Aristotle’s classification But they are widely differed in other characteristics.

- Aristotle was the earliest to attempt a more scientific basis It included the unicellular and the multicellular organisms
for classification of organisms. in same group. E.g. Chlamydomonas and Spirogyra were
- He classified plants to trees, shrubs & herbs and animals placed under algae.
into 2 groups- those with red blood & without red blood. It did not differentiate between the heterotrophic fungi and
Linnaeus’s Two-kingdom classification the autotrophic green plants. Fungi have chitinous cell wall
while the green plants have cellulosic cell wall.
- Linnaeus (1758) classified organisms into Two
Kingdoms- Kingdom Plantae & Kingdom Animalia. Five Kingdom Classification
Drawbacks of 2-kingdom classification: - It is proposed by R.H. Whittaker (1969).
Prokaryotes (Bacteria, cyanobacteria) and eukaryotes - It includes Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae & Animalia.
(fungi, mosses, ferns, gymnosperms & angiosperms) were - This is based on cell structure, thallus organization, mode
included under ‘Plants’ based on the presence of cell wall. of nutrition, reproduction and phylogenetic relationships.

Characteristics of the five kingdoms

Characters Monera Protista Fungi Plantae Animalia
Cell type Prokaryotic Eukaryotic Eukaryotic Eukaryotic Eukaryotic
Non-cellular
Present (Chitin & Present
Cell wall (polysaccharide + Present in some Absent
polysaccharides) (Cellulose)
amino acid)
Nuclear membrane Absent Present Present Present Present
Multicellular, Tissue/organ/
Body organisation Cellular Cellular Tissue/organ
loose tissue organ system
Autotrophic
(photosynthetic & Autotrophic Heterotrophic Heterotrophic
Autotrophic
Mode of nutrition chemosynthetic) and (photosynthetic) (saprophytic or (holozoic,
(photosynthetic)
heterotrophic and heterotrophic parasitic) saprophytic etc.)
(saprophyte/parasite)

1. KINGDOM MONERA (BACTERIA)

- Bacteria are the most abundant microorganisms. II. Eubacteria (‘true bacteria’)
- Hundreds of bacteria are present in a handful of soil. - They have a rigid cell wall and a flagellum (if motile).
- They also live in extreme habitats such as hot springs, - They include Autotrophs (photosynthetic and
deserts, snow & deep oceans. Many are parasites. chemosynthetic) and Heterotrophs.
- Based on shape, bacteria are 4 types: Coccus (Spherical),
a. Photosynthetic autotrophs (E.g. Cyanobacteria):
Bacillus (Rod-shaped), Vibrium (Comma-shaped) &
- They have chlorophyll a similar to green plants.
Spirillum (Spiral).
- Cyanobacteria (blue-green
algae) are unicellular,
colonial or filamentous,
marine or terrestrial algae.
- The colonies are generally
surrounded by gelatinous
- Some bacteria are autotrophic (synthesize food from sheath.
inorganic substrates). Majority are heterotrophs (they do - They often form blooms in
not synthesize food but depend on other organisms or on polluted water bodies.
dead organic matter for food). - Some of them fix
I. Archaebacteria atmospheric nitrogen in
- They live in harshest habitats such as extreme salty areas specialized cells (heterocysts). E.g., Nostoc & Anabaena.
(halophiles), hot springs (thermoacidophiles) and marshy b. Chemosynthetic autotrophs:
areas (methanogens). - They oxidize inorganic substances such as nitrates, nitrites
- Archaebacteria have a different cell wall structure for their & ammonia and use the released energy for ATP production.
survival in extreme conditions. - They help in recycling nutrients like nitrogen,
- Methanogens are present in the guts of ruminant animals phosphorous, iron and sulphur.
(cows, buffaloes etc). They produce methane (biogas) c. Heterotrophic bacteria:
from the dung of these animals. - They are the most abundant in nature.
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- The majority are important decomposers. • They also reproduce by a sort of sexual reproduction (DNA
Impacts of Heterotrophic bacteria on human affairs: transfer from one bacterium to other).
• They are used to make curd from milk.
• Production of antibiotics.
• Fixing nitrogen in legume roots etc.
• Some are pathogens causing diseases. E.g. Cholera,
typhoid, tetanus and citrus canker.
Reproduction in Bacteria: Mycoplasmas are organisms without a cell wall. They are the
• Bacteria reproduce mainly by fission. smallest living cells. They can survive without oxygen.
• Under unfavourable conditions, they produce spores. Many are pathogenic in animals and plants.

