usually double stranded DNA viruses (Figure
2.6b).
149. The protein coat called capsid made of small subunits called
capsomeres protects the nucleic acid.
150. These capsomeres are arranged in helical or polyhedral
geometric forms.
151. Viruses cause diseases like mumps, small pox, herpes and
influenza.
152. AIDS in humans is also caused by a virus.
153. In plants, the symptoms can be
 mosaic formation
 leaf rolling
 curling
 yellowing
 vein clearing
 dwarfing
 stunted growth.

Viroids:
154. In 1971, T.O. Diener discovered a new infectious agent.
155. Viroids = are smaller than viruses.
156. Viroids causes = potato spindle tuber disease.
157. Viroids = was found to be a free RNA
158. Viroids = lacked the protein coat that is found in viruses
159. The RNA of the viroid was of low molecular weight.
Prions:
160. In modern medicine certain infections neurological diseases
were found to be transmitted by an agent consisted of
abnormally folded protein.
161. The Prions was similar in size to viruses.
162. Prions causes = bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
163. BSE disease is also called mad cow disease in cattle.
164. BSE analogous variant Cr–Jacob disease (CJD) in humans.

Lichens:
165. Lichens are symbiotic associations i.e. mutually useful
associations, between algae and fungi.
166. The algal component is known as phycobiont = which are
autotrophic.
167. The fungal component as mycobiont = which are
heterotrophic.
168. Algae prepare food for fungi and fungi provide shelter and
absorb mineral nutrients and water for its partner.
169. Lichens are very good pollution indicators – they do not
grow in polluted areas.
 SUMMARY
170. Biological classification of plants and animals was first
proposed by = Aristotle on the basis of simple morphological
characters.
171. Linnaeus = classified all living organisms into two kingdoms
– Plantae and Animalia.
172. Whittaker proposed = an elaborate five kingdom
classification – Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia.
173. The main criteria of the five kingdom classification were:
 cell structure
 body organisation
 mode of nutrition
 reproduction
 Phylogenetic relationships.
174. In the five kingdom classification, bacteria are included in
Kingdom Monera. Bacteria = are cosmopolitan in distribution.