Melissa Lyons Period # 2

Research Paper

Monera Classification

Kingdom Monera

Subkingdom Archaea: “Ancient bacteria” found in extreme conditions

Phylum Euryarcheota: Methanogens

Phylum Crenarchaetoa: Thermoacidophiles

Subkingdom Eubacteria: “True bacteria”

Phylum Proteobacteria: Gram negative; includes purple bacteria, nitrogen-fixing bacteria,

and pseudomonads.

Phylum Spirochaetae: Gram negative; includes spirochetes and flagellated bacteria.

Phylum Cyanobacteria: Gram negative; formerly called blue-green algae.

Phylum Saprospirae: Gram-negative fermenters.

Phylum Chloroflexa: Gram-negative green nonsulfur phototrophs.

Phylum Chlorobia: Gram negative; anoxygenic green sulfur phototrophs

Phylum Endospora: Gram-positive, protein walled, endospore-forming bacteria

Phylum Pirellae: Gram-positive, stalked, protein-walled bacteria

Phylum Actinobacteria: Gram-positive, protein-walled actinomycetes

Phylum Deinococci: Gram-positive, protein walled, aerobic, radioresistant bacteria.

Phylum Thermotogae: Gram-positive, protein-walled, thermophilic fermenters

Phylum Aphragmabacteria: Bacteria without walls; mycoplasmas and spiroplasmas

The Kingdom Monera is the oldest and most numerous of all the kingdoms on earth. They are

microscopic; you cannot see them with the naked eye, unless they are in huge colonies. Around

300 years ago, Dutch lens maker Anton van Leeuwenhoek looked through a microscope he had

made and saw microbes. But even after 200 years we have just begun to learn more about these

small organisms. Originally bacteria where put with animals because they seemed like one-celled

organisms like protozoans. Then they were moved to the plant kingdom with blue-green algae.

Neither kingdom really worked so in the late 1800s Ernst Haeckel, a German biologist,

suggested that the living things should be divided into three groups: animals, plants, and protists.

This group would hold one-celled organisms like yeasts, protozoans, and bacteria. He is also

were the term Monera came from, but he didn’t use it in the exact same way. He hypostasized

that the first ancestors of life were Monera.

Although around the 1950’s with new advances in technology scientists concluded that there

were differences between what Haeckel called protists. R.H. Whittaker thought of a new

classification of five kingdoms, they were grouped separately as Monera. The Whittaker is the

most common system used today. It classifies three of the kingdoms by how they the get

nutrients; plants with photosynthesis, animals by ingesting food, and fungi by absorbing

nutrients. Monerans and protists are the other two in this system; they are mostly one-celled

organisms. Only these two are classified more on how there structured than how they get there

nutrients.

The structure of a bacterial cell is a cylinder capsule with a cell wall and cell membrane. There

are pili, hair looking appendages, sticking out from the cell wall, and on one side of the cell there

is a flagellum, a tail-like appendage. Inside there is a nuclear region that contains genetic

material, storage granules, and ribosomes.

The members of the monera kingdom have no exact organized cell nuclei. There DNA is in a

long double strand coiled into one circular chromosome called a nucleoid, as opposed to the

other more-complex organisms that have multiple chromosomes. Since they don’t have a nucleus

these organisms are called prokaryotes, named from the Greek words meaning “prior to” and

“nucleus”. Other organisms that do have cell nuclei are called eukaryotes, regardless if there

multicellular or unicellular.

Although the new discoveries of types of bacteria are making scientists question on how they

classify prokaryotes. Originally Kingdom Monera was divided into two main groups: bacteria

and cyanobacteria. But now many scientists see another subkingdom; Archaea. Its member

called archaebacteria. They are simple organisms that live in extreme conditions. Usually

without oxygen with extreme temperatures and acidic environments.

Bacteria are pretty much everywhere you look, although it is true that a lot of them do cause

deadly diseases, they are a very important part of our life; and if they didn’t exist we wouldn’t

function properly. Bacteria are extremely small, most at around 0.005 of a millimeter. Most

bacteria have one of three shapes: spherical (like coccus); rod-shaped (like bacillus); and spiral

(like spirillum). But there are many other less-common shapes that have been found.

