Kingdom MoneraAKA bacteria kingdom
Overview• Types of monerans
• Shapes
• Respiration
• Nutrition
• Reproduction
Monera Overview• Kingdom Monera contains the oldest and most
abundant living organisms know on to date
• These single celled organisms group together to form colonies
• Monerans are commonly found in extreme environments where other organisms can’t survive
Types
• Classifications of monerans at higher taxonomy levels is a challenge because they share so many characteristics
• Two main sub kingdoms: archaebacteria and eubacteria
Archaebacteria
• Live in environments without oxygen, usually found in places with high salt content, high temperatures and high acidity
• Extremophiles, thermophiles, methanogens, etc.
Eubacteria
• Live in environments that have oxygen present
• This is the largest group of Monera
Shapes• Cocci or singular shaped
• Bacilli or rod shaped
• Spirilla or spiral shaped
• All of these can group together to form colonies
Respiration• Obligate aerobes - bacteria that requires oxygen
• Obligate anaerobes - bacteria that requires an absence of oxygen
• Facultative anaerobes - bacteria that flourish in either environment
• Facultative and obligate anaerobes undergo fermentation
Nutrition• Heterotrophs - bacteria that take food from other
organisms. Given the term “parasites”
• Heterotrophs - bacteria that take their food from decomposing organisms. Given the term “saprophytes”
• Autotrophs - produce food on their own, either through sunlight (photosynthesis) or chemicals (chemosynthesis)
Reproduction• Monerans
reproduce asexually through a variety of means: binary fission, endospores, conjugation*
Binary fission• Simplified mitosis
• DNA doubles, entire cell splits
Endospores• DNA and cytoplasm is
protected by a hard casing during hard times
• Remainder of the cell disintegrates
• Under favourable conditions, casing dissolves and bacteria emerges fully functioning
Conjugation• A very basic form of
sexual reproduction with cell to cell contact and exchange of specific plasmids
Bacteria Types• Clostridium botulinum - causes lockjaw and
gangrene
• Lactobacteria - causes souring of milk
• Streptococci - strep throat
• Streptomyces - decomposes organic matter
• Rhizobium - processes atmospheric nitrogen
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