Classification of Organisms

What is an Organism?
An organism is generally referred to any living thing. More
specifically any thing that has “cells”.

This includes the smallest of organisms, the single celled

bacteria, all the way to the largest redwood tree or Blue
Whale.
 Organism

Unicellular Multicellular
organism
Unicellular Organisms

Known as a single-celled organism

Main groups of unicellular organisms are bacteria, archaea, protozoa,

algae and fungi

Oldest form of life, possibly existing 3.8 billion years ago

Mostly these organisms are microscopic and categorised as

microorganisms

Examples are: Bacteria like Escherichia coli, Mycobacteria, Bacillus etc.

Protozoans like Amoeba, Paramecium etc. Algae like Acetabularia etc.
 Classification of Organisms

Structure of cells

Prokaryotes Eukaryotes
Greek Word: Pro means Before Eu means Well or Truly
Karyon means Kernel or nucleus

Single celled Mostly multicellular

(Exception amoeba, yeast)

Membrane bound nucleus: No Yes

Organelles: No Membrane bound organelles
Cell wall: Yes Mostly no
Distinct Chromosomes: No Yes
Structure of Prokaryotic Cell
 Eukaryotes

Animal Plant

These cells are larger than prokaryotes and contain internal

membrane structures called organelles and cytoskeleton
consist of microtubules and microfilaments which play
important role in cell organization and its shape
Similarities between Eukaryotic and Prokaryotic Cell

Name of the property Eukaryotic Cell Prokaryotic Cell

Cells enclosed with Yes Yes

plasma membrane

Cytoplasm with Yes Yes

ribosomes surrounded
by plasma membrane

DNA Yes Yes

Genetic Code Yes Yes
Differences between Eukaryotic and Prokaryotic Cell

Name of the property Eukaryotic Prokaryotic Cell

Cell
True nucleus with Yes No
double membrane
Nature of DNA Linear Circular
Packing of DNA with Yes No
protein (histone) into
chromosomes

Ribosomes Large Small

Membrane bound Yes No
organelles
 Prokaryotes : Classification
Prokaryotes were the earliest organisms on Earth that are
small and unicellular.

Some species may aggregate transiently or form true

colonies, showing division of labor between specialized
cell types.

Most prokaryotes have diameters in the range of 1–5 m,

compared to 10–100 m for most eukaryotic cells.

Today, they still dominate the biosphere.

Their collective biomass outweighs all eukaryotes

combined at least tenfold.

More prokaryotes inhabit a handful of fertile soil or the

mouth or skin of a human than the total number of
In Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology (1994), the
identifiable groups of prokaryotes are assembled based on
easily-observed phenotypic characteristics such as Gram
stain, morphology (rods, cocci, etc.), motility, structural
features (e.g. spores, filaments, sheaths, appendages, etc.),
and on distinguishing physiological features (e.g.
photosynthesis, anaerobiasis, methanogenesis, lithotrophy,
etc.).

Shapes:

The three most common bacterial cell shapes are:

1.Cocci (spherical, from the Greek word for seed/berry)

2.Bacilli (rod-shaped, from the Latin word for rod)

3.Spirilla (curved shape, from spiral)

Bacterial shapes and arrangement
 Gram Staining
Developed by Christian Gram in 1884 to differentiate
according to the staining potential of bacterial cell wall

Bacterial cell wall is made of polysaccharide, contains water

and help bacteria from desiccation in extreme conditions

Gram positive Gram negative

bacteria
 Multicellular Organisms
Consist of many cells specialized to do different functions for
maintaining the complexity of the organism

Most bacteria are unicellular, but some bacterial species are

multicellular like Myxobacteria. Some species of cyanobacteria are also
multicellular like Chara, Spirogyra etc

Most eukaryotic organism are multicellular. Multicellular organisms have

well developed body structure and also have specific organs for specific
function.

