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What is bacteria
By
Younes Rashad
Bacteria is a single-celled organism which can
only be seen through microscope.

 Bacteria comes in different shapes and the size

of bacteria is measured in micro-meter (which is
a millionth part of a meter).

Bacteria are found everywhere and in all type

of environments.
 Prokaryotic (no membrane-enclosed nucleus)

 No mitochondria or chloroplasts

 A single chromosome

 Have a rigid cell wall made of peptidoglycan.

 Many bacteria form a single spore when their food

supply runs low. Spores are so resistant to adverse
conditions of dryness and temperature that they may
remain viable even after 50 years of dormancy.
 Bacteria classification
Morphology

Gram
Staining

Oxygen requirement

Nutrition

Cultural properties
Morphology
Bacilli
(Rod-shaped bacteria)

Cocci
) Sphere-shaped bacteria)

Spirilla
) Spiral-shaped bacteria)
 Gram Staining
• In 1884, Hans Christian Gram, a Danish doctor working in Berlin, accidentally
stumbled on a method which still forms the basis for the identification of bacteria.

• Gram reaction is based on the structure of the bacterial cell

wall.
• The primary bacterial stain of the Gram's method is crystal violet.

Gram +ve Gram -ve

• In Gram-positive bacteria, the purple crystal violet
stain is trapped by the layer of peptidoglycan
which forms the outer layer of the cell.

• In Gram-negative bacteria, the outer membrane

prevents the stain from reaching the peptidoglycan
layer in the periplasm.
 Gram +ve bacilli
Thick
Clostridium spp.,

Thin
.Listeria spp

Branched
,Actinomycetes and Nocardia
 Gram +ve cocci

Clusters
Staphylococcus spp.

Chain
.,Streptococcus spp

Tetrad
Micrococcus spp
 Gram-negative bacilli
Thin rods
enterobacteriaceae,
such as E. Coli

Coccobacilli
Haemophilus spp.
such as H. influenzae

Curved
Vibrio spp.

Thin needle shape

Fusobacterium spp.
 Gram-negative cocci

Diplococci
. Neiseria spp

Coccobacilli
., Acinetobacter spp
 Oxygen requirement
Aerobic (Need Oxygen)
Bacteria that can grow and live in the presence of oxygen.

Anaerobic (Do not need Oxygen)

Bacteria that do not grow and live in the presence of oxygen.
 Nutrition
Autotrophic Bacteria
(Bacteria that used chemical energy to create their own food)

Heterotrophic Bacteria
(Bacteria that must ingest biomass to obtain their energy and nutrition)
 Endospores
Under conditions of starvation, especially the lack of carbon and nitrogen sources, a single endospores form within some of the bacteria. The process is called sporulation.

An endospore is not a reproductive structure but rather a resistant, dormant survival form of the organism.

 It is resistant to high temperatures (including boiling), most disinfectants, antibiotics, low energy radiation, drying, etc. The endospore can survive possibly thousands of years.
Endospore stain of Endospore stain of
Bacillus anthracis Clostridium tetani
 Capsule

• The capsule is made up of polysaccharides (complex carbohydrates).

• Capsules are to keep the bacterium from drying out and to protect it
from phagocytosis (engulfing) by larger microorganisms.

• The capsule is a major virulence factor in the major disease-causing

bacteria, such as Escherichia coli and Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Nonencapsulated mutants of these organisms are avirulent, i.e. they
don't cause disease.
 Flagella
Motile bacteria move using flagella

If the flagellum is located at the end

of the cell, the cell is said to have
monotrichous polar distribution.
(A)

Lophotrichous distribution is a
pattern in which bacteria appear to
have a tuft of hair at one or both
ends. (B)

Amphitrichous bacteria have a

single flagellum at each pole. (C)

Peritrichous flagella are distributed

uniformly over the surface of each
bacterial cell. (D)
 COLONY MORPHOLOGY
A colony is defined as a visible mass of microorganisms all originating from a
single mother cell.
Wild-type Myxococcus xanthus
Thank
You