CBSE Class 11 Biology Chapter 2: Biological Classification

Chapter 2

BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION
CBSE / NCERT Class 11 Biology | Unit I: Diversity of Living Organisms

Topics Covered
• Early systems of classification (Two Kingdom system)
• Need for a scientific classification system
• Kingdom Monera
• Kingdom Protista
• Kingdom Fungi
• Lichens
• Viruses, Viroids and Prions

1. TWO KINGDOM CLASSIFICATION AND ITS LIMITATIONS

Linnaeus classified all living organisms into two kingdoms – Plantae and Animalia. This system, known as
the Two Kingdom Classification, used a few morphological characters mainly related to the mode of
nutrition. It did not distinguish between the eukaryotes and prokaryotes, unicellular and multicellular
organisms, and photosynthetic (green algae) and non-photosynthetic (fungi) organisms.

As more and more organisms were discovered, along with advances in the study of cell structure, nutrition
and life cycles, it became clear that the two-kingdom classification was inadequate. This necessitated a
fresh look at the classification of organisms, ultimately leading to the five kingdom classification.

2. FIVE KINGDOM CLASSIFICATION

R.H. Whittaker (1969) proposed a five kingdom classification. The kingdoms defined by him were named
Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia. The main criteria for classification used by him include
cell structure, thallus organisation, mode of nutrition, reproduction and phylogenetic relationships.

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CBSE Class 11 Biology Chapter 2: Biological Classification

Fig. 2.1 – Whittaker's Five Kingdom Classification

Five kingdoms and more taxonomic categories are used for a more scientific and logical classification of all
living organisms. In more recent times, further amendments have been made, most notably three-domain
classification (Archaea, Bacteria, Eukarya) proposed by Carl Woese, but NCERT Class 11 primarily follows
Whittaker's system.

3. KINGDOM MONERA
Bacteria are the sole members of Kingdom Monera. They are the most abundant micro-organisms and are
found everywhere – in soil, water, air, and as parasites/symbionts in other organisms, in hot springs,
deserts and deep in the sea. Bacteria are grouped under four categories based on their shape: coccus
(spherical), bacillus (rod-shaped), vibrium (comma-shaped) and spirillum (spiral).

3.1 Archaebacteria
Archaebacteria are special because they live in the most harsh habitats such as extreme salty areas
(halophiles), hot springs (thermoacidophiles) and marshy areas (methanogens). Archaebacteria differ
from other bacteria in having a different cell wall structure (which lacks true peptidoglycan/muramic acid),
which is responsible for their survival in extreme conditions. Methanogens are present in the gut of
ruminant animals such as cows and buffaloes, and are responsible for the production of methane (biogas)
from the dung of these animals.

3.2 Eubacteria (True Bacteria)

There are thousands of species of eubacteria, characterised by the presence of a rigid cell wall, and if
motile, a flagellum. The cyanobacteria (also referred to as blue-green algae) have chlorophyll a similar to
green plants and are photosynthetic autotrophs. The cyanobacteria are unicellular, colonial or filamentous,
freshwater/marine or terrestrial algae. Cells possess a mucilaginous sheath (mucilage). They often form
blooms in polluted water bodies. Some of these organisms can fix atmospheric nitrogen in heterocysts,
e.g. Nostoc and Anabaena.

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CBSE Class 11 Biology Chapter 2: Biological Classification

Chemosynthetic autotrophic bacteria oxidise various inorganic substances such as nitrates, nitrites and
ammonia, and use the released energy for their ATP production; they also play a great role in recycling
nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, iron and sulphur. Heterotrophic bacteria are the most abundant in
nature; the majority are important decomposers. Many bacteria are useful in making curd from milk, in
production of antibiotics, fixing nitrogen in legume roots, etc. Some heterotrophic bacteria are pathogens
causing damage to human, crop, farm animals.