Most well developed plants and animals are multicellular. All animals are
eukaryotic in nature and most of them are multicellular. In plants highly
evolved types like angiosperms and gymnosperms are multicellular

Cell divisions is essential for three major functions in multicellular

organisms: growth, development, and repair

Two types of divisions are present: Mitosis (vegetative divisions) and

Meiosis (Reductive Cell division)
 Differences between Unicellular and Multicellular Organisms

Unicellular organism Multicellular organism

Body is made up of single cell Body is made up of numerous cells

Division of labour may be at

Division of labour is at the organelle
cellular, tissue, organ and organ
level. It gives a low level of
system level. It gives high degree of
operational efficiency
operational efficiency

A single cell carries out all the life Different cells are specialized to
processes perform different functions

Only outer cells are specialized to

The cell body is exposed to the
face the environment. Inner cells
environment on all sides
are devoted to other functions

Contd………
 Injury or death of some cells does
An injury of the cells can cause
not affect the organisms as the
death of the organism.
same can be replaced by new one.
A cell body cannot attain a large A multicellular body can attain a
size because of the limit imposed large size increasing the number of
by surface area to volume ratio small cells
Lifespan is short due to heavy load Lifespan is long due to limited load
of work of work for each cell type
Certain specialized cells lose power
Power of division is not lost
of division
The capacity of regeneration
A well-marked capacity of
decreases with increasing
regeneration is present
specialization
Cells have a double role. One for
The cell has the same role for itself
themselves and other for the
and the organism
organism
 Cellular Hierarchy

Organism (Human)

Organ-system (Respiratory system)

Organ (Lung)

Tissue (Epithelial tissue)

Cells

Cell (Monocyte)
 Why Classify?

• To make it easier to study life!

• Taxonomy- the assigning of a universally accepted name to a

species.

• Binomial nomenclature- An organism’s classification is based

on its Genus and species names. The Genus is ALWAYS
capitalized, and the species name is NEVER capitalized.
 E.g. Homo sapiens (humans), Odocoileus virginianus
(Whitetailed deer)
 Important terms in classification
Taxonomy (from Ancient Greek: taxis, "arrangement" and nomia, "method”):
Known as theory and practise of classification means classification following
certain rules and principles
Phylogenetics is the study of evolutionary relationships among groups of
organisms (e.g. species, populations), which are discovered through molecular
sequencing data and morphological data matrices.
Cladistics is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are
grouped together based on whether or not they have one or more shared unique
characteristics that come from the group's last common ancestor and are not
present in more distant ancestors. Therefore, members of the same group are
thought to share a common history and are considered to be more closely related.
Systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and
present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships
are visualized as evolutionary trees
 The Classification Game!!

Divide into groups of 3 or 4

In the following few slides, you will find
14 different organisms, each of them labeled with a letter. In your
groups, write down two main classification (example red/green).

Then place the corresponding letters under the correct

classification.
 B
E
A
C D

F G I J
H

K M N
L
 One Possible Solution

Plants Animals

A
C J
G
M

D I
???? B K

N
L H
F
 Did You Have Problems??

•There were actually several different ways to go

about classifying these 14 organisms.

•You might have done color, shape, size, number of

legs… the possibilities are endless.

•You might have encountered one or two that really

did not fit into either of your two classifications, what
should you do when this happens?

•Make a new classification of course! And this is

what scientist have done as well through the years.
 Who first developed a system to classify
organisms?

•As early as 350 B.C., the Greek Philosopher

Aristotle created guidelines for grouping living things.

•Aristotle grouped organisms based on four characteristics:

body parts, life histories, activities, and character.

•There were ten groups of animals, six of which he called

“blooded” and four “bloodless”.

•Humans, birds and fish were considered to be blooded, while insects and
molluscs were considered to be bloodless.

•Aristotle’s system may seem crude by today’s standards, but for his time, it
was extremely imaginative.
Isn’t every living thing either a plant
or an animal?
• Aristotle is credited with the first
true classification system.
• He grouped all living things into
two basic groups: plant and animal

OR
 Carlos Linnaeus

• The modern classification system was developed by the Swedish scientist

Carolus Linnaeus in the mid 1700’s.

• As Linnaeus created his method of classification, he considered many

things. Some characteristics he used to classify organisms were outside
appearance, internal organs, and how body systems worked.

• Modern scientists are still using

most of Linnaeus’s classification system.

• Linnaeus classified plants and animals by dividing them into related

groups.

• He used the Latin language, because Latin was no longer spoken

conversationally and thus was less likely to change.
 Carlos Linnaeus

• He first grouped related organisms.

• He called this a genus.

• For example, all of the dog-like

creatures were grouped as the genus
Canis.
 Carlos Linnaeus

• He next gave every different type of

organism in the group a specific name,
which he called species.

• For example, the dog became Canis

familiaris and the wolf Canis lupus.

• Notice the genus is capitalized but the specie

begins with a lower case letter.
• Both are italicized or underlined.
 Binomial Nomenclature

• Every organism was given a two-word name, the genus and specie.

• This practice of binomial nomenclature continues today, giving

each organism a “scientific name”.

