TYPES OF MICROORGANISM

 

TYPES OF MICROORGANISM

FUNGI

What is fungi?
Fungi is a group of simple plants that have no chlorophyll. There are some species of fungi that are single celled organisms, and there are other kinds of fungi that are multi-cellular organisms. Fungi are made up of filaments called hyphe that are stacked together from end to end. Some kinds of fungi live on land and other types of fungi live in water environments. Since fungi has no chlorophyll, it can not make its own food. Some types of fungi lives off of other organisms and are parasites, but other fungi species feed off of dead and decaying matter. A third kind of fungi lives with other organisms and neither the fungi or the organism is hurt. This kind of relationship is called positive symbiosis.
Fungus like this one feed on the remains of dead plant and animal matter.		Spores are released from the underside of mushroom caps during the reproductive cycle of mushrooms
How is fungi identified?
Witches Broom Fungi attacks cacao trees that produce chocolate	Trichoderma is a good fungi, it attacks bad fungus that destroys crops.	Mushroom	Hyphae
How does fungi reproduce?
When reproductive hyphae cells are made by the fungus, a mushroom shape forms at the top. The scientific name for the mushroom shape is the sporocarp. It has one purpose, that is to release reproductive spores. The sporocarp is not part of the live fungi. Reproduction in fungi is sexual, but the spores which contain the reproductive cells must somehow come in contact with one another before fungi can reproduce.
What does fungi do?
Fungi are important decomposers of dead animal and plant matter. They break down dead organic matter into simple compounds that can be absorbed by the plants around it. During the process of decomposing matter, fungi returns carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Green plants use the carbon dioxide during photosynthesis to produce food. Oxygen is released into the atmosphere during the process of photosynthesis, so animal and human life depends on the fungi for survival. Plants also benefit from fungi because some fungi settle around the roots of plants. As the fungus decomposes dead matter around the roots of the plant, it leaves behind nutrients that the plant needs. Some fungi, like mushrooms, are used as ingredients in recipes. They add flavor to meals.
Fungus in caves break down minerals in rock walls.

VIRUS

What are viruses?
Viruses are non-living microscopic particles that attack healthy cells within living things. They do not have the characteristics of living things and are not able to metabolize food. To metabolize means to change food energy into chemical energy that the body can use. Viruses are not alive, so they do not have a need for food like living oganisms. Viruses do not have an organized cell structure. They are so light that they can float in the air or water, be passed on to other organisims if touched, and fit anywhere. The virus injects its own DNA structure into healthy cells where new virus cells grow.
How are viruses identified?
Viruses that are mature have characteristics that help to identify them. RNA(ribonuceic acid) and DNA(dioxiribonucleic acid) structure protein coat that surrounds nucleic acids they invade hosts to reproduce their size
HIV human immunodeficiency virus infected lymph tissue			Herpes simplex virus invaded vacuole of human cell
Polio virus RNA virus Picornaviridae Family			Influenza A virus Human Infection
How do viruses reproduce?
Viruses can not reproduce by themselves like bacteria or cells. They must attach themselves to the cell membrane of animals, or cell wall of plants and inject a part of their DNA into the cells of the host organism.. They do this by using a hollow tube structure to puncture the cell wall/membrane and pass its DNA into the cell. New virus cells are incubated inside the invaded cell. Once the virus DNA reproduces itself inside the cell, it uses the natural process of osmosis to leave the cell. These new virus cells attach to other healthy cells and infect them too.
What do viruses do?
Viruses invade the cells of both plants and animals. They reproduce inside healthy cells causing diseases that are hard to treat. There are no know anitibiotics or other medicines that are known to kill viruses.
Viruses like this Plum Pox attack plants and ruin the fruit. It is spread from plant to plant by insects like this green peach aphid

 

BACTERIA

What are bacteria?
Bacteria are part of a very large group of single-celled organisms. There is one group of bacteria that have chlorophyll and use the process of photosynthesis to produce their own food. Bacteria that are parasites live inside man, animals, and some plants causing diseases. Symptoms for disease caused by the toxins that bacteria produce inside the cells. Some bacteria are aerobic, meaning that they require oxygen in order to survive. Other bacteria are anaerobes, meaning that they do not require oxygen to survive. Bacteria is moved by air and water currents, and on any surface such as clothing, hands, or any object. They move themselves by using thin hair-like structures called flagella or by wriggling if they do not have a flagella..
Bacilli Bacteria	Cocci Bacteria	Spirilla Bacteria with hair-like flagella	Rod-Shaped Bacteria	This bacteria is a magnetotactic bacteria and produces the mineral magnetite. The magnetite acts as a natural magnet.
How are bacteria identified?
There are three ways to identify bacteria; gram stain, respiration, and shape. A gram stain is a method of dying bacteria so that they can be identified. The gram stain results will either be positive or negative. Gram-positive bacteria show up blue-black under a microscope, and gram-negagive bacteria show up red. Respiration is not the same as breathing, as a lot of people believe. All of your cells go through a process of respiration that breaks down substances into a simple form and releases energy in the process.
Rod-Shaped Bacteria	Filamentous iron oxidizing	Bacteria Spores	Filamentous bacterium	Curved Rod Bacteria
How do bacteria reproduce?
Most bacteria reproduce asexually. That means that new cells are formed during single cell division. Some bacteria can only reproduce sexually, with a male and female bacteria.
Sexual Reproduction - Male and Female			Asexual Reproduction through Division – Mitosis
What do bacteria do?
Bacteria are decomposers, they break down the chemical elements inside other living or dead organisms. Some bacteria live in the intestines of humans and animals. They decompose, or break down food particles so that they can be digested. Other bacteria live in the soil and water, they help break down dead matter there. Bacteria that live in the soil also recycle carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and other chemical elements while decomposing matter.
Bacteria Spores Inside Lung Tissue			Bacterial Infection in Lung Tissue

