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Bacteria and Archaea. The prokarotes. What do we already know about bacteria and archaea ?. What do we already know about bacteria and archaea ?. Found in two of the three domains of life: Domain Bacteria and Domain Archaea Unicellular and prokaryotic Found everywhere!.
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Bacteria and Archaea The prokarotes
What do we already know about bacteria and archaea? • Found in two of the three domains of life: Domain Bacteria and Domain Archaea • Unicellular and prokaryotic • Found everywhere!
Mini-lab: prokaryotes in the classroom • Each table will receive four cups to culture some bacteria/archaea • Choose two places in the room where you think there will be the most bacteria and two places where you think there will be the least bacteria • Label your cup with your initials, class period, and what you swabbed • Swab according to instructions and observe what happens!
What do they eat? • Everything (almost)! Can be autotrophs or heterotrophs • Three primary ways of making energy: using sunlight, using inorganic compounds, and using organic compounds
How are they classified? • Three main considerations: cell wall structure, what they eat, what shape they are (morphology)
Cell Wall Structure • Depending on different substances in the bacteria’s cell wall, they act in different ways • It determines what environment they can live in • Some bacteria can form an endospore • Some can form biofilms
Bacterial Shapes • Three main shapes: sphere, rod, and spiral • Often determines how/what a bacterium eats, how it moves, etc.
Bacterial Reproduction • Binary fission: divide into two identical bacterial cells • some bacteria can divide every 10 minutes! • this is a form of asexual reproduction (only one parent organism)
Bacterial Mutation • Bacteria and Archaea can change their genetic code sequence fairly easily • structures called plasmids are traded between bacteria • this allows them to adapt to changing environments
Importance of Bacteria • Decomposers: release important chemicals from dead organisms • Food: used to produce yogurt, cheese, pickles, sauerkraut, wine, and more • Industry: we use plasmids to produce large quantities of medicines, chemicals, etc. • Research: used to study gene/protein function, among many other things