CHAPTER 8: CHARACTERIZING AND CLASSIFYING  Prominent members are thermophiles and

PROKARYOTES halophiles
 Thermophiles
General Characteristics of Prokaryotic Organisms  DNA, RNA, cytoplasmic membranes, and
Prokaryotes proteins do not function properly below
45ºC
 Most numerous and diverse group of cellular  Hyperthermophiles – require
microbes temperatures over 80ºC
 Thrive in various habitats  Two representative genera
 Only a few are capable of colonizing humans and  Geogemma
causing disease  Pyrodictium
 Thermophilic enzymes are used for
Endospores
research and industrial applications
 Produced by Gram-positive Bacteria Bacillus and  Recombinant DNA technologies
Clostridium  Additives in laundry detergents
 Each vegetative cell transforms into one  Halophiles
endospore  Inhabit extremely saline habitats
 Each endospore germinates to form one  Depend on greater than 9% NaCl to
vegetative cell maintain integrity of cell walls
 Defensive strategy against unfavorable conditions  May contain red or orange pigments
 Endospores are often difficult to kill  May protect from sunlight
 Concern to food processors, health care  Most studied – Halobacterium salinarium
professionals, and governments  Halobacterium salinarium
 Most studied halophile
Reproduction of Prokaryotic Cells  Photoheterotroph
 All reproduce asexually - Lacks photosynthetic
 Several different methods pigments
 Binary fission (most common) - Uses
 Snapping division bacteriorhodopsins to
 Reproductive spores establish proton
gradient
 Budding
 Viviparity Methanogens
 Epulopiscium and its relatives have unique
method of reproduction  Largest group of archaea
 Live offspring emerge from the body of  Convert carbon dioxide, hydrogen gas, and
the dead mother cell (viviparity) organic acids to
 First noted case of viviparous behavior in  methane gas
prokaryotic world  Convert organic wastes in pond, lake, and ocean
sediments to methane
Arrangements of Prokaryotic Cells  Some live in colons of animals
 One of primary sources of environmental
 Result from two aspects of division during binary methane
fission  Produced ~10 trillion tons of methane buried on
 Planes in which cells divide ocean floor
 Separation of daughter cells  Digest sludge during sewage treatment
Modern Prokaryotic Classification Survey of Bacteria
 Currently based on genetic relatedness of rRNA Deeply Branching and Phototrophic Bacteria
sequences
 Three domains  Deeply branching bacteria
 Archaea  Scientists believe these organisms are
 Bacteria similar to earliest bacteria
 Eukarya  Autotrophic
 Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology  Live in habitats similar to those thought to
exist on early Earth
provides prokaryotic classification scheme  Aquifex
Survey of Archaea  Considered to represent earliest
branch of bacteria
 Common features  Deinococcus
 Lack true peptidoglycan  Has outer membrane similar to
 Cell membrane lipids have branched Gram-negatives but stains Gram-
hydrocarbon chains positive
 AUG codon codes for methionine  Phototrophic bacteria
 Two phyla: Crenarchaeota, Euryarchaeota  Phototrophs that contain photosynthetic
 Reproduce by binary fission, budding, or lamellae
fragmentation  Autotrophic
 Are cocci, bacilli, spirals, or pleomorphic  Divided into five groups based on
 Not known to cause disease pigments and source of electrons for
photosynthesis
Extremophiles  Blue-green bacteria
 Require extreme conditions to survive (cyanobacteria)
 Green sulfur bacteria
 Temperature, pH, and/or salinity
 Green nonsulfur bacteria
  Purple sulfur bacteria  Some species are pathogens of animals and
 Purple nonsulfur bacteria humans
 Actinomycetes
Low G + C Gram-Positive Bacteria  Form branching filaments resembling fungi
 G + C content below 50%  Cause disease primarily in
 Have similar 16S rRNA sequences immunocompromised patients
 Classified in phylum Firmicutes  Important genera include Actinomyces,
 Rod-shaped, obligate anaerobes Nocardia, Streptomyces
 Clostridia  Actinomyces
 Rod-shaped, obligate anaerobes  Normally present in oral cavity
 Important in medicine and industry and throats of humans
 Produce toxins that cause  Nocardia
diseases in humans  Soil- and water-dwelling aerobes
 Endospores survive harsh  Can degrade a variety of
conditions pollutants
 Related microbes include Epulopiscium,  Streptomyces
sulfate-reducing microbes, and  Recycles nutrients in the soil
Selenomonas  Produces most of the important
 Mycoplasmas antibiotics
 Facultative or obligate anaerobes
Gram-Negative Proteobacteria
 Lack cell walls
 Smallest free-living cells  Largest and most diverse group of bacteria
 Colonize mucous membranes of the  Five classes of proteobacteria
respiratory and urinary tracts of animals  Alphaproteobacteria
 Other low G + C bacilli and cocci  Betaproteobacteria
 Bacillus  Gammaproteobacteria
 Endospore-forming aerobes and  Deltaproteobacteria
