UNIT 2

Part 2
PROKARYOTES

Diversity of Bacteria
What does bacterial diversity mean?

Figure 15.1 Major functional traits mapped across major

phyla of Bacteria and Archaea.
The dendrogram shows relationships between microbial phyla as
inferred by analysis of 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences. Blue
branches are used to denote phyla of Bacteria and red branches
phyla of Archaea. Colored circles indicate phyla that contain at
least one species with a functional trait indicated in the color key.
 Metabolic Diversity of Microorganisms
Grupos nutricionales

Fuentes de Energía Fuentes de Carbono

• Fotótrofo: Usa luz • Autótrofo: CO2

• Quimiótrofo: Usa compuestos químicos • Heterótrofo: Compuestos orgánicos

- Orgánicos Organotrofo • Metilotrofo: Moléculas de C pequeñas

- Inorgánicos  Litotrofo (methanol, metilaminas)
 Grupo Fuente de Fuente de
nutricional energía carbono

Fotoautótrofo

Fotoheterótrofo

Quimioautotrofo o
quimiolitótrofo

Quimioheterotrofo o
heterótrofo o
quimiorganotrofo

Mixotrofo
 Grupo Fuente de Fuente de Ejemplos
nutricional energía carbono
Cianobacteria, Bacterias
Fotoautótrofo Luz CO2 verdes y púrpuras, algas,
plantas

Fotoheterótrofo Compuestos Algunas bacterias

Luz púrpuras y verdes
orgánicos

Quimioautotrofo o Compuestos Algunas bacterias y

inorgánicos CO2
quimiolitótrofo muchas Archaea
H2, NH3, NO2-, H2S
Quimioheterotrofo o
Compuestos Compuestos La mayoría de las
heterótrofo o bacterias, algunas
orgánicos orgánicos
quimiorganotrofo Archaea y los animales
Compuestos Compuestos
Mixotrofo inorgánicos orgánicos Algunas bacteria
H2 CH3COOH
 Relación con el Oxígeno
 Aerobios
- obligados: requieren oxígeno (21% o más).
Ej. Bacillus, hongos.
- microaerofílicos: requieren niveles menores que el atmosférico (5-10%).
Ej. Azospirillum

 Anaerobios
- facultativos: no requieren oxígeno, mejor desarrollo con oxígeno.
Ej. levaduras, E. coli
- aerotolerantes: no son sensibles al oxígeno (crecen en presencia o ausencia de oxígeno).
Ej. Enterococcus faecalis, Sreptococcus spp.
- obligados: no toleran el oxígeno, mueren en su presencia.
Ej. Methanobacterium, Clostridium
 Obligate
aerobes

Anaerobes

Facultative
aerobes

Microaerophiles
aerobes

Aerotolerant
anaerobes
Relación con la Temperatura
 Diversity of Microorganisms

Phylogenetic diversity: deals with evolutionary

relationships between microorganisms.

Most fundamentally, phylogenetic diversity deals with

the diversity of evolutionary lineages such as phyla,
genera, and species.

Functional diversity is the component of microbial

diversity that deals with diversity in form and function
as it relates to microbial physiology and ecology.
Phylogenetic Diversity of Microorganisms

Over 80 phyla are known

29 major bacterial phyla

(at least one characterized specie in pure culture)
 Phylogenetic Diversity of Microorganisms

NOTE: Numbers of cultured and characterized species (green bars) and known 16S rRNA gene sequences
(phylotypes, red bars)
Descending hierarchy of microbial systematics

Bacteria

Bacteria

Proteobacteria

Gammaproteobacteria

Enterobacteriales

Enterobacteriaceae

Escherichia

Escherichia coli
I. Phylum Pseudomonadota
(before Proteobacteria)
 Phylum Pseudomonadota (before Proteobacteria)

General characteristics:
Constitute the majority of known bacteria of medical, industrial, and agricultural significance.