2. KINGDOM PROTISTA
- It includes single-celled eukaryotes. - They have two flagella, a short and a long one.
- The cell contains a well-defined nucleus and other - They are photosynthetic in the presence of sunlight. In the
membrane-bound organelles. Some have flagella or cilia. absence of sunlight, they behave like heterotrophs by
- Protists are primarily aquatic. predating on smaller organisms.
- It is a link with plants, animals and fungi. - The pigments are identical to those in higher plants.
- They reproduce asexually and sexually (cell fusion and - E.g. Euglena.
zygote formation).
IV. Slime Moulds
- Protista includes Chrysophytes, Dianoflagellates,
- They are saprophytic protists.
Euglenoids, Slime moulds and Protozoans.
- The body moves along decaying twigs and leaves engulfing
I. Chrysophytes organic material.
- Found in fresh water and marine environments. - Under suitable conditions, they form an aggregation called
- Microscopic and float passively in water currents (plankton). plasmodium. It may spread over several feet.
- Most of them are photosynthetic. - Under unfavourable conditions, plasmodium differentiates
- It includes diatoms & golden algae (desmids). and forms fruiting bodies bearing spores at their tips.
- Diatoms: They have siliceous cell walls forming two thin Spores have true walls. They are highly resistant and
overlapping shells, which fit together as in a soap box. The survive for many years. Spores are dispersed by air.
cell wall deposit of diatoms over billions of years in their
V. Protozoans
habitat is known as ‘diatomaceous earth’. This is used in
They are heterotrophs (predators or parasites).
polishing, filtration of oils and syrups.
They are the primitive relatives of animals.
- Diatoms are the chief ‘producers’ in the oceans.
There are 4 major groups of protozoans:
II. Dinoflagellates a. Amoeboid protozoans: They live in fresh water, sea
- Mostly marine and photosynthetic. water or moist soil. They move and capture prey by
- They appear yellow, green, brown, blue or red based on the putting out pseudopodia (false feet). E.g. Amoeba.
main pigments present in their cells. Marine forms have silica shells on their surface. Some of
- The cell wall has stiff cellulose plates on the outer surface. them are parasites. E.g. Entamoeba.
- Most of them have 2 flagella; one lies longitudinally and b. Flagellated protozoans: They are free-living or parasitic.
the other transversely in a furrow between the wall plates. They have flagella. The parasitic forms cause diseases
- Red dinoflagellates (E.g. Gonyaulax) undergo rapid like sleeping sickness. E.g. Trypanosoma.
multiplication so that the sea appears red (red tides). They c. Ciliated protozoans: They are aquatic, actively moving
release toxins that kill marine animals like fishes. organisms using thousands of cilia. They have a cavity
(gullet) that opens to outside. By the movement of cilia,
III. Euglenoids
the water with food enters gullet. E.g. Paramoecium.
- Mainly fresh water organisms found in stagnant water.
d. Sporozoans: They have an infectious spore-like stage in
- Instead of a cell wall, they have a protein rich layer called
their life cycle. E.g. Plasmodium (malarial parasite).
pellicle. It makes their body flexible.

3. KINGDOM FUNGI
- It is a unique kingdom of heterotrophic organisms. - Some unicellular fungi (e.g. yeast) are used to make bread
- Fungi are cosmopolitan. and beer.
- They grow in warm and humid places. - Other fungi cause diseases in plants and animals. E.g.
- E.g. mould on bread & rotten fruits, mushroom, toadstools. wheat rust-causing Puccinia.
- White spots on mustard leaves are due to a parasitic fungus. - Except yeasts, fungi are filamentous. Their bodies consist
- Some fungi are the source of antibiotics, e.g., Penicillium. of thread-like structures called hyphae.

