Prokaryotes

Everything
else

(Bacteria)
 Prokaryotic cells have a
variety of shapes
 The three most common of which are
spheres (cocci), rods (bacilli), and
spirals

1 µm 2 µm 5 µm
(a) Spherical (cocci) (b) Rod-shaped (bacilli) (c) Spiral
 Cell-Surface Structures
 One of the most important features
of nearly all prokaryotic cells
 Is their cell wall, which maintains cell
shape, provides physical protection,
and prevents the cell from bursting in a
hypotonic environment

24.2
 Using a technique
called the Gram stain
 Scientists can classify many bacterial
species into two groups based on cell wall
composition, Gram-positive and Gram- Lipopolysaccharide
negative Outer
Peptidoglycan membrane
Cell wall Cell wall
layer Peptidoglycan
layer
Plasma membrane Plasma membrane

Protein Protein

Gram- Gram-
positive negative
bacteria bacteria

Gram-positive. Gram-positive bacteria have
a cell wall with a large amount of peptidoglycan
that traps the violet dye in the cytoplasm. The
alcohol rinse does not remove the violet dye,
which masks the added red dye.
24.2/3
20 µm
Gram-negative. Gram-negative bacteria have less
peptidoglycan, and it is located in a layer between the
plasma membrane and an outer membrane. The
violet dye is easily rinsed from the cytoplasm, and the
cell appears pink or red after the red dye is added.
 The cell wall of many
prokaryotes
 Is covered by a capsule, a sticky layer
of polysaccharide or protein
200 nm

Capsule

24.1
 Some prokaryotes have
fimbriae and sex pili
 Fimbriae allow them to stick to their
substrate or other individuals in a colony
 Sex pili allow two bacteria to join and
exchange DNA during conjugation

Fimbriae

24.1 200 nm
 Motility
 Most motile bacteria propel themselves
by flagella
 Which are structurally and functionally
different from eukaryotic flagella
Flagellum

Filament

50 nm

Cell wall Hook

Basal apparatus

Plasma
membrane
24.1
 The typical prokaryotic
genome
 Is a ring of DNA that is not surrounded
by a membrane and that is located in a
nucleoid region
Chromosome

24.1 1 µm
 Many prokaryotes form
endospores
 Which can remain viable in harsh
conditions for centuries
Endospore

0.3 µm

24.1
 Major nutritional modes in
prokaryotes

24.4
 Prokaryotic metabolism
also varies with respect
to oxygen
 Three types of oxygen metabolism
 Obligate aerobes
 Require oxygen
 Facultative anaerobes
 Can survive with or without oxygen
 Obligate anaerobes
 Are poisoned by oxygen

24.5
 Protists

Single-celled Eukaryotes
(mostly)
Overview: A World in a Drop of Water
• Even a low-power microscope
– Can reveal an astonishing menagerie of
organisms in a drop of pond water

50 µm
Figure 28.1
 Protists, the most nutritionally diverse of
all eukaryotes, include
– Photoautotrophs, which contain chloroplasts
– Heterotrophs, which absorb organic molecules
or ingest larger food particles
– Mixotrophs, which combine photosynthesis
and heterotrophic nutrition

24.6 Chlorohyta phacus

Protist habitats are also
diverse in habitat
• And including freshwater and marine species
 There is now considerable
evidence

• That much of protist diversity has its

origins in endosymbiosis
Diversity of plastids produced by
secondary endosymbiosis
Objectives 24.7 and 24.8 will be covered in a class project
 Plasmodial Slime Molds
• Many species of plasmodial slime
molds
– Are brightly pigmented, usually yellow or
orange
4 cm

24.9
 At one point in the life cycle
– They form a mass called a plasmodium
3 The plasmodium erects
1 The feeding stage 2 The plasmodium
stalked fruiting bodies (sporangia)
is a multinucleate takes a weblike form. when conditions become harsh.
plasmodium that lives
on organic refuse.

Feeding Mature
plasmodium plasmodium
(preparing to fruit)
Zygote
(2n) Young
SYNGAMY sporangium

1 mm

Amoeboid cells Mature

(n) sporangium

Key
Germinating Spores MEIOSIS
(n) Haploid (n)
spore Diploid (2n)
Flagellated cells
(n) Stalk

7 The cells unite

in pairs (flagellated 6 These cells are 5 The resistant spores disperse
with flagellated either amoeboid or through the air to new locations 4 Within the bulbous
and amoeboid with flagellated; the two and germinate, becoming active tips of the sporangia,
amoeboid), forming
diploid zygotes.
forms readily convert
from one to the other.
haploid cells when conditions
are favorable.
meiosis produces haploid
spores.
24.9
 Cellular Slime Molds

