BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION

Comprehensive Revision Notes & Quick Reference Guide

1. Systems of Classification
• Aristotle's Classification: The earliest scientific basis for classification.
◦ Plants: Divided into three categories based on morphological characters: Herbs, Shrubs, and Trees.

◦ Animals: Divided into two groups: those with red blood (Enaima) and those without red blood (Anaima).

• Two-Kingdom Classification: Proposed by Carolus Linnaeus. He divided all living organisms into two
kingdoms: Kingdom Plantae and Kingdom Animalia.

• Five-Kingdom Classification: Proposed by R.H. Whittaker (1969). The five kingdoms defined by him
are:
1. Monera

2. Protista

3. Fungi

4. Plantae

5. Animalia

Main Criteria for Five-Kingdom Classification

Whittaker used the following primary criteria for classifying organisms:

• Cell structure (Prokaryotic vs. Eukaryotic)

• Thallus organisation / Body complexity

• Mode of nutrition (Autotrophic, Heterotrophic, Saprophytic, etc.)

• Reproduction (Vegetative, Asexual, Sexual)

• Phylogenetic relationships (Evolutionary history)

2. Other Major Classification Systems & Limitations

Classification System Key Features & Characteristics

1. Artificial System • Utilizes only one or a few superficial morphological traits (e.g., habit, color,
number/shape of leaves).
• Homology is never used as a standard.
• Does not reflect evolutionary relationships or deeper structural details from
anatomy, cytology, or phytochemistry.

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 Classification System Key Features & Characteristics

2. Natural System • Employs several natural morphological characters for grouping.

• Studies homology and structural affinities in all characters, including
internal anatomy, embryology, and phytochemistry.
• Provides valuable insights into both natural relationships and phylogeny.

3. Phylogenetic System • Proposed prominently by Engler and Prantl.

• Arranged flowering plants according to the increasing complexity of their
floral morphology.
• Based entirely on the possible evolutionary pathways and common descent
of different traits.

Objections to the Two-Kingdom System

1. Lichens: Exhibit a dual nature (symbiosis of algae and fungi), making them impossible to fit cleanly into
either kingdom.

2. Fungi: Remain physically fixed in one spot like plants, but possess a completely heterotrophic,
saprophytic mode of nutrition and lack chlorophyll.

3. Cellular distribution: No clear distinction or separation between unicellular and multicellular

organisms.

4. Structural distribution: Completely grouped prokaryotic and eukaryotic cellular organizations together.

3. Kingdom Monera
Kingdom Monera consists entirely of prokaryotes, with Bacteria serving as its sole members.

• Cell wall is primarily composed of peptidoglycan (murein).

• Bacteria are found almost everywhere and display exceptional metabolic diversity. They can be
Photosynthetic autotrophs, Chemosynthetic autotrophs, or Heterotrophs.

Bacterial Morphological Shapes

• Coccus: Spherical-shaped bacteria.

• Bacillus: Rod-shaped bacteria.

• Vibrium: Comma-shaped bacteria.

• Spirillum: Spiral-shaped bacteria.

Major Groups of Monera

• Archaebacteria: Special bacteria that survive in some of the most harsh and extreme habitats due to a
different cell wall structure:
◦ Halophiles: Salt-loving bacteria found in highly saline environments.

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 ◦ Thermoacidophiles: Found in hot sulfur springs with low pH.

◦ Methanogens: Present in marshy areas and in the gut of several ruminant animals (like cows and
buffaloes). They produce methane gas (CH4) from the dung.

• Eubacteria ("True Bacteria"):

◦ Cyanobacteria (Blue-Green Algae): Photosynthetic autotrophs containing chlorophyll-a. Organisms
like Nostoc and Anabaena possess specialized cells called heterocysts for atmospheric nitrogen
fixation.

◦ Algae Bloom: Excessive, rapid growth of blue-green algae over polluted water bodies. It releases
harmful neurotoxins, severely depletes dissolved oxygen levels, and renders water unfit for use.

◦ Chemosynthetic Autotrophs: Oxidize various inorganic substances such as nitrates, nitrites, and
ammonia, utilizing the released energy for ATP production. They play a vital role in recycling nutrients
like N, P, Fe, and S.

