HBIO 101

DIVERSITY OF LIFE 1
Prof DZ Moyo
 METABOLIC DIVERSITY IN THE
KINGDOM MONERA
• Monera notable for great abundance, diversity
and success in adapting to every conceivable
habitat
• Many forms of metabolism among bacteria
• Facultative anaerobes- capable of being either
anaerobic (live without oxygen) or aerobic (live
with oxygen)
• Obtain energy from fermentation when oxygen
not available and carryout respiration when it is
available
• Obligate anaerobes- survive in absence of
oxygen. Oxygen is toxic to them.
• E.g. Clostridium botulinum that causes food
poisoning in tinned foods.
• Obligate aerobes- unable to survive for
extended periods in the absence of oxygen
 Nutritional categories in the Kingdom
Monera
(a) Photoautotrophs - photosynthetic bacteria
• Use light as source of energy and carbon dioxide
as source of carbon
• Differ from one another in the type of
chlorophyll they possess.
• E.gs. Cyanobacteria performs photosynthesis
with chlorophyll a as the key pigment and
produces oxygen as by-product. Green sulphur
and purple bacteria do not have chlorophyll a
but have bacteriorhodospin. Neither produces
oxygen as by product of photosynthesis.
 Nutritional categories in the Kingdom
Monera cont’d
(b) Photoheterotrophs
• Use light as source of energy but must obtain
their carbon atoms from organic compounds
made by other organisms
• Use compounds such as carbohydrates, fatty
acids and alcohols as their organic food
• E.g. Purple non-sulfur bacteria
 Nutritional categories in the Kingdom
Monera cont’d
(c) Chemoheterotrophs
• Obtain both energy and carbon atoms from
one or more organic compounds
• Great majority of bacteria are
chemoheterotrophs
• In this category are found bacteria that are
parasites or decomposers
 Nutritional categories in the Kingdom
Monera cont’d
(d) Chemoautotrophs
• Obtain energy by oxidizing inorganic
substances, and use some of the energy to fix
carbon dioxide from inorganic compounds.
• E.gs nitrifiers which oxidize ammonia or nitrite
ions to form nitrate ions that are taken up by
plants
 Importance of bacteria
(a) Disease causing bacteria
• Cause disease in animals, man and plants
• Some of serious bacterial diseases in man
include tetanus, STIs such as gonorrhoea and
syphilis, cholera and meningitis
• In plants, bacteria cause leaf and fruit rots
resulting in crop losses
 Importance of bacteria
(b) Beneficial bacteria
• Nitrogen fixation – importance in agriculture
• Recycling of nutrients – decays dead
organisms thereby recycling materials such as
proteins into form usable by other living
organisms
• Some bacteria in the intestines synthesize
essential vitamins that are absorbed by the
body. Other bacteria aid in the breakdown of
Cellulose in cattle and termites.
• Importance in industrial processes- in the
production of acetic acid (vinegar), lactic acid
and vitamins
• Food industry – manufacture of yoghurt,
cheese and fermented milk
• Production of antibiotics – help in the control
of other bacteria
 VIRUSES
• Definition of virus- a sub-microscopic
infectious particle composed of a protein coat
and a nucleic acid
• Viruses like cells carry genetic information
encoded in their nucleic acid and can undergo
mutations and reproduce
• However, they cannot carryout metabolism
and cannot produce outside a host, and thus
are not considered alive.
 VIRUSES cont’d
• The first virus to be discovered in 1892 by
Ivanvsky, a Russian scientist, was the tobacco
mosaic virus (TMV) that infects tobacco plants
Why viruses are not placed under any
kingdom
• They are only rarely related to one another,
and have no common ancestor
• They did not evolve as a group, but rather
from many different prokaryote and eukaryote
cells
 Structure of viruses
• A virus alternates in its life cycle between two
phases, one outside the host (extracellular),
and the other inside the host (intracellular).
• In the extracellular phase, it exists as an inert,
infectious particle or viron
• In the intracellular phase, a viron exists in the
form of replicating nucleic acid
 Structure of a virus cont’d
• A virus contains a protein coat and a nucleic acid
core.
• The protein coat encloses the viral genome and is
called a capsid
• Capsid can be helical or complex in shape
depending on the type of virus. See given hand
outs.
• The nucleic acids of viruses may consist of a
double or single stranded DNA; double or single
stranded RNA.
• Viruses are therefore named according to the
type of nucleic acid that makes up the
genome.
• E.gs DNA or RNA virus. T4 bacteriophage is an
example of a DNA virus.
 Replication of viruses
• Cells of animals, plants, fungi, protists and
bacteria serve as hosts to viruses.
• The mode of replication of particular viruses
depends on their genetic constituent.
• In DNA and RNA viruses, the nucleic acid is
injected into the host cell with the protein coat
remaining outside. In retro-viruses, e.g. H.I.V. The
protein coat is shed inside the host cell. Once
inside the host cell the following things happen:
 Replication of viruses cont’d
• DNA virus- viral genome takes over the host
cell machinery
• Replication enzymes produced through
transcription and translation are used to
replicate copies of the virus
• New viruses are assembled inside the host cell
and the host cell bursts (lyses), releasing a
new generation of infective phages
 Replication of viruses cont’d
• RNA virus- in these viruses the transcription
step is unnecessary, but most viruses encode a
specialized enzyme called RNA replicase, to
catalyze replication of RNA.
• Through translation viral protein coats are
made
• As in DNA viruses, new RNA viruses are
assembled and are released from the host cell
by lysing it.
 Replication of viruses cont’d
• Retroviruses- these are an unusual kind of RNA
viruses
• Each retrovirus carries an enzyme, reverse
transcriptase that catalyses the formation of
cDNA copy of the viral RNA. This copy is then
incorporated into a chromosome of the host. The
host’s enzymes then take over and accomplish
replication, transcription and translation of the
viral genome.
• Retroviruses do not lyse their hosts but leave
enveloped in the host’s cell membrane.
 Virus related materials
• Viroids- these are naked pieces of RNA. They cause
diseases of plants such as potato spindle tuber disease.
Little is known about their replication.
• Prions- cause disease, but they are not viruses or
bacteria or fungi or parasites. They are simply proteins,
and proteins were never thought to be infectious on
their own. They are entirely protein and are
responsible for degenerative diseases of the CNS in
sheep and goats. Prions enter cells and apparently
convert normal proteins found within the cells into
prions just like themselves.
Viral diseases of animals and plants
• Viruses are of economic and medical importance
• Examples of viral diseases that attack man are
measles, chicken pox, influenza, poliomyelitis and
acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome (AIDS)
• Examples of viruses that attack plants are TMV
and maize streak virus. These viruses cause
yellowing in the plants and this damages them
and reduces crop yield.
 Reading list
• Campbell, N.A. (1987) Biology. The Benjamin
Cummins Publishing Co, Inc., California. 4th
Edition
• Gould, J.L. And Keeton, W.T. (1996) Biological
Sciences. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, New
York. 6th Edition
• Raven, P.R., Evert., R.F. And Curtis R. (1981)
Biology of Plants. Worth, New York.3rd Edition