Microorganism Diversity and Physiology (Theory)

Cell wall structure and synthesis, cell membrane, Flagella and motility, chemotaxis Pili, Cell inclusions like Glycogen granules, Volutin granules, Carboxysomesetc, Slime sheet and capsule. Endospore structure and formation, stages of sporulation, activation germination and outgrowth of bacterial endospores.

A brief outline of bacterial classification according to Bergey’s manual of systematic bacteriology second edition (2004) with salient features of the following:  Proteobacteria: Rickettsia, Pseudomonas, E. coli, Myxococcus, Campylobacter; Non proteobacteria Gram negative bacteria (cyanobacteria, purple and green photosynthetic bacteria); Gram positive bacteria: Mycoplasma, Staphylococcus and Streptococcus, Actinobacteria (Streptomyces, Mycobacterium), Chlamydiae, Spirochaetes, Archaebacteria (halophiles and thermophiles).

Oxygenic & anoxygenic photosynthesis, photophosphorylation, Calvin cycle. Glycolysis, Oxidative pentose phosphate pathway, Entner- Doudoroff pathway, fermentative pathways, Yeast fermentation, Lactic acid fermentation, Acetic acid fermentation, Krebs cycle, ETC, oxidative and substrate level phosphorylation.

Virus classification schemes of ICTV / ICNV. Morphology and ultra-structure of viruses; capsids & their arrangements; envelopes and their composition, viral genome and their types; virus related agents (viroids, prions). Bacteriophages: structural organization, Lytic and Lysogenic cycle, One step growth curve. Protozoa- Occurrence, classification, Morphology and reproduction (asexual and sexual reproduction) Characteristics and importance of some major Protozoans- Amoeba,Paramecium, Plasmodium.

An Introduction to fungi- General features of fungi, Classification of fungi, according to Alexopoulos and Mims (1979). General characteristics of the following groups of Fungi, Oomycets, Zygomyetes, Ascomycetes, Basidiomycetes and Deuteromycetes. Homothallism and heterothallism.An introduction to Algae- General features of algae, Modern classification of algae, General characteristics of the following groups of Algae: Chlorophyceae, Phaeophyceae, Pyrrophyceae and Diatoms. Lichens- Structural organization.Economic importance of Fungi, algae and lichens.