Bacterial Morphology and Structure

The main types of medial Microbe

 Bacteria : Prokaryote( unicellular)

0.1~10 μm
 Fungi : Eukaryote, 2 μm~>1m
 Viruses : cellular,0.01~0.25μm
Cell types
 SIZE OF BACTERIA
 Unit for measurement : Micron
or micrometer,μm: 1μm=10-3mm
 Size:
Varies with kinds of bacteria, and also
related to their age and external environment.
 Shaps of bacteria
 Coccus
 Bacillus
 Spiral bacterium
 Shape of Bacteria

 Cocci: sphere, 1μm

 Bacilli: rods , 0.5-1 μm in width -3 μm in length
 Spiral bacteria: 1~3 μm in length and 0.3-0.6 μm in width
Coccus
Bacillus

Spiral Bacterium
 球菌 Types of
(coccus) coccus

链球菌
(streptococcus)
 球菌
(coccus)
葡萄球菌
(streptococcus)
 球菌
(coccus)
四联球菌 (tetrad)
 球菌
(coccus)
八叠球菌
(sarcina)
杆菌 (bacillus)

不同杆菌的大小、长短、粗细很不一致
。
大 中 小

炭疽芽胞杆菌 3-10 μm 大肠埃希菌 2-3 布鲁菌 0.6-1.5

μm μm
杆菌 (bacillus)
杆菌的形态多样
两端齐平 两端尖细

炭疽芽胞杆菌 白喉棒状杆菌
杆菌 (bacillus)
杆菌的形态多样

分枝杆菌 双歧杆菌
 螺形菌 (spiral
bacterium)

弧菌 螺菌 螺杆菌
Structure of
Bacteria
Essential structures 基本结构
cell wall 细胞壁
cell membrane 细胞膜
Cytoplasm 细胞质
nuclear material 核质

Particular structures 特殊结构

capsule 荚膜
flagella 鞭毛
pili 菌毛
spore 芽胞
 Cell wall
 Situation: outmost portion. 15-30nm in
thickness, 10%-25% of dry weight.
 1884: Christian Gram: First publication for the Gram stain method)
Editor's note: I would like to testify that I have found the Gram method to be one of
the best and for many cases the best method which I have ever used for staining
Schizomycetes.

Gram, C. 1884. Ueber die

isolirte Farbung der
Schizomyceten in
SchnittÄund
Trockenpraparaten.
Fortschritte der Medicin,
Vol. 2, pages 185-189.
Cell wall :Common peptidoglycan layer

 A backbone of N-acetyl glucosamine and N-

acetylmuramic acid: Both discovered in Gram
positive and Gram negative bacteria.
 A set of identical tetrapeptide side chain attached
to N-acetyl-muramic acid: different components
and binding modes in Gram positive and Gram
negative bacteria.
 A set of identical peptide cross bridges: only in
Gram positive bacteria
 NAM NAG NAM NAG
CH2OH CH2OH CH2OH CH2OH
H O H O H O H O
O H O H H
H
O H O OH H O H O OH H
H
H 3C H NH H H NH H 3C H NH H H NH H
C–H O=C O=C C–H O=C O=C
C=O CH3 CH3 C=O CH3 CH3

H– N H– N
L–Ala L–Ala
D–Glu H D–Glu H
L–Lys Gly–Gly–Gly–Gly–Gly–N L–Lys Gly–Gly–Gly–Gly–Gly–N
D–Ala D–Ala
C=O C=O
图附
溶菌酶作
用位点

