DIVERSITY OF

MICROORGANISMS

Part I
Acellular and Prokaryotic
Microbes
 Acellular Infectious
Agents:
 Viruses
 Virions are complete viral particles
which are very small and simple in
structure.
 Size: 10 to 300nm, or can be up to
1um in length(Ebola virus)
 1940: 1st photographs of viruses after
the invention of electron microscopes
in 1930s
Acellular Infectious
Agents:Viruses
 Acellular Infectious
Agents:Viruses
 Viruses contain DNA or RNA
 A protein coat
 Some are enclosed by an envelope
 Some viruses have spikes
 Most viruses infect only specific types
of cells in one host
 Host range is determined by specific
host attachment sites and cellular
factors
 Acellular Infectious
Agents:Viruses
 Five specific properties that
distinguish viruses from living cells:
2. They possess either DNA or RNA
3. They are unable to replicate on their own
4. They do not divide by binary fission,
mitosis, or meiosis
5. They lack the genes and enzymes
necessary for energy production
6. They depend on the ribosomes, enzymes,
and metabolites of the host cell for protein
and nucleic acid production.
 Acellular Infectious
Agents:Viruses
 Viruses are classified by the
following characteristics:
2. Type of genetic material
3. Shape of the capsid
4. Number of capsomeres
5. Size of the capsid
6. Presence or absence of an envelop
7. Type of host that it infects
8. Type of disease it produces
9. Immunologic or antigenic properties
Acellular Infectious
Agents:Viruses
 Four categories of viruses based
on the type of nucleic acid they
possess:
2. Double-stranded RNA viruses
3. Single-stranded RNA viruses
4. Single-stranded DNA viruses
5. Double-stranded DNA viruses
 Bacteriophages
 Viruses that infect bacteria
 Obligate intracellular pathogens
 They may be:
4. Icosahedron: almost spherical shape
with 20 facets
5. Filamentous: long tubes formed into
helical structure
6. Complex: icosahedral heads attached
to helical tails.
Acellular Infectious
Agents:Viruses
Acellular Infectious
Agents:Viruses
 Virulent bacteriophages
 Cause the lytic cycle, which ends in the
destruction of the bacterial cell.
 The lytic cycle has 5 steps:
3. Attachment (adsorption)
4. Penetration
5. Biosynthesis
6. Assembly
7. Release
 Multiplication of Bacteriophages
(Lytic Cycle)
 Attachment Phage attaches by tail fibers to
host cell
 Penetration Phage lysozyme opens cell wall,