3.3 Mode of Reproduction in Bacteria

• Asexual – by fission
• Sometimes, under unfavourable conditions – they produce spores for survival
• DNA transfer (a primitive sexual reproduction-like process) – from one bacterium to another through
conjugation, transformation or transduction

4. KINGDOM PROTISTA
All single-celled eukaryotes are placed in Kingdom Protista. Protists have defined nucleus and other
membrane bound organelles. Some have flagella or cilia. They reproduce both asexually and sexually.
Protista forms an important link with other eukaryotic kingdoms such as fungi, plantae and animalia.
Kingdom Protista includes:

Group Key Features / Examples

Chrysophytes Includes diatoms and golden algae (desmids). Found in fresh water/marine environments; photosyntheti

Dinoflagellates Mostly marine and photosynthetic; appear yellow, green, brown, blue or red depending on the main pigm

Euglenoids Mostly fresh water organisms found in stagnant water. Instead of a cell wall, they have a protein-rich lay

Slime Moulds Saprophytic protists; move along decaying twigs/leaves engulfing organic matter. Under favourable cond

Protozoans Heterotrophic organisms considered as primitive relatives of animals; live as predators or parasites. Divi

5. KINGDOM FUNGI
Fungi constitute a unique kingdom of heterotrophic organisms. They show a great diversity in morphology
and habitat. You must be familiar with mushrooms, the mould on bread and jams, and the yeast used to
make bread and beer. Some unicellular fungi like yeast are used to make bread and beer. Some are the
source of antibiotics, e.g. Penicillium. Some are pathogens causing diseases in plants and animals; wheat
rust-causing Puccinia is an example. Some are extremely poisonous and hallucinogenic, such as Amanita.

Fungi are filamentous (except yeasts) and the body consists of long, slender thread-like structures called
hyphae. The network of hyphae is known as mycelium. Some hyphae are continuous tubes filled with
multinucleated cytoplasm – called coenocytic hyphae. Others have septa/cross walls in their hyphae.
Fungal cell walls are made up of chitin and polysaccharides. Most fungi are heterotrophic and absorb
soluble organic matter from dead substrates (saprophytes), or absorb nutrients from living organisms
(parasites). Some live as symbionts – in association with algae as lichens, and with roots of higher plants
as mycorrhiza.

Fungi reproduce by vegetative means (fragmentation, fission and budding), asexual means (by spores
called conidia or sporangiospores or zoospores), and sexual means (by oospores, ascospores and

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CBSE Class 11 Biology Chapter 2: Biological Classification

basidiospores). The sexual cycle involves three steps: plasmogamy (fusion of protoplasms between two
motile/non-motile gametes), karyogamy (fusion of two nuclei), and meiosis in the zygote producing
haploid spores. When plasmogamy is immediately followed by karyogamy, a diploid cell is formed;
however, in fungi, a dikaryophase (two nuclei, n + n, dikaryon) may occur where cells have two nuclei per
cell, and this fuses at a later stage. This condition is peculiar to fungi.

Fig. 2.2 – Classification of Kingdom Fungi into four classes

Class Mycelium Asexual Reproduction Sexual Reproduction Examples

Phycomycetes Aseptate & coenocytic

Zoospores (motile) or aplanospores
Oospores, (non-motile)
zygospores Mucor, Rhizopus, Albugo

Ascomycetes Branched & septate

Conidia Ascospores (produced endogenously
Aspergillus,
in asci/sac-like
Claviceps, Neurospora,
structure) Penicillium, Sac

Basidiomycetes Branched & septate

Not commonly found Basidiospores (produced exogenously
Agaricus (mushroom),
on basidium)Ustilago (smut), Puccinia (rus

Deuteromycetes Septate & branched

Conidia Absent (Reproduce only asexually,
Alternaria,
hence
Colletotrichum,
called 'Fungi Trichoderma
Imperfecti')

Table 2.1 – Comparison of the four classes of Kingdom Fungi

6. LICHENS
Lichens are symbiotic associations between algae and fungi. The algal component is known as
phycobiont and the fungal component as mycobiont, which are autotrophic and heterotrophic
respectively. Algae prepare food for the fungi, and fungi provide shelter and absorb mineral nutrients and
water for its partner. So close is their association that if one saw a lichen in nature one would never imagine
that they had two different organisms involved. Lichens are very good indicators of pollution – they do not
grow in polluted areas.