青霉素作
用位点
 G
G

M
M
丙
丙 谷
DAB
谷
G DAB
丙 G
丙
 Special components of
Gram positive cell wall
- Teichoic acid
Special components of
Gram negative cell wall
 Functions of Cell Wall
 Maintaining the cell's characteristic shape- the rigid
wall compensates for the flexibility of the
phospholipid membrane and keeps the cell from
assuming a spherical shape
 Countering the effects of osmotic pressure
 Providing attachment sites for bacteriophages
 Providing a rigid platform for surface appendages-
flagella, fimbriae, and pili all emanate from the
wall and extend beyond it
 Play an essential role in cell division
 Be the sites of major antigenic determinants of the
cell surface 。
 Wall-less forms of Bacteria.
 When bacteria are treated with 1) enzymes that are
lytic for the cell wall e.g. lysozyme or 2) antibiotics
that interfere with biosynthesis of peptidoglycan,
wall-less bacteria are often produced.
 Usually these treatments generate non-viable
organisms. Wall-less bacteria that can not replicate
are referred to as spheroplasts (when an outer
membrane is present) or protoplasts (if an outer
membrane is not present).
 Occasionally wall-less bacteria that can replicate
are generated by these treatments (L forms).
 Bacteria L form
 Bacteria with dfective cell wall-bacterial L
form: protoplast, spheroplast
Cell membrane
Function of Cell membrane
a. Selective permeability and transport of
solutes into cells
b. Electron transport and oxidative
phosphorylation
c. Excretion of hydrolytic exoenzymes
d. Site of biosynthesis of DNA, cell wall
polymers and membrane lipids.
 Mesosomes

• Mesosomes are specialized structures formed by

convoluted inveigh-nations of cytoplasmic
membrane, and divided into septal and lateral
mesosome.
 Cytoplasm
 Composed largely of water, together with proteins,
nucleic acid, lipids and small amount of sugars
and salts
 Ribosomes: numerous, 15-20nm in diameter with
70S; distributed throughout the cytoplasm;
sensitive to streptomycin and erythromycin site of
protein synthesis
 Plasmids: extrachromosomal genetic elements
 Inclusions: sources of stored energy, e,g volutin
 Ribosomes
 Ribosomes are the
protein synthesizing
factories of the cell.
 They translate the
information in
mRNA into protein
sequences.
Plasmid

Plasmids are
small ， circular/line ， ex
trachromosomal ， double-
stranded DNA
molecules 。 They are
capable of self-replication
and contain genes that
confer some
properties ， such as
antibiotic
resistance ， virulence
factors 。 Plasmids are not
essential for cellular
survival.
Inclusions of
Bacteria

 Inclusions are aggregates of various

compounds that are normally involved in
storing energy reserves or building blocks
for the cell. Inclusions accumilate when a
cell is grown in the presence of excess
nutrients and they are often observed under
laboratory conditions.
granulose
 Nucleus
 Lacking nuclear membrane, absence of
nucleoli, hence known as nucleic material
or nucleoid, one to several per bacterium.
 Capsules and slime layers
 These are structures surrounding the outside of the cell
envelope. When more defined, they are referred to as a
capsule when less defined as a slime layer. They
usually consist of polysaccharide; however, in certain
bacilli they are composed of a polypeptide (polyglutamic
acid). They are not essential to cell viability and some
strains within a species will produce a capsule, whilst
others do not. Capsules are often lost during in vitro
culture.
Capsules and slime layers
Capsules and slime layers
 Function of Capsules and slime layers(1)

