Meet the Tiny Superstars: Kingdom Monera 🦠

Bacteria rule this kingdom! They’re Earth’s most abundant microbes, found everywhere—from soil to hot springs ❄️🔥, deserts to oceans 🌊. Fun fact: A handful of soil contains hundreds of bacteria!

Bacterial Shapes (Remember these!)

  • ⚪ Cocci: Spherical balls
  • 📏 Bacilli: Rod-shaped
  • 🔵 Vibrio: Comma-shaped
  • 🌀 Spirilla: Spiral twisty ones

Superpower: Metabolic Diversity 💥

  • 🌿 Autotrophs: Make their own food!
    • ☀️ Photosynthetic: Use sunlight (e.g., Cyanobacteria)
    • ⚗️ Chemosynthetic: Use chemicals like nitrates
  • 🍽️ Heterotrophs: Depend on others for food (most common!)

Two Bacterial Subgroups:

1. Archaebacteria (Extreme Survivors!)

  • ❤️🔥 Thermoacidophiles: Love hot springs
  • 🧂 Halophiles: Thrive in salty places
  • 💨 Methanogens: Live in cow guts, produce methane gas (biogas!)

Special skill: Unique cell walls for extreme conditions!

2. Eubacteria (“True Bacteria”)

  • 🔵🟢 Cyanobacteria (Blue-green algae):
    • Have chlorophyll like plants 🌱
    • Can fix nitrogen using heterocysts (e.g., Nostoc)
    • Form slimy blooms in polluted water 💧
  • ♻️ Decomposers: Nature’s recyclers (handle nitrogen/phosphorus/sulfur)
  • 🦠 Pathogens: Cause diseases like cholera & typhoid 😷
  • 🆘 Helpers: Make curd, antibiotics & fix nitrogen in plants!

How They Multiply 🔄

  • ➗ Fission: Main method (splitting into two)
  • 🛡️ Spores: Made in tough conditions
  • 💞 DNA transfer: Primitive “mating”

Special Case: Mycoplasma

  • ❌ NO cell wall (unique!)
  • 🔬 Smallest known living cells
  • ⚠️ Can cause diseases in plants & animals

Quick Peek: Kingdom Protista 🌊

All single-celled eukaryotes! Mostly aquatic, with nuclei & organelles.

Chrysophytes Group:

  • ✨ Includes diatoms & golden algae
  • 🔬 Microscopic drifters (plankton)
  • 💎 Diatoms have silica walls that never break down
  • ⛰️ Their fossil deposits form “diatomaceous earth” (used in polishing & filters!)
  • 🌍 Ocean’s main oxygen producers!

NEET Super-Focus 🎯

These appear every year:

  1. Bacterial Shapes & Types (Cocci vs. Bacilli vs. Archaea)
  2. Cyanobacteria’s Nitrogen Fixation (Heterocysts in Nostoc/Anabaena)
  3. Archaebacteria Habitats (Methanogens in cow guts → Biogas)
  4. Diatoms’ Silica Walls → Diatomaceous earth uses
  5. Mycoplasma’s Lack of Cell Wall & Pathogenicity