tail sheath contracts to force

tail
core and DNA into cell
 Biosynthesis Production of phage DNA
and proteins
 Maturation Assembly of phage particles
Temperate Bacteriophages
 Or lysogenic phages, do not
immediately initiate the lytic cycle,
but rather, the DNA remains
integrated into the bacterial cell
chromosome, generation after
generation.
Animal Viruses
 Viruses that infect humans and
animals
 Some maybe DNA viruses, while
others may be RNA viruses
 May be enveloped or may contain
enzymes that play a role in viral
multiplication of animal viruses.
Animal Viruses
 Double-stranded
DNA,
nonenveloped
viruses
 Mastadenovirus
 Respiratory
infections in
humans
 Tumors in animals
Animal Viruses
 Double-stranded
DNA,
nonenveloped
viruses
 Papillomavirus
(human wart
virus)
 Polyomavirus
 Cause tumors,
some cause
cancer
 Animal Viruses
 Orthopoxvirus
(vaccinia and
smallpox viruses)
 Molluscipoxvirus
 Smallpox, molluscum
contagiosum, cowpox
 Animal Viruses: (Double-stranded
DNA, nonenveloped viruses)
 Simplexvirus
 Varicellavirus
 Lymphocryptovirus
Cytomegalovirus
Roseolovirus
 Kaposi's sarcoma
 Some herpes viruses
can remain latent in
host cells
Animal Viruses
 Coronavirus  Hepadnavirus
 Upper respiratory (Hepatitis B virus)
infections  Use reverse
transcriptase to
produce DNA from
mRNA
Animal Viruses
 Enterovirus
 Enteroviruses
include poliovirus
and
coxsackievirus
 Rhinovirus
 Hepatitis A virus
Animal Viruses: Single-stranded
RNA, – strand, one RNA strand
 Vesiculovirus
 Lyssavirus (rabies
virus)
 Cause numerous
animal diseases
Animal Viruses: Single-stranded
RNA, – strand, one RNA strand
 Filovirus
 Enveloped, helical
viruses
 Ebola and
Marburg viruses
Animal Viruses:Single-stranded RNA
 Lentivirus (HIV)
 Oncogenic viruses
 Use reverse
transcriptase to
produce DNA from
viral genome
 Includes all RNA
tumor viruses
Animal Viruses: Double-stranded
RNA, nonenveloped
 Reovirus
(Respiratory
Enteric Orphan)
 Rotavirus
 Mild respiratory
infections and
gastroenteritis
 Colorado tick
fever
 Multiplication of Animal viruses
 Attachment Viruses attaches to cell
membrane
 Penetration By endocytosis or fusion
 Uncoating By viral or host enzymes
 Biosynthesis Production of nucleic acid and
proteins
 Maturation Nucleic acid and capsid
proteins assemble
 Release By budding (enveloped viruses)
or rupture
Multiplication of Animal viruses
Release of an enveloped virus by
budding
 Inclusion bodies
 Are remnants or collections of viruses
 Often seen in infected cells
 Used as diagnostic tool to identify
certain viral diseases
 Cytoplasmic inclusion bodies: rabies,
AIDS, and Guarnieri bodies of smallpox
 Intranuclear inclusion bodies: herpes and
poliomyelitis
 Latent Viral Infections
 Virus remains in asymptomatic host cell for
long periods
 Cold sores caused by herpes simplex virus, and
shingles which occurs in person who has had
chicken pox (varicella)
 Persistent Viral Infections
 Disease processes occurs over a long
period, generally fatal
 Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (measles
virus)
 Progressive encephalitis (Rubella virus)
 Cancer
 Activated oncogenes transform normal
cells into cancerous cells.
 Transformed cells have increased
growth, loss of contact inhibition,
tumor specific transplant and T
antigens.
 The genetic material of oncogenic
viruses becomes integrated into the
host cell's DNA.
Oncogenic viruses
 Oncogenic DNA  Oncogenic RNA
Viruses viruses
 Adenoviridae  Retroviridae
 Herpesviridae 
Viral RNA is
transcribed to DNA
 Poxviridae which can
 Papovaviridae integrate into host
DNA
 Hepadnaviridae
 Viroids
 Plant Viruses
 Plant viruses enter through wounds or via
insects
 Viroids
 Viroids are infectious RNA; potato spindle
tuber disease
Some Plant viruses
 Prions
 Infectious proteins that cause fatal
neurologic diseases in animals.
 Inherited and transmissible by ingestion,
transplant, & surgical instruments
 Spongiform encephalopathies: Sheep
scrapie, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease,
Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome,
fatal familial insomnia, mad cow disease
 PrPC, normal cellular prion protein, on cell
surface
 PrPSc, scrapie protein, accumulate in brain
cells forming plaques
The Domain Bacteria
 Characteristic 6. Biochemical and
s metabolic
activities
1. Cell Morphology 7. Specific enzymes
2. Staining that the organism
Reactions produces
3. Colony 8. Pathogenecity
morphology 9. Amino acid
4. Atmospheric sequencing of
requirements proteins
10.Genetic
5. Nutritional
1. Cell Morphology
 Size: 0.2um to 10um
 Shape:
3. Cocci – round or spherical
bacteria
4. Bacilli – rectangular or rod-
shaped bacteria
5. Spirilla – curved and spiral-
shaped bacteria
 Cocci may be:
2. Diplococci (in pairs)
3. Streptococci (chains)
4. Staphylococci (clusters)
5. Tetrads (packets of four)
6. Octads (packets of eight)
Ex. Enterococcus, Neisseria,
Staphylococcus, Streptococcus.
 Bacilli may be:
1. Single
2. Diplobacilli
3. Steptobacilli
4. Coccobacilli
Ex. Haemophilus
5. Pallisade
arrangement
Ex. Corynebacterium
diptheriae
 Examples of medically
important bacilli are
Enterobacteria  Bacillus cereus
-Shigella
- Escherichia
- Pseudomonas
- Klebsiella
- Bacillus
- Proteus
- Clostridium
- Salmonella
 Examples of curved and spiral-
shaped bacteria:
2. Vibrio cholerae
3. Campylobacter
4. Treponema
 Neisseria
 Cell-wall deficient (CWD) bacteria may
lose their cell walls because of adverse
growth conditions.
 Mycoplasma has no cell wall
 Pleomorphism is the ability to exist in a
variety of shapes because of the
absence of cell wall.
2. Staining Procedures
 Smearing
 Fixing
 Staining
 Used to observe cell morphology
 Simple stain
 Differential stain
 Gram stain
 Acid-fast stain
 A thin film of a solution of
microbes on a slide is a
smear.
 A smear is usually fixed to