All gram-negative bacteria

The largest (1/3) and most metabolically diverse phylum of Bacteria

- wide diversity of energy generating mechanisms chemolithotrophic, chemoorganotrophic,
and phototrophic species.
- diverse in terms of their relationship to oxygen (O2), with anaerobic, microaerophilic, and
facultatively . aerobic species known.

Morphological diverse: exhibit a wide range of cell shapes, including straight and curved rods,
cocci, spirilla, and filamentous, budding, and appendaged forms.
Phylum Pseudomonadota (before Proteobacteria)

Horizontal Gene Flow

Examples:
- Escherichia coli (quimiorganotrofo): model
organism.
- Pseudomonas sp.: capaz de degrader compuestos
tóxicos orgánicos y sintéticos.

- Azotobacter: Nitrogen fixing bacteria

  (alfa) Proteobacteria
General characteristics:
-The second largest class of Pseudomonadota (Proteobacteria)
-One thousand described species
- Most species are obligate aerobes or facultative aerobes.
- Many are oligotrophic  preferring to grow in environments that have low
nutrient concentration.
- A total of 10 orders have been described within the Alphaproteobacteria class
Main orders: Domain:
Rhizobiales Bacteria
Kingdom:
Rickettsiales Bacteria
Rhodobacterales Phylum:
Pseudomonadota
Rhodospirillales (Proteobacteria)
Calss:
Caulobacterales Alphaproteobacteria
Sphingomonadales
 Main orders of the
class
Alphaproteobacteria
  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rhizobiales
The largest and most metabolically diverse order of Alphaproteobacteria contain phototrophs,
chemolithotrophs, symbionts, free-living nitrogen-fixing bacteria a few pathogens of plants and
animals, and diverse chemoorganotrophs

The group gets its name from the rhizobia, a collection of genera that form
root nodules and fix nitrogen in symbiotic association with leguminous
plants.

Domain:
Bacteria
Kingdom:
Bacteria
Phylum:
Pseudomonadota
(Proteobacteria)
Calss:
Alphaproteobacteria
Order:
Rhizobiales
  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rhizobiales
Rhizobia: typically chemoorganotrophs and obligate aerobes
Each rhizobial genus has a distinct range of plant hosts that can be colonized

Nine genera that contain rhizobia:

Bradyrhizobium
Ochrobactrum
Azorhizobium
Devosia
Methylobacterium
Mesorhizobium
Phyllobacterium
Sinorhizobium
and Rhizobium.
  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rhizobiales
Symbiotic Diazotrophs
Diazotrophs form several symbiotic relationships with plants, animals, and fungi. These relationships are
generally defined by the host providing a hospitable environment, including a source of carbon and energy
and a system for regulating oxygen concentrations, and the microbial symbiont providing in return a supply
of fixed nitrogen to the host.
  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rhizobiales
Rhizobia can be isolated by crushing nodules and spreading their contents on nutrient-rich solid media;
colonies typically produce copious amounts of exopolysaccharide slime.
 (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rhizobiales
  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rhizobiales
Agrobacterium tumefaciens (also called Rhizobium radiobacter) is closely related to root nodule
Rhizobium species but is a plant pathogen that causes crown gall disease.

 Insert a plasmid into plant cells, inducing a tumor

Crown gall disease
Overview of the Infection Process
Can be used to transfer DNA directly into the cells of certain plants and fungi.

Encodes genes that mobilize DNA for transfer to the plant.

  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rhizobiales
The genus Methylobacterium is one of the largest in the Rhizobiales.

These species are often called “pink-pigmented facultative methylotrophs” because of the pink color
of their colonies and their good growth on methanol.

Commonly found on the surface of plants and in soils and freshwater systems.

Species of Methylobacterium are readily isolated by pressing the surface of a

plant leaf onto an agar Petri plate containing methanol as the sole source of
carbon.

Figure taken from Virginia Joel et al. (2023)

  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rhizobiales

These organisms are also commonly encountered in

toilets and baths where their growth on shower
curtains, caulk, and in toilet bowls results in the
formation of pink-pigmented biofilms.

