Phylogeny and The Tree of Life
Phylogeny and The Tree of Life
Phylogeny and The Tree of Life
2) Genetic Recombination
Genetic diversity in prokaryotes also can arise by recombination of the DNA
from two different cells.
Diverse Nutrional and Metabolic Adaptations Have Evolved in Prokaryotes
Four modes of nutrition : Photoautotrophy, Chemoautotrophy,
Photoheterotrophy, and Chemoheterotrophy.
1) The Role of Oxygen in Metabolism
Obligate aerobes use o2 for cellular respiration and cannot grow without it.
Obligate anaerobes are poisoned by o2, some obligate anaerobes live by
fermentation; extract chemival energy by anaerobic respiration.
2) Nitrogen Metabolism
Prokaryotes can metabolize nitrogen in a wide variety of forms. For example,
some cyanobacteria and some methanogens convert atmospheric nitrogen to
ammonia, a prosess called nitrogen fixation.
3) Metabolic Cooperation
Metabolic cooperation between different prokaryotic species often occurs in
surface-coating colonies known as biofilms.
Archaea
The first prokaryotes assigned to domain Archaea live in environments so
extreme, such organisms called extremophiles.
Extreme halophiles live in highly saline environments, such as the Great Salt
Lake, The Dead Sea, and Owens Lake.
Extreme thermophiles thrive in very hot environments.
Other archaea live in more moderate environments, some of these are included
among the methanogens.
Bacteria
Bacteria include the vast majority of prokaryotes from the pathogenic spesies
that cause strep throat and tuberculosis.
Major groups of bacteria :
a. Proteobacteria
b. Chlamydias
c. Spirochetes
d. Cyanobacteria
e. Gram-positive bacteria
Prokaryotes Play Curcial Roles in The Biosphere
1) Chemical Recycling
Chemoheterotrophic prokaryotes function as decomposer.
Prokaryotes also convert inorganic compounds to forms that can be taken up
by organisms.
Prokaryotes can also decrease the availability of key plant nutrients.
2) Ecological Interactions
An ecological interaction between two species in which both benefit, the
interaction takes the form of commensalism.
Some prokaryotes engage in parasitism.
Prokaryotes Have Both Harmful and Benefit Impacts on Human
1) Pathogenic Bacteria
Pathogenic prokaryotes usually cause illness by producing poisons, which are
classified as exotoxins and endotoxins.
Exotoxins are proteins secreted by certain bacteria and other organisms.
Cholera, a dangerous diarrheal disease, is caused by an exotoxins secreted by
the proteobacterium.
Endotoxins are lipopolysaccharide components of the outer membrane of
gram-negative bacteria. Endotoxins are released only when the bacteria die
and their cell walls break down.
2) Prokaryotes in Research and Technology
Experiments involving bacteria such E.coli and A.tumefaciens have led to
important advances in DNA technology.
PROTISTS
Most Eukaryotes are Single-Celled Organisms
Protists along with plants, animals, and fungi are classified as eukaryotes, they
are in domain Eukarya.
Organisms in most eukaryotic lineages are protists, and most protists are
unicellular.
1) Structural and Functional Diversity in Protists
Most protists are unicellular, although there are some colonial and
multicellular spesies.
Single-celled protists are justifiably considered the simplest eukaryotes.
In multicellular organisms, essential biological functions are carried out by
organs.
Unicellular protists carry out the same essential function, but they do so using
subcellular organelles.
Some protists are photoautotrophs and contain chloroplasts.
Some are heterotrophs, absorbing organic molecules.
Still others called mixotrophs, combine photosynthesis and heterotrophic
nutrition.
Some protists are exclusively asexsual.
Others can also reproduce sexually or at least employ sexual processes of
meiosis and fertilization.
2) Endosymbiosis in Eukaryotic Evolution
Much f protists diversity has its origins in endosymbiosis, the process in which
certain unicellular organisms engulf other cells, which become endosymbionts
and ultimately organelles in the host cell.
Red algae and green algae underwent secondary endosymbiosis.
3) Five Supergroups of Eukaryotes
Excavata – Excavates include parasites such as Giardia.
Chromalveolata – include some of the most important photosynthetic
organisms.
Rhizaria – this group consists of spesies of amoebas.
Archaeplastida – includes red algae and green algae along with land plants.
Unikonta – includes amoebas that have lobe or tube shaped pseudopodia.
Protists Play key Roles in Ecological Relationshipps
1) Symbiotic Protists
Protists form a range of mutualistic and parasitic relationships that affect their
symbiotic partners and many other members of the community.
2) Photosynthetic Protists
Among the most important producers in aquatic communities, because they
are at the base of the food web, factors that affect photosynthetic protists affect
many other species in the community.