• Cellular slime molds form multicellular

aggregates
– In which the cells remain separated by
their membranes

24.9
 • The life cycle of Dictyostelium, a cellular
slime mold
9 In a favorable 1 In the feeding 2 During sexual repro-
environment, amoebas stage of the life duction, two haploid
emerge from the spore cycle, solitary haploid amoebas fuse and
coats and begin feeding. amoebas engulf bacteria. form a zygote.
3 The zygote
8 Spores SYNGAMY becomes a giant
are released. cell (not shown)
7 Other by consuming
Emerging
cells crawl Zygote haploid amoebas.
Spores amoeba After developing a
up the stalk (2n)
(n) SEXUAL resistant wall, the
and develop
into spores. REPRODUCTION giant cell undergoes
Solitary amoebas meiosis followed by
600 µm MEIOSIS
(feeding stage) several mitotic
Amoebas divisions.
ASEXUAL
Fruiting REPRODUCTION 4 The resistant
bodies wall ruptures,
Aggregated releasing new
amoebas haploid amoebas.
5 When food is depleted,
Migrating hundreds of amoebas
aggregate congregate in response to a
chemical attractant and form
a sluglike aggregate (photo
6 The aggregate migrates for a below left). Aggregate
while and then stops. Some of the formation is the beginning
cells dry up after forming a stalk that of asexual reproduction.
supports an asexual fruiting body. Key
Haploid (n)
24.9 200 µm Diploid (2n)
Fun gi

Also pronounced “fun guy”

Mig hty Mu sh r ooms
Fungi
 Are diverse and widespread
 Are essential for the well-being of most
terrestrial ecosystems because they break
down organic material and recycle vital
nutrients
T he O rig in o f Fungi
 Molecular evidence
 Supports the hypothesis that fungi and animals diverged from a
common ancestor
 Fungi probably evolved
 Before the colonization of land by multicellular organisms
Fossi l Evi dence
 The oldest undisputed fossils of fungi
 Are only about 460 million years old
 Nu trit ion a nd Fungal
Lif est yle s
 Fungi are heterotrophs (consumers)
 But do not ingest their food
 Fungi secrete
 exoenzymes that break down complex
molecules and then they absorb the remaining
smaller compounds as nutrients.

24.10/11
 Fungi exhibit diverse lifestyles
 Decomposers
 Parasites
 Mutualistic symbionts

24.10/11
Ba sid io mycetes
 Decomposers
 Breakdown organic
(b) Maiden veil fungus (Dictyphora),
a fungus with an odor like rotting material using
meat
enzymes to obtain
nutrients
(a) Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria), a
common species in conifer forests in
the northern hemisphere

(d) Puffballs emitting spores

(c) Shelf fungi, important decomposers of wood 24.10-11

24.14
 Pathogens

 About 30% of known fungal species

 Are parasites, mostly on or in plants

24.10-11
24.14 (a) Corn smut on corn (b) Tar spot fungus on maple leaves (c) Ergots on rye
 Lic hens (m utu alis tic )
 Are a symbiotic association of millions of
photosynthetic microorganisms held in a
mass of fungal hyphae

(a) A fruticose (shrub-like) lichen

24.10-11
24.14 (b) A foliose (leaf-like) lichen (c) Crustose (crust-like) lichens
Bo dy St r uctu r e
 The morphology of multicellular fungi
 Enhances their ability to absorb nutrients
from their surroundings Reproductive structure.

The mushroom produces

tiny cells called spores.

Hyphae. The mushroom and its

subterranean mycelium are a continuous

network of hyphae.

Spore-producing

structures

20 µm

24.12
Mycelium
Fungi c onsist o f
 Mycelia, networks of branched hyphae
adapted for absorption
 Most fungi have cell walls made of chitin
(polysaccharide - also found in the exoskeleton of many insects and
arthropods)

24.12 Network of Hyphae

 Fungi p ropa ga te
themsel ves
 By producing vast numbers of spores, either sexually
or asexually
LIFE CYCLE

24.13
Many f ungi t ha t can
r epr oduce ase xuall y
 Grow as mold, sometimes on fruit, bread,
and other foods

Orange

2.5 µm

24.13/14
 Ot her ase xual f ungi ar e
yeasts
 That inhabit moist environments
 Which reproduce by simple cell division
10 µm

Parent cell

Bud

24.14
Fungus- Animal
Symb iosis
 Some fungi share their digestive services
with animals
 Helping break down plant material in the
guts of cows and other grazing mammals

24.14
 Pr actic al Use s o f
Fungi
 Humans eat many
fungi
 And use others to
make cheeses,
alcoholic Tuber melanosporum is a truffle, an ascocarp that grows

beverages, and underground and emits strong odors. These ascocarps

have been dug up and the middle one sliced open.

bread

The edible ascocarp of

Morchella esculenta, the
succulent morel, is often
24.15 found under trees in orchards.
 Antibiotics pr oduced by
fungi
 Treat bacterial infections

Staphylococcus
Penicillium

Zone of
inhibited
growth

24.15
Fair y Ri ngs
 Folklore holds that fairy rings are doors into the fairies'
world, transporting people to other places or making
people appear in the same place in a different time.

Extra Credit – write 1/2 page describing how fairy rings form