 Attachment :These structures are thought to help cells

attach to their target environment. Streptococcus
mutans produces a slime layer in the presence of
sucrose. This results in dental plaque and many
bacteria can stick to tooth surfaces and cause decay
once S. mutans forms a slime layer. Vibrio cholerae, the
cause of cholera, also produces a glycocalyx which
helps it attach to the intestinal villi of the host.
Function of Capsules and slime layers(2)
 Protection from phagocytic engulfment. Bacterial
pathogens are always in danger of being "eaten"
by phagocytes. (Host cells that protect you from
invaders.) Streptococcus pneumoniae, when
encapsulated is able to kill 90% of infected
animals, when non-encapsulated no animals die.
The capsule has been found to protect the
bacteria by making it difficult for the phagocyte to
engulf the microbe.
Function of Capsules and slime layers(3)
 Resistance to drying. Capsules and slime
layers inhibit water from escaping into the
environment.
Function of Capsules and slime layers(4)
 Reservoir for certain nutrients. Glycocalyx
will bind certain ions and molecules. These
can then be made available to the cell.
Function of Capsules and slime layers(5)
 Depot for waste products. Waste products
of metabolism are excreted from the cell,
and will accumulate in the capsule. This
binds them up, and prevents the waste
from interfering with cell metabolism.
 Flagella.
 Some bacterial species are mobile and possess
locomotory organelles - flagella. Those that do are able to
taste their environment and respond to specific chemical
foodstuffs or toxic materials and move towards or away
from them (chemotaxis). Flagella are embedded in the cell
membrane, extend through the cell envelope and project
as a long strand. Flagella consist of a number of proteins
including flagellin. They move the cell by rotating with a
propeller like action.

Relative Speeds of Organisms

Organism Kilometers per hour Body lengths per second

Cheetah 111 25
Human 37.5 5.4
Bacteria 0.00015 10
 Flagella
 The diameter of a flagellum is thin, 20 nm, and long with some
having a length 10 times the diameter of cell. Due to their
small diameter, flagella cannot be seen in the light microscope
unless a special stain is applied. Bacteria can have one or more
flagella arranged in clumps or spread all over the cell.
Flagella
 Monotrichate
 Amphitrichate
 Lophotrichate
 Peritrichate
Flagella
 Function of Flagella

 Identification
of Bacteria
 Pathogenesis
 Motility of
bacteria
 Pili

 Pili are hair-like projections

of the cell , They are known to be receptors for certain
bacterial viruses.
 Chemical nature is pilin
 Classification and Function
a. Common pili or fimbriae: fine , rigid numerous,
related to bacterial adhesion
b. Sex pili: longer and coarser, only 1-4, related to
bacterial conjugation
 Sex pili
 A donor bacteria will attach to a recipient via the
sex pilus. Then a copy of part of the donor
bacterium's genome passes through the sex
pilus into the recipient.
 Conjugation, as it is called, is one explanation
for the rapid spread of drug resistance in many
different species of bacteria.
 Common pili or fimbriae
 Pili have also been show to be important for the
attachment of some pathogenic species to their host.
Neisseria gonorrheae, the causative agent of gonorrhea,
has a special pili that helps it adhere to the urogenital tract
of its host. The microbe is much more virulent when able
to synthesize pili.
Endospores
 Endospores are highly resistant resting structures
produced within cells. They are common to
organisms which live in soil and may need to wait
out some rough times such as >100°C heat,
radiation, drying or chemical agents ; under
favourable conditions , a spore germinates into a
vegetative cell
 Spores are commonly found in the genera Bacillus and
Clostridium.
 DPA and survive
 Dipicolinic acid,DPA.
 Spores can survive for a very long time, and then
regerminate. Spores that were dormant for
thousands of years in the great tomes of the
Egyption Pharohs were able to germinate and grow
when placed in appropriate medium. There are
even claims of spores that are over 250 million
years old being able to germiinate when placed in
appropriate medium. These results have yet to be
validated.
 Spores
 The mechanisms that acount
for this include the
dehydration of the protoplast
and the production of special
proteins that protect the
spores DNA.

• are capable of detecting their environment and under

favorable nutrient conditions germinating and returning to
the vegetative state.
 Spore
 Identification of Bacteria
 Pathogenesis
 Resistance
Methods Microscopey

 Light Microscope
 Electron Microscope
 Darkfield Microscope
 Phase Contrast Microscope
 Fluorescence Microscope
 Cofocal Microscope ）
Methods

Staining Methods

 Simple staining;
 Differential staining ( Gram
stain, Acid-fast stain),
 Special staining( Negative stain,
Spore stain, Flagella stain)