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KINGDOM MONERA
Characteristics of Monera:
 All organisms are prokaryotic.
 They lack true nucleus and membrane bound organelles.
 Contain nucleoid/incipient nucleus (naked DNA)
 They have rigid cell wall.
 Nutrition may be autotrophic or heterotrophic.
 They are known as decomposers.
 Sexual reproduction is absent.
CLASSIFICATION OF MONERA

BACTERIA
Bacteria was first discovered by Anton van Leeuwenhoek. These are microscopic unicellular
prokaryotes.
General characters of bacteria:
 They are prokaryotic, unicellular organisms.
 They contain incipient nucleus.
 Membrane bound organelles are absent.
 Cell wall is made of Peptidoglycan.
 Ribosomes are 70s type.
 May be autotrophic or heterotrophic.
 Photosynthetic pigments: bacteriochlorophyll and chlorobium chlorophyll.
 Reserved food-Glycogen and lipids.
 Sexual reproduction absent.
 Gene recombination takes by conjugation, transformation or transduction.
Shape of bacterial cell:
A bacterial cell consists of following structures:

1. Slime layer: It is the outermost layer of mucilaginous sheath which helps to hold bacterial
cells together. It prevents dessication of the bacterial cells.
2. Cell Envelope - The cell envelope is made up of two to three layers: the interior cytoplasmic
membrane, the cell wall, and -- in some species of bacteria -- an outer capsule.
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Cell wall of bacterial cell is composed of peptidoglycan and polysaccharides. It gives shape to
the cell and protects cytoplasm from the environment.
Cell membrane lies beneath cell wall. It is semi-permeable membrane similar to eukaryotic
plasma membrane but they lack sterol.
Capsule is thick protective layer present outside the cell wall which protects bacteria from
phagocytosis (engulfing) by larger microorganisms. Capsule is alsoconsidered as factor of
virulence i.e. capsulated bacterias causes disease.
3. Cytoplasm - It is a gel-like matrix composed of water, enzymes, nutrients, wastes, and gases
and contains cell structures such as gas vacuoles, food reserves, ribosomes (70s type),
mesosomes, thylakoids, etc floating on cytoplasm. The membrane bound organelles are
absent in bacteria. Bacterial nucleus is in form of nucleoid (naked DNA). In addition to
chromosomal DNA, extrachromosomal DNA are present in bacteria called Plasmids. Plasmids
are made of a piece of circular DNA and they are involved in reproduction.
4. Flagella: They are fine protoplasmic threads composed of elastic protein named flagellin.
They are single stranded flagellums made of filament, hook and basal body.
5. Pilli: These are small hairlike projections emerging from the outside cell surface. These
outgrowths assist the bacteria in attaching to other cells and surfaces, such as teeth,
intestines, and rocks. Specialized pili are used for conjugation, during which two bacteria
exchange fragments of plasmid DNA.

Types of Bacteria:

1. On the basis of shape of cell

a) Cocci: The bacteria which are spherical in shape. They are of following types:
i) Monococci: The cocci that exsists singly.
ii) Diplococci: The cocci that exists in pair.
iii) Tetracocci: The cocci that exists in tetrad.
iv) Streptococci: The cocci that exists in chain.
v) Staphylococci: The cocci that exists in grape like cluster.
vi) Sarcinae: The cocci that exists in cubical shape.
b) Bacilli: The bacteria which are cylindrical or rod-shaped in structure. They are of
following types:
i) Bacilli: The bacilli that exist singly.
ii) Diplobacilli: The bacilli that exist in pair joining end to end.
iii) Streptobacilli: The bacilli that exists in chains.
iv) Palisade: The bacilli that exist in stacks.
c) Spirilla: The bacteria which are spirally coiled. They have two types:
i) Spirilla proper: They are long and coiled spirally many times.
Eg. Spirillum, Spirochaete, etc
ii) Vibrios: They show a single curve forming shape of comma eg.
Vibrio cholera
2. On the basis of flagellation:
a) Atrichous: The bacteria which do not possess flagella. Eg. Cocci
b) Monotrichous: The bacteria which possess single flagella at one end of the cell. Eg.
Vibrio cholera
c) Amphitrichous: The bacteria that possess one flagellum in each pole of the cell. Eg.
Bacilli
d) Cephalotrichous: The bacteria that posses a tuft of flagella at one end of cell. E.g.
Spirillum
e) Lophotrichous: The bacteria that posses group of flagella at both poles of cell. Eg.
Spirillum
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f) Peritrichous: The bacteria that posses flagella distributed over the entire cell surface.
E.g. Clostridium
3. On the basis of nutrition:
a) Autotrophic: The bacteria which can synthesize their own food by using inorganic
substances are known as autotrophic bacteria.
i) Photoautotrophic: The bacteria which are capable of synthesizing their own
food from inorganic substances using light as an energy source are
Photoautotrophic bacteria.
ii) Chemoautotrophic: The bacteria which get energy for synthesizing their food
from oxidation of inorganic substances are Chemoautotrophic bacteria. On the
basis of substances they oxidize to obtain the energy they are grouped as:
 Sulphur bacteria: oxidizes sulphur compounds and produce hydrogen
sulphide which produces smell of rotten egg. Eg. Thiobacillus,
Baggiatoa, etc
 Nitrifying bacteria: which oxidizes nitrogen compounds e.g.
Nitrosococcus, Nitrobacter, Nitrosomonas, Bactoderma, etc
 Iron bacteria: oxidizes ferric compounds e.g. Leptothrix, Cladothrix,
Ferobacillus, etc
 Hydrogen bacteria: oxidizes hydrogen. E.g. Hydrogenomonas
 Methane bacteria: oxidizes methane. e.g. Methanosomonas