 

PROTOZOA


Protozoa are a diverse group of single-cell eukaryotic organisms, many of which are motile. Throughout history, protozoa have been defined as single-cell protists with animal-like behavior, e.g., movement. Protozoa were regarded as the partner group of protists to protophyta, which have plant-like behaviour, e.g., photosynthesis.

Terminology

Following the Greek root of the name, the singular form is protozoon /proʊtəˈzoʊ.ɒn/. Its use has, however, partially been replaced by the word protozoan, which was originally only used as an adjective. In the same manner the plural form protozoans is sometimes being used instead of protozoa.

In general, protozoans are referred to as animal-like protists because of movement (motile). However, both protozoa and protists are paraphyletic groups (not including all genetic relatives of the group). For example, Entamoeba is more closely related to humans than to Euglena. "Protozoa" is considered an outdated classification in more formal contexts. However, the term is still used in children's education.

While there is no exact definition for the term protozoan, it often refers to a unicellular heterotrophic protist, such as the amoeba and ciliates. The term algae is used for microorganisms that photosynthesize. However, the distinction between protozoa and algae is often vague. For example, the algae Dinobryon has chloroplasts for photosynthesis, but it can also feed on organic matter and is motile.

It is sometimes considered a subkingdom.^[3] It was traditionally considered a phylum under Animalia.

 Characteristics

Protozoans commonly range from 10 to 52 micrometers, but can grow as large as 1 mm, and are seen easily by microscope. The largest protozoans known are the deep-sea dewlling xenophyophores, which can grow up to 20 cm in diameter.

They were considered formerly to be part of the protista family. Protozoa exist throughout aqueous environments and soil, occupying a range of trophic levels.

Motility and digestion

Tulodens are one of the slow-moving form of protozoans. They move around with whip-like tails called flagella, hair-like structures called cilia, or foot-like structures called pseudopodia. Others do not move at all.

Protozoa may absorb food via their cell membranes, some, e.g., amoebas, surround food and engulf it, and yet others have openings or "mouth pores" into which they sweep food. All protozoa digest their food in stomach-like compartments called vacuoles.^[5]

Ecological role

As components of the micro- and meiofauna, protozoa are an important food source for microinvertebrates. Thus, the ecological role of protozoa in the transfer of bacterial and algal production to successive trophic levels is important. As predators, they prey upon unicellular or filamentous algae, bacteria, and microfungi. Protozoa are both herbivores and consumers in the decomposer link of the food chain. They also control bacteria populations and biomass to some extent. Protozoa such as the malaria parasites (Plasmodium spp.), trypanosomes and leishmania, are also important as parasites and symbionts of multicellular animals.

Life cycle

Some protozoa have life stages alternating between proliferative stages (e.g., trophozoites) and dormant cysts. As cysts, protozoa can survive harsh conditions, such as exposure to extreme temperatures or harmful chemicals, or long periods without access to nutrients, water, or oxygen for a period of time. Being a cyst enables parasitic species to survive outside of a host, and allows their transmission from one host to another. When protozoa are in the form of trophozoites (Greek, tropho = to nourish), they actively feed. The conversion of a trophozoite to cyst form is known as encystation, while the process of transforming back into a trophozoite is known as excystation.

Protozoa can reproduce by binary fission or multiple fission. Some protozoa reproduce sexually, some asexually, while some use a combination, (e.g., Coccidia). An individual protozoon is hermaphroditic.

Classification

Protozoa were previously often grouped in the kingdom of Protista, together with the plant-like algae and fungus-like slime molds. As a result of 21st-century systematics, protozoa, along with ciliates, mastigophorans, and apicomplexans, are arranged as animal-like protists. With the possible exception of Myxozoa, protozoa are not categorized as Metazoa. Protozoans are unicellular organisms and are often called the animal-like protists because they subsist entirely on other organisms for food. Most protozoans can move about on their own. Amoebas, Paramecia, and Trypanosomes are all examples of animal-like Protists.

 

 

Sub-groups

Protozoa have been divided traditionally on the basis of their means of locomotion.

·         Flagellates (e.g., Giardia lamblia)

·         Amoeboids (e.g., Entamoeba histolytica)

·         Sporozoans (e.g., Plasmodium knowlesi)

o    Apicomplexa

o    Myxozoa

o    Microsporidia

·         Ciliates (e.g., Balantidium coli)

 

Human disease

Some protozoa are human parasit es, causing diseases.

Examples of human diseases caused by protozoa:

·         Malaria

·         Amoebiasis

·         Giardiasis

·         Toxoplasmosis

·         Cryptosporidiosis

·         Trichomoniasis

·         Leishmaniasis

·         Sleeping Sickness

·         Dysentery