Of Living ThingsPart 2: A brief overview of the current

classification system through the 5 kingdoms

Kingdom Monera

•Otherwise known as Bacteria.

•All bacteria are single celled and are known as prokaryotes.

•They are the only kingdom that do not have a membrane bound nucleus.

•They have a cell wall.

•There are more than 5,000 different kinds of bacteria, and are thought to be the first living things on Earth more than 3500 million years ago.

•They can live successfully in areas where other living things cannot, such as in very salty places, or places without light.

•Only a few bacteria cause disease, many are a necessary part to life on earth as they can decompose dead matter.

•They consist of two main groups, Cyanobacteria and Eubacteria.

Kingdom Monera

Cyanobacteria Eubacteria

•Photosynthesizing bacteria

•Don’t have flagella or cilia

•Eg. Stromotolites

•‘True’ bacteria

•Detrivors/parasites

•Can cause disease but we can immunize or take preventative measures such as good hygiene to avoid them

•Used to make yogurt and cheeses

Kingdom Monera

Bacillus megabacterium live in soil and are large - as their name suggests! They excrete valuable chemicals into the soil. X7,400

Some flagellated bacteria. Their shape gives them the name bacilli

Circular bacteria are called cocci.

Kingdom Protista

•These organisms are composed of one or more eukaryotic cells.

•They lack the features, or have a mixture of features that make up plants, animals or fungi.

•They live in, around or near water.

•They can be divided into three main groups, Protozoa; Algae and Others. Zoologists once classified protozoa as animals and botanists once classed algae as plants.

•Animals may have evolved from protozoa and plant cells may have evolved from algae. The name ‘protozoa’ means ‘first animals’

Kingdom Protista

Protozoa Algae Others•Animal like (‘zoa’ means ‘zoo’)

•All single celled

•Some have flagella

•No cell wall

•No chloroplasts

•Some cause disease, but most are harmless

•Eg. Amoeba and paramecium

•Chloroplasts

•Can be autotroph or heterotroph

•No cell wall

•Eg. Euglena and slime molds

•Can have chloroplasts

•All have plastids

•Cell walls

•Eg. Spirogyra and phytoplankton

Protozoa

Paramecium is a single celled animal that moves through the water by waving its cilia. They live in lakes, oceans and rivers. x650

Kingdom Protista

Protozoa

Amoeba proteus

•moves via the extention and contraction of a pseudopod

•live in moist soil or watery environment

•up to 600µm in length

•single nucleus

•carnivore - feeds on bacteria and other protists by engulfing them

•not so common in nature, more popular in the lab!

Amoeba is engulfing its dinner

Pseudopods

Kingdom Protista

Algae

Spirogyra

•consists of fine hair like strands

•lives in quiet waters or shorelines

•chloroplasts for photosynthesis

•can reproduce sexually or asexually

Kingdom Protista

Kingdom Protista

Euglena x20 E.acus

•found in ponds, pools, puddles and birdbaths

•40µm

•chloroplasts

•flagella

•red eye spot

•reproduce by fission like those here

•can be red also - E.rubraEye spots

Kingdom Fungi

•Most fungi are multicellular like mushrooms, but some can be unicellular like yeast.

•Most have cell walls made of chitin.

•They develop from spores produced by a single parent.

•There are 4 main groups; oomycota or water molds, basidiomycota, ascomycota and zygomycota.

Kingdom Fungi

Oomycota Basidiomycota

Ascomycota Zygomycota

•Watermolds

•Live in soils

•Eg. Potatoe blight

•Largest and most well known

•Eg. Mushrooms and bracket fungi

•Blue green mold on bread

•Eg. Yeast

•Eg. Black bread molds

Kingdom Fungi

•Phylum Ascomycota

•Yeast is used in making wine, beer and bread.

•These fungal microorganisms digest sugar and excrete alcohol.

•The yeast on the bottom is making a copy of itself by budding. This is a form of asexual reproduction. You can see budding ‘scars’ on the other yeasts.