Figures taken from Li N. et al. (2024)

  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rhizobiales
Bartonella genus

Intracellular pathogens of humans and other vertebrate animals.

22 species are know, major medical relevance are

• B. henselae
• B. quintana (antes conocida como Rickettsiae quintana)
• B. bacilliformis

B. quintana is the causative agent of trench fever, a disease that

decimated troops in World War I and it´s transmitted to humans
when feces from infected lice are rubbed into abraded skin or the
conjunctiva
  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rhizobiales
Other species of Bartonella can cause bartonellosis, cat scratch disease, and
a variety of inflammatory diseases.

Disease transmission is mediated by arthropod vectors including fleas, lice,

and sand flies. Species of Bartonella are fastidious and difficult to cultivate,
and isolation is most commonly achieved using blood agar.
  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rhizobiales
The genus Pelagibacter also belongs to the Rhizobiales.

Pelagibacter ubique is an oligotroph and an obligately aerobic

chemoorganotroph that inhabits the photic zone of Earth’s oceans.

This organism can make up 25% of the bacterial cells found at the
ocean’s surface, and its numbers can reach 50% of cells in temperate
waters in the summer; as a consequence, Pelagibacter ubique is likely
the most abundant bacterial species on Earth.

A population of P. ubique cells can double every 29 hours, which is

fairly slow, but they can replicate under low nutrient conditions.
  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rickettsiales
All obligate intracellular parasites or mutualists of animals.
Species in this order have not yet been cultivated in the absence of host cells.

Those genera that cause disease such as Rickettsia and Ehrlichia are
transmitted by arthropod bites; other genera such as Wolbachia are
obligate parasites or mutualists of insects and other arthropods

Domain:
Bacteria
Kingdom:
Bacteria
Phylum:
Pseudomonadota
(Proteobacteria)
Calss:
Alphaproteobacteria
Order:
Rickettsiales
  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rickettsiales
Species of the genus Rickettsia are the causative agents of several human diseases (Arthropod-borne).

R. prowazekii  Epidemic typhus

R. typhi  Endemic murine typhus
R. rickettsia  Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

Metabolically specialized
- Able to oxidize only the amino acids glutamate or
glutamine and unable to oxidize glucose or organic acids.
- Unable to synthesize certain metabolites and must
instead obtain them from host cells
Rickettsias do not survive long outside their hosts, and this may explain why they must be
transmitted from animal to animal by arthropod vectors.
  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rickettsiales
Rickettsias Growing Within Host Cells

Rickettsia rickettsii in tissue culture.

Once inside the host cell, the bacteria multiply primarily

in the cytoplasm and continue replicating until the host
cell is loaded with parasite
  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rickettsiales
Genus Wolbachia are intracellular parasites of arthropod and insects.

Cells of Wolbachia pipientis are passed from an infected female

to her offspring through this egg infection

Affect the reproductive fitness of hosts:

- parthenogenesis (development of unfertilized eggs)
- killing of males
- feminization (the conversion of male insects into
females)
  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rickettsiales
Genus Wolbachia are intracellular also contain symbionts.

In the wasp Asobara tabida, the development and maturation of females

depend on the presence of Wolbachia.

Without them, the ovaries undergo apoptosis

Huevo de insecto infectado con bacterias simbiontes (Wolbachia sp.)

Credit: Michael Clark & Seth

Bordenstein
http://discover.mbl.edu/labs.htm
  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rickettsiales
Genus Ehrlochia  Causal agents of ehrlichiosis a tick-borne
disease (enfermedad transmitida por garrapatas)

figure 31.7 Ehrlichia and Coxiella. (a) Ehrlichia chaffeensis, the causative agent of
human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME). The electron micrograph shows inclusions in
a human monocyte that contains large numbers of E. chaffeensis cells. The blue
Rash, flulike symptoms, changes in liver function, and a arrows indicate bacteria in each inclusion. The E. chaffeensis cells are about 0.3–0.9
reduction in white blood cell numbers. The symptoms can range μm in diameter. Mitochondria are indicated by red arrows.

from subclinical to fatal.