7. VIRUSES, VIROIDS AND PRIONS

Viruses are non-cellular organisms characterised by having an inert crystalline structure outside the living
cell, but once they infect a living cell, they take over the machinery of the host cell to multiply, thus

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displaying the properties of living organisms. The name 'virus' means venom or poisonous fluid. D.J.
Ivanowsky (1892) first recognised viruses as pathogens smaller than bacteria causing the mosaic disease
of tobacco (the extract of infected leaves of tobacco remained infectious even after passing through
Chamberland filters, designed to remove bacteria). M.W. Beijerinck (1898) demonstrated that the extract
could cause infection in healthy plants and called the fluid Contagium vivum fluidum (infectious living
fluid). W.M. Stanley (1935) showed that viruses could be crystallised, and crystals consist largely of
proteins. Viruses are inert outside their specific host cell.

Viruses are obligate parasites and, in addition to proteins, also contain genetic material, either RNA or
DNA (no virus has both). A virus is a nucleoprotein and the genetic material is infectious. The protein coat,
called capsid, made of small subunits called capsomeres, protects the nucleic acid. The capsomeres are
arranged in helical or polyhedral geometric forms. Viruses that infect plants have single-stranded RNA,
while those infecting animals have either single or double-stranded RNA or double-stranded DNA. Bacterial
viruses (bacteriophages) are usually double-stranded DNA viruses.

Fig. 2.3 – Basic capsid symmetries seen in viruses: helical, polyhedral and complex (bacteriophage)

7.1 Viroids
In 1971, T.O. Diener discovered a new infectious agent smaller than viruses, which was found to cause
potato spindle tuber disease, and named it a viroid. It differed from viruses in lacking the protein coat
found in viruses; it was merely free RNA. Also, the RNA of viroid was of low molecular weight.

7.2 Prions
In 1982, similar infectious protein molecules causing diseases such as mad cow disease (Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy, BSE) in cattle and its analogous variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) in
humans were discovered by Stanley B. Prusiner. These were called prions. Prions are similar in size to
viruses, as these have an abnormally folded form of a normal protein found in neural cells.
NCERT Note: A virus is not considered a truly living organism outside a host cell because it does not show
metabolism, growth or cellular organisation on its own — these properties appear only after it infects a host cell.

QUICK REVISION SUMMARY

• Two Kingdom system (Linnaeus): Plantae + Animalia – inadequate, did not distinguish
prokaryotes/eukaryotes.
• Five Kingdom system (Whittaker, 1969): Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, Animalia – based on

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cell structure, nutrition, thallus organisation, reproduction, phylogeny.

• Monera: Archaebacteria (extremophiles: halophiles, thermoacidophiles, methanogens) and
Eubacteria (cyanobacteria, chemosynthetic, heterotrophic).
• Protista: Chrysophytes, Dinoflagellates, Euglenoids, Slime moulds, Protozoans (amoeboid,
flagellated, ciliated, sporozoans).
• Fungi: Hyphae → mycelium; cell wall of chitin; four classes – Phycomycetes, Ascomycetes,
Basidiomycetes, Deuteromycetes.
• Lichens: Algae (phycobiont) + Fungi (mycobiont) symbiosis; pollution indicators.
• Viruses: Ivanowsky (1892) discovered; Beijerinck named contagium vivum fluidum; Stanley (1935)
crystallised. Nucleic acid (DNA or RNA, not both) + capsid (capsomeres).
• Viroids: Diener (1971) – free RNA, no protein coat.
• Prions: Prusiner (1982) – abnormally folded infectious proteins (e.g. mad cow disease).

Source basis: NCERT Class 11 Biology Textbook, Chapter 2 – Biological Classification (CBSE-aligned). Compiled as
study notes; always cross-check with the latest NCERT textbook edition for board examinations.

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