b) Heterotrophic: The bacteria which can not synthesize their own food are known as
heterotrophic bacteria.

i) Saprophytic : The bacteria that feeds upon dead and decayed organic matters.
They are also called nature’s scavengers Eg. Pseudomonas
ii) Symbiotic: The bacteria that lives in mutual beneficial association with other
organisms and share the benefits. Eg. Frankia, Xanthomonas, Rhizobium,
Escherichia coli, etc
iii) Parasitic: The bacteria that live in contact to other organism for obtaining
organic compounds for their growth and break down the host’s connective
tissues, cellulose. These bacteria often infects hosts and causes diseases. Eg.
Clostridium tetani (causes titanus), Mycobacterium leprae (causes
leprosy),Salmonella typhi (causes typhoid), Vibrio cholera (causes Cholera), etc

Economic Importances of bacteria :

a) Importance in Agriculture
1. Nature’s scavenger: Saprophytic bacteria decomposes dead plant and animals and
elease raw materials for new generation.
2. Nitrification: Bacteria like Nitrosomonas and Nitrococcus converts ammonia to nitrates
that can be uptaken by plants.
3. Nitrogen fixation: The process of fixing atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia or other
nitrogenous compounds is known as Nitrogen fixation. Symbiotic bacteria like
Rhizobium, Frankia etc fixes atmospheric nitrogen and make it available to plants.
4. Manure: Saprophytic bacteria converts farm refuse, dung and organic waste into
manure.
5. Sewage disposal: Saprophytic bacteria also breaks down organic content of sewage and
helps in its disposal.

b) Importance in Industry
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1. Manufacturing Dairy products: Streptococcus lactis bacteria converts milk into curd,
yoghurt,, cheese, etc
2. Manufacturing organic compounds: Fermentation performed by bacteria produces
compounds like lactice acid (Lactobacilus), acetic acid (Acetobacter aceti), butyl
alcohol and acetone (Clostridium acetabutylicum), etc
3. Fibre retting: Fibre of plants is separated from other softer tisues by action ob
bacteria e.g. Pseudomonas, Clostridium, etc
4. Production of antibiotics: Number of antibiotics are obtained from mycelia bacteria
Streptomyces. Eg. Streptomycin, Chloramphenicol, Hamycin, Polymixin. Bacillus
bacteria produce Bacitracin, Gramicidin, etc
5. Vitamins: Bacteria produces different kinds of vitamins such as Riboflavin
(Closridium butylicum), Vitamin B12 (Bacilus megatherium), Vitamin K and B-complex
(Escherichia coli)
c) Negative effects of Bacteria:
1. Spoilage of food: Saprophytic bacteria causes rotting of vegetables, fruits, meat, bread,
etc
2. Food poisoning: Bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus cause food poisoning and causes
diarrhea and vomiting.
3. Deterioration of domestic articles: Spirochaete cytophaga deteriorates cotton, leather
and wooden articles.
4. Denitrification: Denitrifying bacteria such as Thiobacilus and Micrococcus convert
nitrate of soil to gaseous nitrogen.
5. Desulphurification: Desulfovibrio changes soil sulphates into hydrogen sulphide.
6. Disease: Over 90% of human diseases and over 10% of plant diseases are caused by
bacteria.

CYANOBACTERIA/BLUE GREEN ALGAE

General Characters of cyanobacteria:

1. They are photosynthetic prokaryotes.

2. They use water and evolve oxygen during photosynthesis.
3. Photosynthetic pigments- chlorophyll-a, caretenoid and phycobilins.
4. They lack flagella but can glide over gelatinous layer.
5. Sexual reproduction is absent.
6. Some cyanobacteria produce heterocysts which functions as site of nitrogen fixation.
7. Reserved food-Cyanophycean starch.
8. They are major primary producers of oceans and also fix atmospheric nitrogen.
9. Some common examples of cyanobacteria are: Nostoc, Oscillatoria, Anabaena, Chrococcus, etc

Economic importances of Nostoc:

1. Large colonies of Nostoc are edible.
2. They benefits plants by fixing atmospheric nitrogen.
3. They increase nitrogen content of their habitat.
4. They help in soil reclamation.