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- The network of hyphae is known as mycelium. II. Ascomycetes (sac-fungi)
- Some hyphae are continuous tubes filled with - They are unicellular (e.g., yeast, Sacharomyces) or
multinucleated cytoplasm. These are called coenocytic multicellular (e.g., Penicillium).
hyphae. Others have septae or cross walls in hyphae. - Mycelium is branched and septate.
- Fungal cell wall is made of chitin & polysaccharides. - They are saprophytic, decomposers, parasitic or
- Most fungi are saprophytes (absorb soluble organic matter coprophilous (growing on dung).
from dead substrates). Some are parasites. - Asexual reproduction: By conidia produced exogenously
- Some live as symbionts. E.g. Lichens (fungi+ algae), on the special mycelium called conidiophores. Conidia
mycorrhiza (fungi + roots of higher plants). germinate to produce mycelium.
Reproduction: - Sexual reproduction: By ascospores produced
• Vegetative propagation: By fragmentation, fission & endogenously in sac like asci (sing. ascus). The asci are
budding. arranged to form fruiting bodies called ascocarps.
• Asexual reproduction: By spores such as conidia, - E.g. Aspergillus, Claviceps and Neurospora.
sporangiospores and zoospores. - Neurospora is used in biochemical and genetic work.
• Sexual reproduction: By oospores, ascospores and - Morels & truffles are edible.
basidiospores. They are produced in distinct structures
III. Basidiomycetes
called fruiting bodies.
- Includes mushrooms, bracket fungi or puffballs.
- The sexual cycle involves 3 steps: - They grow in soil, on logs and tree stumps and in living
a. Plasmogamy: Fusion of protoplasm between two plant bodies as parasites (e.g. rusts and smuts).
motile or non-motile gametes. - The mycelium is branched and septate.
b. Karyogamy: Fusion of two nuclei. - The asexual spores are generally not found, but vegetative
c. Meiosis in zygote to give haploid spores. reproduction by fragmentation is common.
- When a fungus reproduces sexually, two haploid hyphae - The sex organs are absent, but plasmogamy occurs by
of compatible mating types come together and fuse. fusion of two vegetative or somatic cells of different strains
- In some fungi, the fusion of two haploid cells immediately or genotypes. The resultant structure is dikaryotic which
results in diploid cells (2n). gives rise to basidium. Karyogamy and meiosis take place
- In ascomycetes and basidiomycetes, a dikaryotic stage or in basidium producing four basidiospores exogenously.
dikaryophase (n + n i.e. two nuclei per cell) occurs. Such Basidia are arranged in fruiting bodies (basidiocarps).
a condition is called a dikaryon. Later, parental nuclei fuse - E.g. Agaricus (mushroom), Ustilago (smut) and Puccinia
and the cells become diploid. (rust fungus).
- The fungi form fruiting bodies in which reduction division
IV. Deuteromycetes
occurs, leading to formation of haploid spores.
- Commonly known as imperfect fungi because only their
Based on morphology of mycelium, mode of spore formation asexual or vegetative phases are known.
& fruiting bodies, Fungi are classified into different classes: - When perfect (sexual) stages were discovered, they were
1. Phycomycetes 2. Ascomycetes often moved to the classes ascomycetes & basidiomycetes.
3. Basidiomycetes 4. Deuteromycetes - It is also possible that asexual and vegetative stage have
I. Phycomycetes (Lower Fungi) been given one name (and placed under deuteromycetes)
- They occur in aquatic habitats and on decaying wood in and the sexual stage another (and placed under another
moist and damp places or as obligate parasites on plants. class). When the linkages were established, the fungi were
- The mycelium is aseptate and coenocytic. correctly identified and moved out of deuteromycetes.
- Asexual reproduction: By motile zoospores or by non- - They reproduce only by asexual spores (conidia).
motile aplanospores. These are produced in sporangium. - The mycelium is septate and branched.
- Sexual reproduction: Zygospores are formed by fusion of - Some are saprophytes or parasites. Majority are
two gametes. These gametes are isogamous (similar in decomposers of litter and help in mineral cycling.
morphology) or anisogamous or oogamous (dissimilar). - E.g. Alternaria, Colletotrichum and Trichoderma.
- E.g. Mucor, Rhizopus (bread mould) and Albugo (parasitic
fungi on mustard).