facultative anaerobes  Epsilonproteobacteria
 Many common in soil  Alphaproteobacteria
 Bacillus thuringiensis toxin is  Alphaproteobacteria
used by farmers and gardeners  Often capable of growing at low nutrient levels
as an insecticide  Some species have extensions called
 Bacillus anthracis causes anthrax prosthecae
 Other species synthesize  Used for attachment and nutrient
antibiotics absorption
 Listeria  Nitrogen fixers
 Contaminates milk and meat  Two general important to agriculture
products - Grow in association
 Capable of reproducing under
with the roots of
refrigeration
plants
 Survives inside phagocytic white
- Azospirillum-
blood cells
produces chemicals
 Rarely causes disease in adults
that aid in nutrient
 In pregnant women, can kill the
uptake
fetus if crosses the placenta
- Rhizobium-
 Lactobacillus
produces ammonia,
 Grows in the human mouth,
which aids in plant
stomach, intestinal tract, and
growth
vagina
- Rhodopseudomonas
 Rarely causes disease
palustris - reduces
 Inhibits the growth of pathogens
hydrogen to
within the body
hydrogen gas (H2)
 Used in the production of various
foods -Potential for use
 Streptococcus and Enterococcus as a biofuel
 Cause numerous diseases
 Various strains of multi-drug-resistant  Nitrifying bacteria
streptococci  Oxidation of nitrogenous compounds
 Staphylococcus provides electrons
 One of the most common inhabitants  Important in the environment and
of humans agriculture
 Produces toxins and enzymes that  Convert reduced nitrogenous
contribute to disease compounds into nitrate (nitrification)
 Nitrobacter
High G + C Gram-Positive Bacteria  Purple nonsulfur phototrophs
 Grow at the bottom of lakes and
 Corynebacterium
ponds
 Pleomorphic aerobes and facultative
 Use bacteriochlorophylls to harvest
anaerobes
light energy
 Produces metachromatic granules
 Do not generate oxygen during
 Mycobacterium photosynthesis
 Aerobic rods that sometimes form filaments
 Slow growth, partly due to mycolic acid in its
cell walls
  Pathogenic alphaproteobacteria  Use methane as a carbon and energy
 Rickettsia source
- Transmitted through  Inhabit anaerobic environments
bite of an arthropod  Digest methane within local
- Causes several environment before it can impact
human diseases climate
 Brucella  Glycolytic facultative anaerobes
- Causes brucellosis  Largest group of
- Survives gammaproteobacteria
phagocytosis by  Catabolize carbohydrates by
white blood cell glycolysis and the pentose phosphate
 Other alphaproteobacteria pathway
 Important in industry and the  Divided into three families
environment  Pseudomonads
 Acetobacter and Gluconobacter are  Break down numerous organic
used in vinegar production compounds
 Caulobacter inhabits nutrient-poor  Important pathogens of humans and
waters animals
 Agrobacterium plasmid useful for - Pseudomonas
genetic manipulation of plants causes infections of
 Betaproteobacteria the urinary tract, ear,
 Pathogenic betaproteobacteria and lung
 Neisseria  Azotobacter and Azomonas are
- Inhabits mucous nonpathogenic soil-dwelling
membranes of pseudomonads
mammals  Deltaproteobacteria
- Causes numerous  Desulfovibrio
diseases  Recycles sulfur in the environment
 Bordetella  Contributes to the corrosion of iron
- Causes pertussis pipes
 Burkholderia  Bdellovibrio
- Colonizes moist  Destroys other Gram-negative
environmental bacteria
surfaces and  Myxobacteria
respiratory passages  Produce differentiated reproductive
of cystic fibrosis structures
patients  Epsilonproteobacteria
 Other betaproteobacteria  Campylobacter
 Thiobacillus  Causes blood poisoning and intestinal
- Recycles sulfur in the inflammation
environment  Helicobacter
 Zoogloea  Causes ulcers
- Form flocs that assist Other Gram-Negative Bacteria
in the treatment of
sewage  Chlamydias
 Sphaerotilus  Grow intracellularly in mammals, birds, and
- Flocs impede flow of some invertebrates
waste in treatment  Some are smaller than viruses
plants  Most common sexually transmitted bacteria in
 Gammaproteobacteria the United States
 Largest and most diverse class of  Spirochetes
proteobacteria  Motile bacteria that move in a corkscrew
 Divided into subgroups motion
 Purple sulfur bacteria  Have diverse metabolism and habitats
 Intracellular pathogens  Treponema and Borrelia both cause disease
 Methane oxidizers in humans
 Glycolytic facultative anaerobes  Bacteroids
 Pseudomonads  Bacteroids
 Purple sulfur bacteria  Inhabits digestive tracts of humans
 Obligate anaerobes and animals
 Oxidize hydrogen sulfide to sulfur  Some species cause infections
 Found in sulfur-rich zones in lakes,  Cytophaga
bogs, and oceans  Aquatic, gliding bacteria
 Intracellular pathogens  Important in the degradation of raw
 Legionella sewage
- Causes Legionnaires'
disease
 Coxiella
- Causes Q fever
 Both pathogens survive within white
blood cells
 Methane oxidizers