Unit 3: Lesson 3
• Living things may be multicellular or
unicellular.
• Unicellular (one-celled) organisms are mostly
invisible to the naked eye.
• A microscope is needed for them to be
visible, and thus, they are referred to as
microscopic organisms or
MICROORGANISMS.
– micros = small
– organismos = organisms
• Also known as MICROBES
• Microbiology – field in biology that deals with the
study of microorganisms.
• Anton Van Leeuwenhoek – (1675) discovered
animalcules (little animals) in a drop of rainwater
using a microscope which he designed.
• Microbes are living organisms.
• They are very diverse.
• They come in different shapes and sizes
• They are found EVERYWHERE!
(rocks, plants, animals, soil, humans, air, food,
etc.)
• “Microbes can be found everywhere because
they are highly adaptable to extreme
environmental conditions.”
• They have the ability to reproduce in great
numbers since they can reproduce sexually and
asexually.
• Microorganisms include almost all the
prokaryotes and various forms of
eukaryotes.
• Some microbes can make us ill
• PATHOGENS- disease-causing microbes
• Some microbes are useful or even good for
us in order to survive.
• Others play a critical role in the nutrient
cycles in ecosystems.
Bacteria are simple, unicellular organisms.
They obtain nutrients from their environment.
Some species are free-living (saphotrophs) while others are
parasitic.
As they invade the body of the body of hoststs, they excrete
waste materials and various types of toxins so as to invade the
hosts’ tissues.
This picture shows the schematic diagram of a bacterium
(bacillus type) viewed under an electron microscope.
Bacterial cells have the following structural components:
1. CELL ENVELOPE – enclosed the contents of the cell
Three Layers
I. Cell wall – protects cell from damage and resist cell rupture
due to pressure
[Link] – a slimy layer or a biofilm deposited outside the
cell wall; protects the cell from drying; carbohydrate
reserve for future metabolism
[Link] Membrane – protective barrier of the cell’s
interior
Bacterial cells have the following structural components:
2. CYTOPLASM – the site where all metabolic reactions
occur and where some non membrane-bound organelles are
located, like:
[Link] – contains the DNA molecule that appears as
a large entangled loop located in the region of the cytoplasm
called the nucleoid
[Link] – organelles where protein synthesis occurs
[Link] storage granules and various forms of inclusions
Bacterial cells have the following structural
components:
3. APPENDAGES
[Link] – distributed over the surface of bacterial
cells form movement and surface attachment
[Link] or fimbriae – hair-like structures that function
for adherence of bacteria to surfaces.
Gram-positive bacteria – those that retain the purple crystal
violet stain when subjected to Gram-staining procedure.
Gram-negative bacteria – those that don’t retain the purple
crystal violet stain, thus, they are counterstained by safranin, a
dye that gives them reddish/pinkish.
• Such distinction can be observed when bacteria is subjected to a
Gram-staining process. It is attributes to the composition of the
bacterial cell wall. The cell wall is an important receptor site for
the attack of antibiotics and other drugs (for pathogenic
bacteria)
• Hans C.J. Gram – microbiologist; developed the Gram-stain
technique.
• Gram-negative bacteria are more resistant against antibodies because
of their multi-layered and impenetrable cell wall.
• The existence of these two strains is the basis used by physicians in
prescribing medicines to cure bacterial infections.
Microbiologists employ a wide variety of techniques
as they classify bacteria. Observing how they form a colony
as they grow in a pitri dish can identify some bacterial
species.
•Bacterial Colony – group of same kind of bacteria growing
together on a specific culture medium placed on a petri dish.
Various staining process as well as analysis of the
DNA structure of bacterial species are also used in
identifying them. However, the most basic method that
microbiologists used in identifying bacteria is to view them
under the microscope to identify their shapes, the cell
arrangement or groupings that they form, and other features,
like the number and arrangement of the flagella.
SPIRILLA (Singular: spirillum) are curved
(vibrio), twisted or spiral-shaped bacteria with fairly
rigid bodies.
•Many species of spirilla are flagellated and are capable
of movement.
•A group of spirilla known as spirochetes have helical
bodies that are long, slender, and flexible bacilli.
BACILLI (Singular: bacillus) are rod-shaped or cigar-
shaped bacteria.
•The length of the cell varies according to age and environmental
conditions.
•Bacilli, unlike the cocci bacteria have fewer groupings since they only
divide across their short axis.
•They only exist
• Singly
• DIPLOBACILLI (in pairs)
• STREPTOBACILLI (in chains)
•Escherichia coli and Bacillis megaterium are respectively examples of
single streptobacilli.
COCCI (Singular: coccus) are round bacterial cells.
•Cocci can exist
• singly
• DIPLOCOCCI (in pairs)
• TETRADS (four cells)
• SARCINAE (eight cells)
• STREPTOCOCCI (in chains)
• STAPHYLOCOCCI (in clusters like a bunch of grapes)
Arrangements of Cocci