X10,000

Budding yeast

Budding scar

Kingdom Fungi

Phylum Ascomycota. Genus Penicillin

•Grows on bread or fruit - this one is growing on an apple.

•Most moldy food is undesirable, but some, like Roquefort cheese are ripened and given their characteristic flavours and textures by fungi (P.roquefortii).

Kingdom Fungi

•Phylum Ascomycota

•Pale bread mold.

•The drug penicillin is made from this fungus. It stops infections in people by preventing bacteria from clinging to cell walls.

X1,600

•Phylum Zygomycota Genus Aspergillus.

•Grows on breads and nuts.

•Mycelia are white or yellow with black spores.

Kingdom Fungi

Mycelia

Spores being expelled from fungi

Phylum Basidiomycota

Earth-star, or Geastrum indicum. Young specimen on the right. When mature they open outer layer to reveal thin-skinned spore containing sac.

Phlebopus marginatus, is one of the largest. Can be 1m in diameter. Western Victoria records heaviest at 29kg. Have olive-brown spores.

Mycena sanguinolenta gets its name from the blood-red juice it excretes from the slender stems when they are broken.

Stereum rugosum, is a bracket fungus and can usually be found on dead trees.

Kingdom Fungi

Which two kingdoms can you see living here?

•Bacteria and fungi will live almost anywhere. Here they live together on a kitchen sponge. Which is which?

•The bacteria look like round ‘blobs’ and the fungi look like ‘threads’

X1,000

Kingdom Plantae

Phaeophyta

Bryophyta Tracheophyta

•Brown algae

•No true roots, instead has a holdfast

•No true leaves but instead has blade

•Mosses and liverworts

•Small and grow in damp places

•Vascular plants with a xylem and phloem

•Have adapted to living on land

Spermopsida Pteropsida

•Plants with seeds

•Ferns

•Spores (under leaves) instead of seeds

•Appear early in fossil record

•Have true roots, stems, leaves

Coniferophyta

(gymnosperms-naked seeds)

Magnoliophyta

(angiosperms-flowering plants)

•Needle like leaves

•Very tall

•Can live in dry climates

•No flowers or fruit

•Eg. Pine trees

•Most abundant group. Make up 6x all other plants

•Highly adaptive to many environments; deserts, alpine regions, salt marches

•Important to humans from eating their fruit to making cotton garments.

