1.

2 BACTERIA
 INTRODUCTION
• Bacteria are prokaryotes
• They come in many shapes and sizes
• Are found practically everywhere on earth and live in some of the
most unusual and seemingly inhospitable places.
• Can be found virtually everywhere
• In the air, the soil, and water, and in and on plants and animals,
including us
• The human mouth is home to more than 500 species of bacteria.
• Extremophiles - extreme habitats; nearly-boiling hot springs to
super-chilled antarctic lakes buried under sheets of ice
 OVERVIEW

• Importance - extreme flexibility, capacity for rapid growth and reproduction

• Often maligned as the causes of human and animal disease
• However, certain bacteria, the actinomycetes, produce antibiotics such as
streptomycin
• Others live symbiotically in the guts of animals (including humans) or elsewhere
in their bodies
• Bacteria put the tang in yogurt and the sour in sourdough bread
• Bacteria help to break down dead organic matter; bacteria make up the base
of the food web in many environments
 SIZE OF BACTERIA

• Vary from 10 micronmeter in diameter at the largest

• End of the scale to 20 nanometers in length at the smallest.
 WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE?
BACTERIA STRUCTURE (MORPHOLOGY)
 CELL ENVELOPE

The cell envelope is made up of two to three layers:

• The interior cytoplasmic membrane
• The cell wall,
• An outer capsule in some species of bacteria.
 GRAM STAINING
• Gram-positive - retain a purple color when stained with a dye known as
crystal violet
• Gram-negative - bacteria do not stain purple with crystal violet

CELL WALL Helps to anchor appendages like the pilus (pili) and flagella
 CAPSULE

• The capsule are made of extracellular polymers composed of

polysaccharides and in some cases proteins.
• They are made mainly to protect itself from dehydration and
being engulfed by bigger micro-organisms.
• It is a fairly impermeable structure with dyes like india ink not
holding colour.
 CYTOPLASM

• Cytoplasm is the internal “soup” of the cell that is bounded on the

outside by the cell envelope.
• It is the location where the functions for cell growth, metabolism, and
replication are carried out
• It is a gel-like matrix composed of water, enzymes, nutrients, wastes, and
gases and contains cell structures such as ribosomes, a chromosome, and
plasmids
 RIBOSOMES

• Translate the genetic code from the molecular language of

nucleic acid to that of amino acids -- the building blocks of
proteins
• Roughly spherical.
• With a diameter of ~20 nm, they can be seen only with the
electron microscope.
 FLAGELLA

• Flagella (singular, flagellum) are hairlike

structures that provide a means of
locomotion.
• Beat in a propeller-like motion to help the
bacterium move toward nutrients; away from
toxic chemicals
• They are made of a cellular protein called
flagellin. These structures help in detecting
nearby organisms and also help in
A - Monotrichous
locomotion. B - Lophotrichous
C - Amphitrichous
• Flagella have different numbers and D - Peritrichous
arrangements:
 PILI, FIMBRAE AND FLAGELLA

Pili are fibrous structures made of pilin protein which are used for the
exchange of genetic material between bacterial cells. These are usually called
sex pili as they help in the conjugation process of bacteria by transferring
genetic information. They also help in the adhesion of two bacterial cells by
forming a fibrous thin tube structure.

The fimbriae are a shorter version of pili. They are small appendages like
structures present on the surface of the cell wall of many gram-negative
bacteria. Their size ranges from 3 to 10 nanometers. Fimbriae help bacteria to
attach to animals' skin or each other. The attachment occurs through adhesins
produced by fimbriae.
 NUCLEOID

• The nucleoid (meaning nucleus-like) is an irregularly-shaped

region within the cell of a prokaryote that contains all or
most of the genetic material -the chromosomal DNA is
located
• It is not a membrane bound nucleus
SHAPES OF BACTERIA
 1. THE COCCUS

• Spherical or oval
bacteria having one of
several distinct
arrangements
• Is about 0.5-1.0
micrometer (µm) in
diameter.
2. THE ROD
OR BACILLUS
• Are rod-shaped
bacteria
• Bacilli all divide in one
plane producing a
bacillus,
streptobacillus, or
coccobacillus
arrangement
• 0.5-1.0 µm wide by
1.0-4.0 µm long.
3. THE SPIRAL

• Come in one of three forms,

a vibrio, a spirillum, or a
spirochete
• From 1 µm to over 100 µm
in length
DO BACTERIA ACTUALLY HAVE COLORS?
• Some bacteria do have natural colors
• Certain species contain pigments, such as various chlorophylls, that make
them naturally green, yellow, orange, or brown
• Many of the vividly colored images however, have been color enhanced
or stained with dyes Please find other
examples of bacteria
capable of producing
pigments
 TWO DIFFERENT WAYS OF
GROUPING BACTERIA.
• BASED ON THEIR RESPONSE TO GASEOUS OXYGEN.
• HOW THEY OBTAIN THEIR ENERGY
 Aerobic require oxygen for their health and
bacteria existence and will die without it.

Bacteria
Anaerobic group : Facultative
bacteria response to anaerobes
O2

can't tolerate gaseous oxygen at all and prefer oxygen, but can live without it.
die when exposed to it.

Microaerohilic
bacteria

• require least concentration (2-10%) of oxygen to survive

 BACTERIA ARE GROUPED BASED ON
HOW THEY OBTAIN THEIR ENERGY

Heterotrophs • Bacteria that have to consume and break

down complex organic compounds

• Bacteria that create their own energy,

Autotrophs fueled by light or through chemical
reactions
 BACTERIAL REPRODUCTION
Bacteria reproduce primarily by binary fission, an asexual process whereby a
single cell divides into two. Under ideal conditions some bacterial species may
divide every 10–15 minutes—a doubling of the population at these time intervals