◦ Heterotrophic Bacteria: Act primarily as decomposers. They are helpful in making curd from milk,
production of antibiotics, and nitrogen fixation. However, they also cause major diseases like cholera,
typhoid, tetanus, and citrus canker.

• Mycoplasmas:
◦ Completely lack a cell wall.

◦ They are the smallest known living cells.

◦ Can survive completely without oxygen and are highly pathogenic in both animals and plants.

4. Kingdom Protista
Comprises all single-celled eukaryotes. This kingdom forms a crucial evolutionary link between plants,
animals, and fungi.

Major Groups of Protista

• (i) Chrysophytes:
◦ Includes diatoms and golden algae (desmids). Found in both fresh water and marine environments;
microscopic, floating passively as plankton.

◦ They are the chief producers in the oceans.

◦ Cell walls are embedded with silica, making them indestructible. The walls overlap and fit together
tightly like a soap box.

◦ Their billions-of-years accumulation forms Diatomaceous Earth (gritty soil), widely used in polishing
and the filtration of oils and syrups.

• (ii) Dinoflagellates:
◦ Mostly marine and photosynthetic. Cell walls have stiff cellulose plates on the outer surface.

◦ Possess two flagella: one lies longitudinally and the other transversely in a furrow between the wall
plates.

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 ◦ Example: Gonyaulax multiplies rapidly, causing the sea to appear red (red tides) and releasing deadly
toxins that kill marine animals.

• (iii) Euglenoids:
◦ Predominantly found in stagnant fresh water.

◦ Instead of a rigid cell wall, they have a protein-rich flexible layer called a pellicle.

◦ Exhibit mixotrophic nutrition: Photosynthetic in the presence of sunlight, but behave as heterotrophs
when light is absent. Example: Euglena.

• (iv) Slime Moulds:

◦ Saprophytic protists that move along decaying twigs and leaves, engulfing organic material.

◦ Under suitable conditions, they aggregate to form a structure called plasmodium.

◦ During unfavorable conditions, the plasmodium differentiates to form fruiting bodies bearing spores at
their tips. Spores possess true, highly resistant walls that survive for years and are dispersed by air
currents.

• (v) Protozoans:
◦ All protozoans are heterotrophs and live as predators or parasites. They are divided into four major
groups:

◦ Amoeboid protozoans: Catch and engulf prey using pseudopodia (false feet), e.g., Amoeba.
Entamoeba are parasitic forms.

◦ Flagellated protozoans: Have flagella for locomotion. Pathogenic forms like Trypanosoma cause
Sleeping Sickness.

◦ Ciliated protozoans: Aquatic, actively moving using thousands of cilia. Coordinated movement of cilia
steers food into the gullet, e.g., Paramoecium.

◦ Sporozoans: Include organisms that have an infectious spore-like stage in their life cycle, e.g.,
Plasmodium (malarial parasite), which causes malaria.

5. Kingdom Fungi
A unique kingdom of heterotrophic, non-chlorophyllous, achlorophyllous eukaryotic organisms.

General Characteristics

1. Heterotrophic and cosmopolitan; grow best in warm and humid places.

2. The body consists of a network of long, slender thread-like structures called hyphae. The entire
network of hyphae is termed mycelium.

3. Hyphae which are continuous tubes filled with multinucleated cytoplasm are called coenocytic
hyphae. Other forms have septae or cross-walls.

4. Cell walls are characteristically composed of chitin and complex polysaccharides.

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 5. Can be saprophytic, parasitic, or symbiotic (forming Lichens with algae, and Mycorrhiza with roots of
higher plants). Examples: Puccinia (causes wheat rust), Penicillium, and Yeast (unicellular fungus).

6. Reproduction:
◦ Vegetative: Fragmentation, fission, and budding.

◦ Asexual Spores: Conidia, sporangiospores, or zoospores.

◦ Sexual Spores: Oospores, ascospores, and basidiospores, produced in distinct fruiting bodies.

7. The sexual cycle involves 3 critical steps:

◦ (i) Plasmogamy: Fusion of protoplasms between two motile or non-motile gametes.