Monocotyledons Dicotyledons

•Thin parallel veins in leaves

•1 embryonic leaf

•Eg. Grasses, bulbs

•Leaf veins networked

•2 embryonic leaves

•Usually larger than monocots

•Eg. Most trees

Kingdom Animalia - Phylum

Porifera Annelida Nematoda

Mollusca

Cnidaria

Platyhelminthes Arthropoda Echinodermata

Vertebrata/ Chordata•Eg. Sponges

•Mostly marine

•No true organs

•Eg. Earth worms and

leeches

•Segmented bodies

•True gut

•Circulatory system

•Eg. Coral, jelly fish,

sea anemones

•Sting prey with

tenticles

•Eg. Tape worms

•Parasitic, flat shape

•Only a mouth, no anus

•Eg. Roundworm

s

•Mouth and anus

•Parasitic - elephantitis

•Eg. Snails, mussels,

clams, octopus

•Soft body, hard shell

•Well developed nervous system

•Eg. Humans

•Have a spinal cord

•Eg. Insects, spiders, crustaceans

•Exoskeleton

•Jointed appendages

•Eg. Sea stars

•Spiney skin

•Penta-radial symmetry

•Mouth in middle of body

Kingdom Animalia - Class Arthropod

Porifera

Cnidaria

Annelida

Platyhelminthes

Nematoda

Arthropoda

Mollusca

Echinodermata

Vertebrata/ Chordata

Arachnida Insecta Crustcea

Chilopoda

Diplopoda

•Spiders, scorpions,

ticks, mites

•Predators and parasites

•4 pairs of legs

•2 pairs of feeding parts

•Pupa/cocoon

•1x106 species

•Head-one pair of antennae

•Thorax-three pairs of legs and wings

•Abdomen

•Crayfish, lobsters,

crabs, shrimps

•Usually aquatic

•2 pairs antennae

•3 pairs feeding

appendages

•Exoskeleton

•Centipedes

•Carnivorous

•Single pair of legs

per segment

•Millipedes

•Feed on decaying matter

•Double pair of legs per segment

Kingdom Animalia - Class Vertebrata/Chrodata

Porifera

Cnidaria

Annelida

Platyhelminthes

Nematoda

Arthropoda

Mollusca

Echinodermata

Vertebrata/ Chordata

Angatha Chondrich-thyes

Osteich-thyes

Amphibia

Reptilia Aves Mammalia

•Jawless fish

•Lampreys

•Cartilage

•Jaws

•Cartilage

•Give birth to live young

•Sharks, rays

•Lays eggs

•Boney skeleton

•Most fish eg. Salmon

eels

•No scales

•Gills when

young, lungs when adult

•Frogs, salamand

er

•Scales

•Exothermic

•Crocodiles, turtles, lizards

•Feathers

•Wings

•Homeothermic

•Birds, penguins

•Hair

•Suckle young

•Homeotherms

•Humans, bats,

whales,rodents etc.

Placentals

MarsupialsMonotremes

•Egg laying – eg. platypus

•Pouches – eg. Kangeroo, possum, koala

•Suckle via Placenta

It is important to note that the following cannot be added to this

classification system of living things

• Viruses• Viroids• Prions

•Why can’t we class these things as living?

Viruses

•Viruses are not classed as living because they are not cells or are not made up of cells.

•Even though they contain genetic material - nucleic acids in the form of DNA or RNA (stored in a protein coat), they cannot reproduce on their own without a host. It is their host that reproduces them.

•They do not have organelles to be able to generate energy for metabolism.

•In humans they are responsible for diseases such as measles, mumps, smallpox, yellow fever, warts, cold sores and hepatitis.

•In animals they cause foot and mouth disease, and rabies.

•In plants they attack tobacco, tomatoes. They can even infect bacteria..

Some Different Viruses

•Tobacco mosaic stunts the growth of tobacco plants and produces a mottled (mosaic) pattern on the leaves.

•It has a helical capsid (coat) made of thousands of molecules of a single type of protein.

•Its overall shape has a rigid, rod like appearance.

•The adenovirus causes respiratory tract infections in animals.

•It has 252 identical proteins that make up its polyhedral capsid. At each vertex is a protein spike.

10nm

50nm

Some More Viruses

•We are all familiar with the influenza virus!

•This virus has a membranous envelope that is partly made from the hosts cell membrane. This makes it more infectious to the host.

•One of the most complex viruses is the one that infects bacteria, such as this bacteriophage.

•It has a polyhedral head that contains the DNA.

•The tail fiber attaches to the bacteria and the DNA is injected into the bacterial cell.

25nm

50nm

Virons

• Virons are tiny molecules of RNA that don’t have a protein coat like viruses.

• They are much smaller than viruses, (no photos!)

• They cause errors in the regulatory systems that control the genes of the cell.

• They are associated with diseases that cause abnormalities in development such as stunted growth in plants.

Prions

•Prions are proteins that manage to reproduce themselves in their host.•The proteins are abnormally folded and then have the ability to infect other proteins.

•They have no genetic material in them.•They attack the brain causing small holes. Humans and animals alike suffer dizziness, nausia and seizures which eventually lead to death.

•Examples include ‘mad cow’ disease in humans.

A - Prion protein in its normal folding configuration.

B - The proposed configuration of the protein that can cause infection.

A. B.

The bacteria E.coli being infected with the virus bacteriophage.

____ 1µm ______

bacteriophage

(has just divided into two)

E.coli

The End!