  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rickettsiales
TEM of the rickettsia Coxiella burntii, cause of Q fever (pneumonia-like infection)

C. burnetii cells are transmitted to animals such as sheep, cattle, and goats by insect bites, and from these reservoirs are
transmitted to humans.
figure 31.7 Ehrlichia and Coxiella. (b) Colorized scanning electron micrograph of
cells of Coxiella burnetii, the causative agent of Q fever. The Coxiella cells were
grown in animal cell culture and are shown inside a fractured host cell. A single
C. burnetii cell is about 0.4 μm in diameter.
 (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rhodobacterales and
Rhodospirillales
Metabolically diverse organisms:

-Purple nonsulfur bacteria (Rhodobacter and Rhodospirillum)

-Aerobic anoxygenic phototrophs (Roseobacte)
-Nitrogen-fixing bacteria (Azospirillum)
-Denitrifiers (Paracoccus), methylotrophs
-Magnetotactic bacteria (Magnetospirillum)
Domain:
Bacteria
Kingdom:
Bacteria
Phylum:
Pseudomonadota
(Proteobacteria)
Calss:
Alphaproteobacteria
Orders:
Rhodobacterales
Rhodospirillales
  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rhodobacterales and
Rhodospirillales
Nitrogen-fixing bacteria:
– Azospirillum spp.
Grow in soil, using nutrients excreted by plants
  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Rhodobacterales and
Rhodospirillales
Magnetospirillum

-In a magnetic field, magnetic bacteria demonstrate a dramatic

directed movement called magnetotaxis. Within these cells are
structures called magnetosomes, which consist of chains of
magnetic particles made of magnetite (Fe 3O4) or greigite (Fe3S4).

-Magnetosomes are localized within invaginations of the cell

membrane that are organized in a linear conformation by a protein
scaffold.

-Magnetic bacteria are typically microaerophilic or anaerobic and

are most often found near the oxic–anoxic interface in sediments or
stratified lakes.
  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Caulobacterales
The Caulobacterales are typically oligotrophic (nutrient-
poor) in aquatic environments and strictly aerobic
chemoorganotrophs.

Species typically form prosthecae

or stalks

Unequal cell growth

Domain:
Bacteria
Kingdom:
Bacteria
Phylum:
Pseudomonadota
(Proteobacteria)
Calss:
Alphaproteobacteria
Orders:
Caulobacterales
  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Caulobacterales
Have prosthecae, are specialized appendages or extensions found in certain microorganisms, can serve various
purposes, including attachment, sensing the environment, cell division, motility or nutrient acquisition

– Caulobacter – Hyphomicrobium.
Stalked bacteria found in lakes (tallos) Budding bacteria (bacterias gemantes) found in lakes
The Caulobacter life cycle:

Free-swimming cells alternate with cells that lack

flagella and instead are attached to surfaces by a
stalk with a holdfast at its end.

The role of the swarmer cells is strictly dispersal, as

swarmers cannot divide to form new swarmer cells
nor can they replicate their DNA.

Conversely, the role of the stalked cell is strictly

reproduction. In order to divide, swarmer cells must
first differentiate into stalked cells, and to swim,
stalked cells must first produce swarmers.
Growth of Caulobacter
  (alfa) Proteobacteria: Sphingomonadales
Consists of obligately aerobic and nutritionally versatile species

Widespread in aquatic and terrestrial environments and are notable for their ability to metabolize a wide
range of organic compounds including many aromatic compounds that are common environmental
contaminants (e.g., toluene, nonylphenol, dibenzo-p-dioxin, naphthalene, and anthracene, among others

Domain:
Bacteria
Kingdom:
Bacteria
Phylum:
Pseudomonadota
(Proteobacteria)
Calss:
Alphaproteobacteria
Orders:
Sphingomonadales
 (alfa) Proteobacteria