◦ (ii) Karyogamy: Fusion of two compatible nuclei.

◦ (iii) Meiosis: Occurs in the zygote, resulting in the formation of haploid spores.

8. Dikaryophase: An intervening stage (n + n, i.e., two nuclei per cell) occurring between plasmogamy
and karyogamy in advanced fungi like Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes. Such a cell is called a
dikaryon.

Classification & Classes of Fungi

Class Mycelium Structure Reproduction Features Examples

(i) Phycomycetes Aseptate and Asexual spores (zoospores/ Mucor, Rhizopus

coenocytic. Grow on aplanospores) produced (Bread mould),
decaying wood or as endogenously in sporangium. Albugo
obligate parasites. Sexual: Zygospores from
gametic fusion.

(ii) Ascomycetes Branched and septate. Asexual: Conidia produced Aspergillus,

(Sac Fungi) Saprophytic, parasitic, or exogenously. Sexual: Neurospora,
coprophilous (dung- Ascospores produced Claviceps,
growing). endogenously in sacs (asci) Saccharomyces
within an Ascocarp. (Yeast)

(iii) Basidiomycetes Branched and septate. Asexual spores generally not Agaricus
(Club Fungi) found. Vegetative via (Mushroom),
fragmentation. Somatic/ Ustilago (Smut),
vegetative cell fusion forms a Puccinia (Rust)
basidium inside a
Basidiocarp, producing 4
exogenous basidiospores.

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 Class Mycelium Structure Reproduction Features Examples

(iv) Deuteromycetes Branched and septate. Called "Imperfect Fungi" Alternaria,

(Fungi Imperfecti) Saprophytic, parasitic, or because their sexual stage is Colletotrichum,
large-scale unknown. Once discovered, Trichoderma
decomposers. they are reclassified into
correct classes. Reproduce
only via asexual conidia.

6. Viruses, Viroids, Prions, and Lichens

These acellular or anomalous entities do not find an official place in Whittaker's Five-Kingdom classification
system.

Viruses
• They are considered non-cellular, inert crystalline structures outside a living host cell. Upon entering a
host, they take complete control of the host cell's genetic machinery to replicate themselves, killing the
host.

• The term "Virus" means venom or poisonous fluid, given by Pasteur.

• D.J. Ivanowsky (1892): Recognized certain microbes as the causative agent of Tobacco Mosaic Disease
(TMD).

• M.W. Beijerinek (1898): Demonstrated that the fluid extract of infected tobacco plants could infect healthy
plants and called it "Contagium vivum fluidum" (soluble living infection).

• W.M. Stanley (1935): Showed that viruses could be crystallized, and the crystals consist largely of
proteins.

• Structure: A nucleoprotein consisting of a genetic core surrounded by a protective protein coat called a
capsid. The capsid is built from small subunits called capsomeres arranged in helical or polyhedral
forms.
◦ Contains either DNA or RNA as genetic material (never both).

◦ Plant viruses generally have single-stranded RNA (ssRNA).

◦ Bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) generally have double-stranded DNA (dsDNA).

◦ Animal viruses can have single/double-stranded RNA or double-stranded DNA.

• Diseases caused: In humans: Mumps, Smallpox, Herpes, Influenza, and AIDS. In plants: Mosaic
formation, leaf rolling and curling, yellowing, vein clearing, dwarfing, and stunted growth.

Viroids
• Discovered by T.O. Diener (1971) as a new infectious agent smaller than viruses.

• Consists of purely free, low molecular weight RNA completely lacking a protein coat.

• Causes Potato spindle tuber disease.

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Prions
• Consist of abnormally folded, highly resistant glycoprotein molecules that act as infectious neurological
agents.

• They cause serious progressive neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Mad Cow Disease, CJD).

Lichens
• A mutually beneficial, symbiotic association between an algal partner (Phycobiont) and a fungal partner
(Mycobiont).

• The phycobiont is autotrophic and prepares food, while the mycobiont provides structural shelter and
absorbs crucial mineral nutrients and water for its partner.

• Lichens serve as exceptional pollution indicators; they are highly sensitive and do not grow in polluted
areas (especially areas high in sulfur dioxide).

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