Microorganisms: An Introduction

The branch of science in which we study about different microorganisms is called microbiology. living organisms that we cannot see with our naked eye are called microorganisms and microbes. As microbes are found everywhere in our earth crust, so microbiology is an important field for our daily life.microbiology is a vast field as it is used in our pharm industries, for diagnosing of diseases, for checking of food in food and science departments, etc. So, we further discuss Archaea microbe which is the main classification of microorganisms.

Prokaryotes

Simple morphology containing microbes are called prokaryotes. they contain nucleoid which supports a single chromosome with circular, double-stranded DNA.prokaryotes are unicellular organisms.

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Eukaryotes

Morphologically complex organisms are called eukaryotes. They may be unicellular or multicellular. the nucleus contains multiple chromosomes The cytoplasm of eukaryotes is subdivided into various membrane-bound organelles.

Classifying Microorganisms

Between all the organisms the two main types of organisms are prokaryotes and eukaryotes. With respect to these types, we discussed ARCHAEA MICROBES.

Archaea

Prokaryotic unicellular living microbes are called archaea .basically there are four types of archaea .psychrophiles, halophiles, methanogens and thermophiles.

The methane-containing organisms are called methanogens. That survive in salty places or environment are called halophiles. organisms lives very hot environment are called thermophiles. And those survive in a very cold environment are called psychrophiles.

Sources of energy:

The sources of energy of archaea carbon dioxide hydrogen gas, and Sulphur. Bacteriorhodopsin Is a figment of a membrane of some species of archaea that utilized this type of pigments to trap light energy.

In the geobiochemical processes including nitrogen, sulfur and carbon cycling archaea play a very important part in wetland sediments. wetlands remain lacks in subtropical mangrove wetlands. the main of this article is to provide complete information of the ecosystem with respect to archaea like structure, dynamics, and interactions of major microbial players.

METHODOLOGY

Archaea in the Degradation of Organics in Hypersaline Environments:

For some microbes hypersaline environment has significance but for some it has disadvantages. hypersaline environments are less polluted as compared to other ecosystems.

Biodegradation of organic pollutants are done in the hypersaline ecosystem by halophilic microorganisms .halophillic microbes like Archaea are able to remove biodegradable of organic pollutants from the hypersaline environment as 5% industrial discharge are slime and hypersaline so nonextremophillic microbes to do degradation of organic compounds.

It is indicated that both alcoholic bacteria and halophilic archaea are intolerant as they adopt extreme hydrophilic environment and can remove contaminating compounds in the hypersaline ecosystem. (Le Borgne, S., Paniagua, D., & Vazquez-Duhalt, R. (2008). Biodegradation of Organic Pollutants by Halophilic Bacteria and Archaea. Journal of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, 15(2-3), 74–92.doi:10.1159/000121323 )

Degradation of Organics with Thermophilic Sulfolobus solfataricus

Archaea have been observed under study that they grow on aromatics. Aromatic hydrocarbons degraded by aerobic bacteria generally it is divided into an upper pathway, which produces dihydroxylated aromatic intermediates by the action of monooxygenases, and a lower pathway that processes these intermediates down to molecules that enter the citric acid cycle S. solfataricus can efficiently grow on phenol as the sole source of carbon and energy. this is the first report with respect to our knowledge, a thermophilic archaeon able to grow on an aromatic compound under aerobic conditions. Moreover, the cloning and heterologous expression and characterization of the thermophilic SsoC2,3O are reported.

Degradation of Hydrocarbons in Soils with Archaea

Major sources of crude oil and petroleum are hydrocarbons. due to naturally occurring microorganisms in marine and in fresh water under aerobic and anaerobic conditions hydrocarbons can be biodegraded. Biodegradation can be promoted by the alteration such as phosphorous and nitrogen fertilizers are often added to stimulate metabolism and microbial growth. Sulfates, nitrate, and oxygen are also added and they work as electron acceptors to increase the biodegradation rates.

The ability of microorganisms-bacteria, archaea, fungi, or algae - to break down hydrocarbons is the basis for natural and enhanced bioremediation

Archaea in the Degradation of Oil in Oceans and Marine Sediments

A number of the researches about bioremediation has focused operations performed by the domain Bacteria. An important role can be played by Archaea in different conditions.

In ultimate conditions such as halophilic or acidophilic environments. Archaea are suitable for bioremediation. In alternative conditions, Archaea works collaboratively along with Bacteria during the biodegradation. In this analysis, In bioremediation different roles that Archaea have are covered, such as soil and oceans, metal remediation, acid mine drainage, and dehalogenation. In these areas research needs are addressed. For the treatment of wastewater, these processes are essential beyond the bioremediation and they also help to understand the natural microbial ecology of several Archaea genera.

Archaea in Acid Mine Drainage

Catalyzation of iron and sulfur oxidation done by communities of autotrophic and heterotrophic Archaea and bacteria. As compared to other environments of ecosystem AMD communities contain some percentage of prokaryotic. It is observed that eight bacterial and Archaeal divisions able to represent to thrive beneath ultimate particular condition of AMD.

Archaea in Reductive Dehalogenation

One of the largest group of marine life is phylum Chloroflexi, the marine is not completely explored yet.in this article, we have studied about Chloroflexi obtained from deep-sea sediments. moreover, we observe their lifestyle relationship with deep-sea sediment microbes and terrestrial. (Krzmarzick, M. J., Taylor, D. K., Fu, X., & McCutchan, A. L. (2018). Diversity and Niche of Archaea in Bioremediation. Archaea, 2018, 1–17. doi:10.1155/2018/3194108 )

Summary

Microorganisms set the foundation for all life forms. These were the first organisms to occupy earth and, ultimately, gave rise to all other organisms on Earth. At present-day, microorganisms still occupy a huge portion of Earth’s living species. In order to describe this large abundance of species, we first classified these organisms into two cell types: prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Prokaryotes were defined and unicellular organisms that lack membrane-bound organelles, specifically a nucleus. Whereas, eukaryotes are organisms that possess a defined nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles.

Next, these cell types were more specifically divided into five microbial classifications: archaea, bacteria, algae, protozoa, and fungi. All five groups have unique properties that differentiated them from others. Archaea have the ability to survive in extreme environmental conditions. Bacteria have peptidoglycan present in their cell walls. Algae have the ability to conduct photosynthesis. Protozoa contain cellulose in their cell walls and fungi have chitin within their cell walls.

References

1. “Kingdom Fungi”. https://biology.tutorvista.com/organism/kingdom-fungi.html.
2. Lewin, Ralph A., Anderson, Robert A. “Algae”. Encyclopedia Britannica. (2017): https://www.britannica.com/science/algae.
3. Lumen Learning: Boundless Biology. “Structure of Prokaryotes”. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-biology/chapter/structure-of-prokaryotes/
4. Lumen Learning: Boundless Microbiology. “Microbes and the World”. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-microbiology/chapter/microbes-and-the-world/.
5. Wheelis, Mark. “Principles of Modern Microbiology”. Jones & Bartlett Learning. (2008): 1-10.