BACTERIA

CHARACTERISTICS

SEE BACTERIA CELL STRUCTURE

-Unicellular organisms
-They have cell wall made of peptidoglycan
-Some have additional slimy capsule outside their cell wall for added protection
-Beneath the cell wall is its plasma membrane
-Bacteria do not have nuclear membrane
-Some bacteria have one or more tail-like structure called 'flagella' which are used for
swimming
-Some bacteria also have hundreds of hairlike structures known as pilli

SHAPE
-Classified according to their shapes
-They can be spherical known as cocci, rod-shaped known as bacilli, comma shaped known
as vibrios and spiral known as spirilla
SIZE
-Diameter ranges from 0.5 -1.0 micrometres
-Only visible using a high powered micoscope
METHOD OF REPRODUCTION
Sexually by a process called conjugation or Asexually by formation of spores or binary
fission
NUTRITION
Photosynthesis, Chemosynthesis, Saprophytic and Parasitic. Bacteria stores food in the form
of glycogen granules in its cytoplasm.
HABITAT
Can be found almost everywhere (foods, air, water, soil, on any surfaces (such as table tops),
on the outside as well as inside of organisms especially in the intestines).
MODE OF RESPIRATION
-Some are aerobic, requiring oxygen to survive
-Some are anaerobic, do not need oxygen to survive
-Some can live in the presence or absence of oxygen
 VIRUS

CHARACTERISTICS

SEE VIRUS CELL STRUCTURE

-smallest microorganisms
-do not carry out any characteristics of living things
-when outside a cell, it forms a crystal
do not show cell organization
SHAPE
Maybe spherical, polyhedral, rod-shaped or rocket shaped
SIZE
Sizes ranges from about 20 - 400 nm in diameter
METHOD OF REPRODUCTION
They can only multiply inside the living cells (host cell) of animals or plants or other
microbes. This process harms the host, resulting in a disease.
NUTRITION
Parasitic
HABITAT
living cell (host cell)
EXAMPLE
influenza virus (spherical), tobacco mosaic virus (rod-shaped)
 PROTOZOA

-Unicellular organisms
CHARACTERISTICS -Move with the help of cillia which continuously beat against the water
in diagonal pattern
METHOD OF REPRODUCTION Asexually through binary fission or sexually by conjugation
-Parasitism, saprophytism or autotrophs
NUTRITION
-Cilia/ cilium (hair like structures) send food to oral groove
Soil, moist area, live in water ( Amoeba) or inside the body of organisms
HABITAT
(Plasmodium)
EXAMPLES Amoeba, Plasmodium, Paramecium

FUNGI

Do not contain the green pigment chlorophyll, so they have to take in nutrients
CHARACTERISTICS
from external. Fungi may be unicellular or multicellular.
SIZE 10 - 100 micrometres
Asexually through budding or formation of spores and sexually through
METHOD OF REPRODUCTION
conjugation
NUTRITION parasitism and saprohytism
HABITAT Dark, moist, warm environment
EXAMPLE Yeast, Mucor/ Mould
 ALGAE

-Simple aquatic plant

HARACTERISTICS -No proper roots, stems, leaves or vascular system
-contains chlorophyll
IZE 1 - 10000 micrometres
METHOD OF REPRODUCTION Asexually through binary fission or Sexually by conjugation
Photosynthesis (most algae have pigments which use the wavelength that penetrate
UTRITION
water)
ABITAT Freshwater and marine (saltwater), soil, bark of trees
XAMPLE chlamydomonas (unicellular), spirogyra