Almost all bacterial cells have cell walls, usually covered with a layer of slime the cell produces.

Some more common bacteria that cause meat spoilage are: E.Coli and Salmonella.

Escherichia coli (E. coli) are members of a large group of bacteria that live in the intestines of

humans and other mammals. E. coil usually help us digest food but there a certain strand of E.

coil that is harmful to humans. Over 700 serotypes of E. coli have been identified. The E. coli

serotypes that cause the outbreaks and harm to humans are the ones that produce Shiga toxin or

Stx. Shiga toxin is one of the deadliest toxins known to humans, so deadly that Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention looks at it as potential bioterrorist agent.  They think that E. coli

got the DNA from Shiga toxin-producing Shigella bacteria. Bacteriophage (a virus that infects

bacteria) gave it to the E. coli giving them genetic material to make the Shiga toxin. The most

known Stx-producing E. coli is E. coli O157:H7.

Stx-producing E. coli have multiple things about them that make them dangerous.  They are

pretty strong organisms that can live several weeks on counters and around a year in compost. 

Only a small number of bacteria are necessary to infect a victim’s intestinal tract and cause

infection.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that every year at least 2000

Americans are sent to hospitals for treatment, and around 60 die due to E. coli infection. They

estimated the annual cost of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses to be $405 million which included $370

million for premature deaths, $30 million for medical care, and $5 million for lost productivity.

Salmonella (S.) is the genus name for a large number ,over 2,500, of types of bacteria..

Salmonella bacteria are rod-shaped, flagellated, Gram stain-negative, and are known to cause

disease in humans, animals, and birds around the world.

The bacteria were discovered by Theobald Smith in 1885 from pigs. The name Salmonella was

from the name of D.E. Salmon, Smith's director. Salmonella is spread to people by eating

Salmonella contaminated food. Salmonella is global and can contaminate pretty much any food

type, although the outbreaks of Salmonella involved raw eggs, raw meat , egg products, fresh

vegetables, cereal, pistachio nuts, tomatoes, and contaminated water. Toxins produced by the

bacteria , which are enterotoxin and cytotoxin, can damage and kill the cells that line the

intestines.

Meat Spoilage Chart

Indication of spoiling Cause

Tainting, souring, and putrefacation Anaerobic bacterial spoilage of meat interiors,

vacuum packed products, and sealed

containers.

Oxidative Rancidity Oxidation of meat fats due to improperly

wrapped meat.

Brown or grey discoloration Protein denaturation cause by heat, salts,

ultraviolet light, low pH, and surface

dehydration.

Dehydration and discoloration during freezing

resulting in dryness of cooked meat, nutrient

loss, and an occasional bitter flavor

Freezer burn and drip which occurs during

slow freezing.

Absorption of off-flavors Storage of meat next to foods that give off

strong odors.

Ammonia or sulfur smell, bad odor, tallow or

chalky taste.

Degradation of proteins, lipids and

carbohydrates caused by bacteria and/or

enzymes naturally present in meat.

Slime formation, bad odor and rancid flavor,

color change.

Bacterial and yeast spoilage.

Sticky meat surface Mold spoilage.

“Whiskers” Mold spoilage.

Surface colorations such as black or green Growth of mold colonies.

Bibliography

The New Book of Popular Science. Danbury, Connecticut: Grolier, 2004

McGraw-Hill Science. Farmington, New York: McGraw-Hill School Division, 2000

Forrest, John “Meat Spoilage” ag.ansc.purdue.edu

http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/meat_quality/spoiled_meat.html

Anissimov, Micheal. “What are Archaebacteria?” Wisegeek.com 28 September, 2010

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-archaebacteria.htm

Elderdge, Niles “ ’True’ Bacteria” amnh.org

http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/hall_tour/spectrum/1.html

Marler, Bill “E.Coli” about-ecoli.com

http://www.about-ecoli.com/

Davis, Charles “Salmonella Poisoning” Medicinenet.com

http://www.medicinenet.com/salmonella/article.htm