attach the microbes to the

slide and to kill the microbes.
 Stains consist of a positive and
negative ion.
 In a basic dye, the chromophore is
a cation.
 In an acidic dye, the chromophore
is an anion.
 Staining the background instead of
the cell is called negative
staining.
Simple stains
 Use of a single basic dye is
called a simple stain.
 A mordant may be used to

hold the stain or coat the

specimen to enlarge it.
Differential Staining: Gram
Stain
 The Gram stain classifies bacteria
into gram-positive and gram-
negative.
 Gram-positive bacteria tend to
be killed by penicillin and
detergents.
 Gram-negative bacteria are
more resistant to antibiotics.
Primary stain: Color of Gram + cellsColor of
Gram – cells

Crystal violet Purple Purple

Mordant: Iodine Purple Purple

Decolorizing agent:
Alcohol-acetone Purple
Colorless

Counterstain:
Safranin Purple Red
Differential Stain: Gram
Staining
 Differential Stains: Acid-fast
Stain
 Cells that retain a basic
stain in the presence of
acid-alcohol are called
acid-fast.
 Non–acid-fast cells
lose the basic stain
when rinsed with acid-
alcohol, and are
usually counterstained
(with a different color
basic stain) to see
them.
 Negative staining is useful
for capsules.
 Heat is required to drive a

stain into endospores.

 Flagella staining requires a

mordant to make the flagella

wide enough to see.
 3. Motility
 The ability of the organism to move.
 Bacterial motility is associated with the
presence of flagella or axial filaments
 Some exhibit motility on secreted slime on
solid agar
 Most spiral-shaped bacteria and one half of
the bacilli are motile
 Cocci are generally non-motile
 Motility can be demonstrated by stabbing
organisms into a tube or by the hanging drop
technique.
 4. Colony Morphology
 Includes the size, color, overall shape,
elevation, and consistency of the colony
 The features of the colony serve as
important “clues” in the identification of
bacteria
 Size of the colony is determined by the
organisms’ rate of growth, and it is an
important characteristic of a bacteial species
 Bacterial colony is a mound or pile of
bacteria on an agar surface. It contains
 5. Atmospheric
Requirements
 It is useful to classify bacteria on the basis
of their relationship to oxygen and carbon
dioxide
 Bacterial isolate can be classified into one of

five major groups:

1.) Obligate aerobes – require an
atmosphere that contains molecular oxygen
in concentrations comparable to that in a
room air (20 -21 % oxygen). Ex.
Mycobacteria and certain fungi
2.) Microaerophilic aerobes – require lower
concentration (15% oxygen) than that found
in room air for multiplication. Ex. Neisseria
gonorrhea, Campylobacter species
3.) Obligate anaerobes – is an anaerobe that
only grows in anaerobic environment. It will
not grow in microaerophilic environment,
CO2 incubator, or in air.
4.)Aerotolerant anaerobe – does not require
O2, grows better in the absence of O2, but
can survive in atmosphere containing
molecular oxygen such as air or a CO2
incubator.
5.)Capnophiles – microbes that grow better in
increased concentration of CO2.
 6. Nutritional
Requirements
 All bacteria need some form of
elements such as C,H, O2, S, P, and N
for growth
 Special elements such as K, Ca, Mn,
Mg, Co, Cu, Zn, U are needed by certain
bacteria.
 Some have specific vitamin
requirements.
 Others need organic substances
 7. Biochemical and
Metabolic Activities
 Bacteria produce waste products and
secretions such as enzymes that enable
them to invade their host and cause disease.
 The pathogenic strains of many bacteria,
such as staph, and strep can be tentatively
identified by the enzymes they secrete.
 Some bacteria are characterized by the
production of certain gases such as CO2,
H2S, O2, and CH4
 Different types of culture media are used in
 8. Pathogenecity
 Disease-producing abilities of
pathogens
 Many pathogens are able to cause
disease because they have capsules
or endotoxins, or because they
secrete exotoxins and exoenzymes
that damage cells and tissues.
 It is tested by injecting the organism
into mice or cell cultures.
9. Amino Acid Sequencing
of Proteins
 Comparing amino-acid sequencing
of certain bacterial proteins
determines the species and its
relations to another bacteria.
 10. Genetic composition
 DNA is unique to each species
 Determining the degree or
relationship between two different
bacteria can be done by identifying or
hybridizing a sequence of bases in
portions of DNA or RNA
 Molecular diagnostic procedures are
tests to identify bacteria by analyzing
the organisms DNA or RNA
 Unique Bacteria
Rickettsias
 very small parasitic bacteria that live
and reproduce within eukaryotic
host’s cells
 Coccoid, rod-shaped, or pleomorphic
Gram-negative bacteria with a
bacterial-type cell wall
 Contain both DNA and RNA
 They are transmitted by arthropod
 Chlamydias

 Most primitive of all

bacteria because they
lack enzymes required
to perform many
metabolic activities,
particularly production
of ATP
 Transferred by direct
contact between hosts
 C. trachomatis causes
blindness
Mycoplasmas

 Smallest of the cellular microbes

 They assume many shapes, from
coccoid to filamentous because they
lack cell walls
 They are gram-negative and may be
free-living or parasitic and pathogenic
to animals and some plants
 They are resistant to treatment with
penicillin and other antibiotics
 Photosynthetic bacteria
 Purple bacteria and green bacteria do not produce
oxygen but they use light as source of energy
 Cyanobacteria produce oxygen
 They may create a “waterbloom”, “a pond scum”
which resembles thick layer of bluish-green oil
paint.
 They are able to convert N2 from the air to
ammonia in the soil.
 Some can produce toxins such as neurotoxins,
hepatoxins, and cytotoxins.
Different forms of
cyanobacteria
 Especially large and especially
small bacteria

 Largest: Thiomargarita namibensis

and Epulopiscium fishelsonii
 Nanobacteria have been found in
soil, minerals, ocean water, human
and animal blood, human dental
calculus, arterial plaque and even
rocks of extraterrestial origin
Especially large and especially
small bacteria
 Thiomargarita  Epulopiscium
Domain Archaea
 Discovered in 1977
 “Archae” means ancient
 There is a debate whether archae
evolved first than eubacteria.
 Many are ‘extremophiles”
 Others are methanogens
 END
Of
Diversity of Acellular and
Prokaryotic microbes
Quiz on August 19