• The benefit of binomial nomenclature includes eliminating confusion

due to common names (ex. cottonmouth and water moccasin are
actually the same animal) and allows scientists around the world to
more easily communicate.
 Microbes?

• Even after the microbial

world was discovered, the
two “kingdom” system
continued.

• (Yes, science can be very

slow to change.)
plant or animal?
 Whittaker
• As knowledge of the diversity of organisms increased, Whittaker (in
1969) expanded classification to include five kingdoms.
 Taxonomy

• The science of classification, taxonomy, now allowed

scientists to assign seven levels of taxa to living
organisms.

Kingdom: Animalia (Animal in Latin)

Phylum: Chordata (Spinal Cord)
Class: Mammalia (have mammary glands)
Order: Primates (two mammary glands)
Family: Hominoidea (bipedalism)
Genus: Homo
Species: Sapiens
 Fill It In …

MEMORY AID!
K-
P-
C-
O-
F-
G-
S-
 Taxonomy

• The kingdom is the

most general of these
seven taxa, thus the
kingdom would contain
the greatest number of
organisms.
 Taxonomy
• Specie is the most specific of these
seven taxa, thus the specie would
contain only one type of organism.

• A specie is defined as a group of

organisms which can interbreed and
produce fertile offspring.
 Taxonomy

• Today, we use three

domains, which are
divided into six
kingdoms.

• These domains are based

on new information
about possible
evolutionary
relationships.
 What happens when you find an
unknown organism?
• Dichotomous keys are tools
that use a series of paired
statements and visible
characteristics of the
organism.
• Of course, a dichotomous
key is only useful if the
organism has already been
classified and given a
scientific name.
 What happens when you find an
unknown organism?
• Always start at statement 1
(or the beginning point).
• Decide which path best
describes the organism
(Statement A or Statement
B)
• Follow that path to find the
next choice (Go to …)
• When you can go no further,
you will find the name!
 What happens when you find an
unknown organism?
• If the organism has NOT
been classified, taxonomists
must begin the process of
classification.
• In order to correctly classify
an organism, scientists use
many modern tools:
 What happens when you find an
unknown organism?
• 1. Morphology describes
the physical characteristics
of an organism.
• Typically, this is enough
information to place the
organism within a domain
and kingdom.
• Example: Presence of a
nucleus places the organism
in Domain Eukarya
 What happens when you find an
unknown organism?
• 2. DNA and biochemical
analysis allow scientists to
test less visible, but
distinguishing,
characteristics.
• Example: Gram staining a
bacteria cell allows
scientists to distinguish
between archaea and
prokarya.
 What happens when you find an
unknown organism?
• 3. Comparing embryology
allows scientists to group
organisms that share common
fetal development
• Example: the diagram below
would suggest the last two
organisms are most closely
related.
 What happens when you find an
unknown organism?
• 4. Evolutionary phylogeny describes
the evolutionary relationships between
organisms.
• These relationships are deduced based
on shared traits that may have been
passed from ancestor to new species.
• Traits may include physical traits (ex.
presence of jaws), or may be genetic
traits (shared genes).
• These relationships can be illustrated in
a phylogenetic tree or cladogram:
 Check Yourself!

1. Who first officially classified organisms?

2. What was the contribution of Linnaeus to taxonomy?
3. What are the two parts of a scientific name?
4. What are the domains used in the current classification
system?
5. How many kingdoms are used in the current classification
system?
6. What is a dichotomous key?
7. What 4 modern tools are used to classify a newly discovered
organism?
 Check Yourself!

1. Who first officially classified organisms?

ARISTOTLE
 Check Yourself!

2. What was the contribution of Linnaeus to taxonomy?

GROUPED RELATED ORGANISMS
CREATED BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE
 Check Yourself!

3. What are the two parts of a scientific name?

GENUS + SPECIES
 Check Yourself!

4. What are the domains used in the current classification

system?
ARCHEA
BACTERIA
EUKARYA
 Check Yourself!

5. How many kingdoms are used in the current classification

system?
SIX
 Check Yourself!

6. What is a dichotomous key?

TOOL THAT USES A SERIES OF PAIRED
STATEMENTS AND VISIBLE CHARACTERISTICS
TO HELP IDENTIFY UNKNOWN ORGANISMS
 Check Yourself!

7. What 4 modern tools are used to classify a newly discovered

organism?
MORPHOLOGY
BIOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS
EMBRYOLOGY
EVOLUTIONARY PHYLOGENY