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Notes Class-8-Ch-1-Living
world and
Classification of
Microbes
MSBSHSE - General Science-
2020-21

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 Class-8-Ch-1-Living world and Classification of Microbes

Topics to be learn :

 Biodiversity and need of classification

 Whittaker’s 5 kingdom classification system
 Classification of microbes

The hierarchy for classification :

 Kingdom.
 Phylum.
 Class.
 Family.
 Genus and species.

Carl Linnaeus invented ‘binomial system’ of nomenclature.

The levels of hierarchy considered while writing the name in binomial nomenclature,
are genus and species. The genus is written by the first word and the species is shown
by the second word.

Biodiversity and need of classification :

 All the living organisms residing on the earth have adapted to their surroundings
according to geographic regions, food ingestion, defense, etc. This causes
variations among them. Even the organisms belonging to the same species also
show differences.
 About 87 million species of living organisms are seen on the land and seas on
the Earth (Ref. 2011 Census).
 For studying their characteristics in a systematic way, they are divided into
different groups.
 This division is based on the similarities and the differences among the different
living beings.
 Thus all the plants and animals are subdivided into groups and subgroups.

This process of placing them in different groups is called biological classification.

History :

1) Carl Linnaeus (1735) : Kingdom-2,

 Method : Vegetabilia and Animalia

2) Haeckel (1866) : Kingdom-3,

 Method : Protista, Plants and Animals

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3) Chatton (1925) : Kingdom-2,

 Method : Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes

4) Kopland (1938) : Kingdom-4,

 Method : Monera, Protista, Plants and Animals

5) Robert Whittaker (1969) : Kingdom-5,

 Method : Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plants and Animals

Whittaker’s criteria used for classification :

1-Complexity of cell structure - Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic

2-Complexity of organisms - Unicellular or Multicellular

3-Mode of nutrition –

 Plants - Autotrophic — Photosynthetic Fungi - Saprophytic - (Absorption from

dead and decaying matter.)
 Animals — Heterotrophic (Consumers )

4-Lifestyle :

 Producers – Plants
 Consumers — Animals
 Decomposers — Fungi

5-Phylogenetic relationship:

 Prokaryotic to Eukaryotic.
 Unicellular to multicellular.

Kingdom Characteristics:

1) Monera :

 All are unicellular.

 Either autotrophic or heterotrophic.
 Prokaryotic cell structure without distinct nucleus and cell organelles.

Example : Bacteria Clostridium titani, Vibrio choleri, Treponema pallidum,

Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium botulinum, Legionella
pneumoniae, Salmonella typhi.

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2) Protista :

 Unicellular organisms with nucleus enclosed in a nuclear membrane

 Pseudopodia or cilia or flagella for locomotion.
 Autotrophs possess chloroplast.

Example : Euglena, Volvox, Amoeba, Paramoecium, Plasmodium, etc.

3) Fungi :

 Non-green, eukaryotic, heterotrophic organisms.

 Saprotrophs, feeding upon decaying organic matter.
 Cell wall made up of complex sugar, ‘Chitin’.
 Thread like body with many nuclei.

Example : Different types of fungi. Baker’s yeast, Aspergillus (Fungus on corn),

Penicillium, Mushrooms.

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Merits of Whittaker’s classification:

 It is the most widely accepted system of classification as it considers the

phylogenetic placing of different groups of living
organisms.
 Separation of Monera (Prokaryotes) as an independent kingdom is justified as
they differ from all other organisms in cellular, genetic, reproductive and
physiological organization.
 Unicellular eukaryotes are the intermediate forms of prokaryotes and
eukaryotes. They have characteristics of both plants and animals. Separation of
unicellular eukaryotes into kingdom Protista is one of the highlight of this
system of classification.
 Kingdom Animalia became more homogenous due to separation of protozoans.
 Earlier classification systems included bacteria, blue green algae, fungi, mosses,
ferns, gymnosperms and the angiosperms under plants. The common
characteristic that unified the entire kingdom was the presence of cell wall.
Green plants have cellulosic cell wall whereas fungi have chitin in their cell walls
and they lack chloroplast. When such characteristics were considered, fungi
were separated into kingdom Fungi.
 It has tried to establish phylogenetic relationships even amongst the primitive
forms.

Demerits of Whittaker’s Classification:

 Kingdoms Monera and Protista are still heterogenous as both include autotrophic
and heterotrophic forms. They also include organisms with or without cell wall,
unicellular and filamentous forms.
 Phylogeny in lower organisms is not fully reflected.
 Acellular organisms like viruses have not been placed in this system of
classification.
 Differentiation between unicellular and multicellular algae is not possible in this
system of classification.

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Among the living organisms, microorganisms are largest in number. Hence
they are classified as follows.

Classification & Characteristics of Microbes:

1. Bacteria :

 These organisms are unicellular and may be free-living, parasitic, or may exist
in some other forms. Sometimes many bacteria together form colonies.

 Bacteria are prokaryotic with cell wall, but lack distinct nucleus or other
membrane bound cell organelles.
 Bacteria grow vigorously in favorable conditions. Bacteria like E. coli can divide
every 20 minutes.
 These bacteria occur in different shapes – spherical (coccus), rod-shaped
(bacillus), spiral (spirillum), comma-shaped (vibrio), intermediate between
spherical and rodshaped (cocco-bacillus).

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  The size of bacterial cell ranges from 1 μm to 10 μm.
 Reproduction is by simple binary fission.

2. Protozoa :

 Protozoans are unicellular eukaryotes.

 They are found in soil, fresh-water and sea water. Some of them are found in
the body of other organisms and are pathogenic.
 A great variation is seen amongst these organisms with respect to structure of
cell, organs of locomotion and modes of nutrition.
 Protozoans can reproduce sexually and asexually. (size - approximately 200
mm)

e.g. Amoeba, Paramoecium, Entamoeba histolytica, Euglena, Plasmodium, etc.

3.Fungi :

 These are found on decaying organic matter and dead bodies of plants and
animals.
 These are eukaryotic organisms. Some are unicellular and others are visible with
naked eyes.
 Saprotrophic, absorb their food from decaying organic matter.
 They reproduce sexually and asexually by cell division or by budding.

Eg. Baker's yeast, Candida, Mushroom. (size- approximately 10 mm to 100 mm)

4. Algae :

 They are aquatic.

 Eukaryotic, unicellular, autotrophic organisms.
 Photosynthesis is carried out with the help of chloroplast present in the cell.

Eg. Chlorella, Chlamydomonas (size- approximately 10 mm to 100 mm)

very few species of algae are unicellular. Most of them are multicellular and visible
with naked eyes.

5. Viruses-

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  Viruses are said to be the organisms at the edge of living and non-living.
Generally viruses are not considered as living organisms.
 Sizes of viruses ranges from approximately 10nm to 100nm. They can be seen
only with an electron microscope. Viruses are 10 to 100 times smaller than
bacteria.
 Viruses are independent particles made up of a long molecule of DNA (Deoxyribo
Nucleic Acid) or RNA (Ribonucleic acid) covered by a protein coat.
 Viruses infect only living plant or animal cells and produce their own proteins
with the help of host cell and replicate inside the host cell. After this, they
destroy the host cell and further infect new cells.
 Viruses cause many diseases to plants and animals.

e.g. In plants − Tomato spotted wilt virus, Tobacco mosaic virus; In humans − Polio
virus, Influenza virus, HIV; In cattle- Picornavirus; In bacteria − Bacteriophages.

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