4. KINGDOM PLANTAE (PLANT KINGDOM)

- Plants are eukaryotic chlorophyll-containing organisms - Life cycle of plants has 2 phases: Diploid sporophytic &
with cellulosic cell wall. haploid gametophytic. These phases alternate with each
- Some are partial heterotrophs (e.g. insectivorous plants like other. This is called alternation of generation.
bladderwort & Venus flytrap) or parasites (e.g. Cuscuta). - Among different plant groups, length of the haploid &
- Plantae includes algae, bryophytes, pteridophytes, diploid phases is varied. Also, these phases are free living
gymnosperms and angiosperms. or dependent on others.
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 5. KINGDOM ANIMALIA (ANIMAL KINGDOM)
- Animals are multicellular, heterotrophic, eukaryotic - They have a definite growth pattern and grow into adults
organisms without cell wall. that have a definite shape and size.
- They directly or indirectly depend on plants for food. - Higher forms show sensory and neuromotor mechanism.
- They digest their food in an internal cavity and store food - Most of them are capable of locomotion.
reserves as glycogen or fat. Their mode of nutrition is - The sexual reproduction is by copulation of male and
holozoic (by ingestion of food). female followed by embryological development.

VIRUSES, VIROIDS PRIONS AND LICHENS

- In the five-kingdom classification, acellular organisms
(viruses, viroids & prions) and lichens are not mentioned.
- Viruses are not truly ‘living’. So they are not included in
five-kingdom classification.
- Viruses are non-cellular organisms having an inert
crystalline structure outside the living cell.
- Viruses are obligate parasites.
- When they infect a cell, they take over the machinery of the
host cell to replicate themselves, killing the host.
- Louis Pasteur gave the name virus (means venom or - Viruses cause diseases like mumps, small pox, herpes,
poisonous fluid). influenza & AIDS. In plants, the symptoms can be mosaic
- D.J. Ivanowsky (1892) discovered virus. He recognized formation, leaf rolling and curling, yellowing and vein
certain microbes that cause mosaic disease of tobacco. clearing, dwarfing and stunted growth.
They were smaller than bacteria because they passed - Viroid: It is an infectious agent with a free low molecular
through bacteria-proof filters. weight RNA and no protein coat. These are smaller than
- M.W. Beijerinek (1898) demonstrated that the extract of viruses. It is discovered by T.O. Diener (1971). He found
the infected tobacco plants cause infection in healthy plants that it caused potato spindle tuber disease.
and called the fluid as Contagium vivum fluidum (infectious - Prions: These are abnormally folded protein that cause
living fluid). some infectious neurological diseases. These are similar in
- W.M. Stanley (1935) showed that viruses could be size to viruses. They cause bovine spongiform
crystallized and crystals consist largely of proteins. encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease in cattle and
- A virus is a nucleoprotein, i.e., it has a protein coat its analogous variant Cr-Jacob disease (CJD) in humans.
(capsid) & genetic material (RNA or DNA).
LICHENS
- The genetic material is infectious.
- No virus contains both RNA & DNA. - Lichens are symbiotic associations (mutually useful
- Generally, plant viruses have single stranded RNA. Animal associations) between algae & fungi.
viruses have either single or double stranded RNA or - The algal component is called phycobiont (autotrophic)
double stranded DNA. Bacteriophages (viruses that infect and fungal component is mycobiont (heterotrophic).
bacteria) usually have double stranded DNA. - Algae prepare food for fungi and fungi provide shelter and
- The capsid made of small subunits (capsomeres) protects absorb mineral nutrients and water for its partner.
nucleic acid. Capsomeres are arranged in helical or - Lichens are very good pollution indicators. They do not
polyhedral geometric forms. grow in polluted areas.

MODEL QUESTIONS
1. Based on the relationship, fill in the blanks.
a) Sac fungi: Ascomycetes Imperfect fungi: ................................
b) Ciliated Protozoans: Paramecium Flagellated Protozoans: ................................
c) Spherical shaped bacteria: …………… Rod shaped bacteria: Bacillus
2. Louis Pasteur named virus which means venom or poisonous fluid.
a. Who crystallized virus for the first time? b. Name one plant disease caused by virus.
3. Arrange the organisms given in brackets under two categories, prokaryotes and Eukaryotes.
(Rhizopus, Amoeba, Chlamydomonas, Nostoc, Bacteria, Yeast, Paramecium, Mycoplasma, Anabaena)
4. Select the odd man. Justify your answer.
a) Chrysophytes, Dinoflagellates, Mycoplasma, Euglenoids b) Oscillatoria, Spirulina, Ascomycete, Nostoc
c) Oospores, ascospores, zoospores, basidiospores
5. Differentiate between ascomycetes and basidiomycetes.
6. Viruses are not included in five-kingdom classification. Why?