The Monera Kingdom (of the word “moneres” = “simple”) or Mรณnera kingdom It consists of prokaryotic organismswhich are unicellular beings lacking a defined nucleus and with sizes between 3 and 5 ฮผm, among which are bacteria. The term Monera or Mรณnera was introduced by Haeckel in 1986 as a edge within the protist kingdom. In 1969, Robert H. Whittaker proposed to separate this classification, forming the classification of the 5 kingdoms of nature: Animalia, Plantae, Protista, Fungi and Monera. A new domain perspective is currently studied: Archaea and Bacteria.
If you want to know more about MONERA Kingdom: What is, characteristics, classification and exampleskeep reading this Ecology Verde article, in which we are going to explain the peculiarities of this kingdom.
What is the Monera kingdom and its importance
When we talk about nature, we do it perhaps thinking only of animals and plants, but reality goes further. In fact, as we have mentioned in the introduction, there are 5 Kingdoms of Nature:
- The Animalia kingdom
- The plant plant
- The Fungi Kingdom
- The Monera Kingdom
- The protist kingdom
The Monera Kingdom (of the word “moneres” = “simple”) or Mรณnera kingdom It consists of prokaryotic organismsThat is, unicellular beings lacking a defined nucleus and with sizes between 3 and 5 ฮผm, within which bacteria are found.
The Monera Kingdom is formed by the oldest, extended and numerous organisms on Earth, present in all types of ecosystemsboth aquatic and terrestrial. They are organisms whose form of nutrition can be autotrophic or heterotroph (parasite or saprophyte). In addition, these beings can be found isolated or forming coloniesas a consequence of cell division without posterior separation from descendant cells.
The term Monera or Mรณnera was introduced by Haeckel in 1986 as a edge within the protist kingdom. Subsequently, In 1969, Robert H. Whittaker He proposed the classification of life forms in 5 kingdoms of nature: Animalia, Plantae, Protista, Fungi and Monera. This classification has been accepted as accurate until recently, considering the Monera kingdom as one that encompasses unicellular microscopic organisms without defined nucleus, also known as prokaryotes, differentiating between archeobacteria and eubacteria.
However, with the development of new identification techniques and WOEse’s work in the 80s, it was observed that the so -called archeobacteria presented important structural and molecular differences with bacteria and, therefore, they should be considered independently with respect to these, under a new domain perspective: Archaea and bacteria.
Characteristics of the Monera Kingdom
In addition to those already mentioned, some the main characteristics of the Monera Kingdom are:
- They can present different forms: coconuts, bacilli, vibrios, spirils and even some may change form during their development (pleomorphic), depending on the environment they occupy, the substrate.
- Being unicellular organisms With modest energy needs, they are almost completely served from glycolysis process: whereby glucose molecules from protein, carbohydrates and fats to obtain energy. Some bacteria obtain their carbon from inorganic carbon sources, but pathogenics are heterotrophs and obtain their nutrients, including nitrogen, from both organic and inorganic sources.
- They lack organelles: Of the characteristics of the Monera Kingdom, it is based on the fact that they do not have mitochondria, lysosomes, plasmids, Golgi apparatus, endoplasmic reticulum or centers.
- They carry out the asexual reproduction: By binary fission or split.
- Are Decomponeers and mineralizing in the middle that inhabit. In this other ecology article, we explain what the living beings are decomposing.
Now that we know what the Monera kingdom is and what are its characteristics, we will continue with its structure and components.
Structure of the Monera Kingdom Components
In addition to the above characteristics, it should be noted that MONERA Kingdom Components are formed by a series of typical structures that are exposed below.
- Bacterial capsule: Some bacteria have a bacterial capsule, which is a structure with protective function. It is outside the bacterial wall, is composed of polysaccharides and amino acids, and serves to adhere to surfaces and to resist phagocytosis by macrophages or other microorganisms. It is usually present in parasitic forms, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis either Diploccus pneumoniae.
- Bacterial wall: Although it is not present in all prokaryotic cells, it is a structure of great importance, as it provides shape to the cell and maintains the complete and stable structure, protecting it from osmotic stress situations. It is composed of polysaccharides, proteins, lipids and glutamic and diamineopimelic acids. The cell wall also is important in the context of pathogenicity because it protects the bacteria from enzymes that can degrade it and also because it has antigenic determinants (especially in gram negative bacteria, they are responsible for toxicity in some diseases such as salmonella).
- Plasma membrane: It is located inside the limit outlined by the cell wall. It is fine, elastic, acts as a mechanical limit, has selective permeability, serves for the transport of nutrients and waste, and for the detection of environmental signals. As these organisms lack internal organelles, the plasma membrane is where metabolic processes such as breathing and photosynthesis are located.
- Cytoplasm: Fluid or semi -infected aqueous medium consisting of vitamins, salts, enzymes, carbohydrates, soluble proteins, lipids and nucleic acids. The cytoplasm is of granular consistency due to the presence of a high number of ribosomes.
- Periplรกsmisco space: It is a region in the cell wall of gram negative bacteria, located between the outer membrane and the cytoplasmic, of great importance. It is composed of a perplapsmic fluid that has hydrolytic enzymes and union proteins for nutrient collection and processing.
- Absence of core: The nucleic acid (DNA, double propeller and circular) is in an area called nucleoid that is more electrodense than the rest but lacks membrane around it.
- Bacterial endospora: Typical bacteria structure that is formed inside and serves to resist adverse conditions.
- Pili and Fimbrias: Some bacteria have fimbrias or different types of hair, which are important for adhesion to surfaces.
- Flagelos: The prokaryotic cells that move do so by structures called flagella, different from which a eukaryotic cell can present.
- Ribosomes: The ribosomes of bacteria, which have protein synthesis function, are different from those of eukaryotic cells in the sedimentation coefficient, as prokaryotes have a coefficient of 70, as well as those of mitochondria and chloroplasts (which supports the theory of bacterial origin of these organelles). Discover more information about the ribosomes: function and structure in this post that we recommend.
- Inclusion bodies: They are a kind of organelles that can be used for magnetic orientation, to save carbon, nitrogen or phosphorus and phosphorus reserves (such as gas vacuoles, which allows them to go up or down in an aqueous environment).
Monera Kingdom Classification
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, formerly within the Monera kingdom they differentiated themselves Two types of organisms:
- Eubacteria organisms
- Archeobacteria organisms
However, it was subsequently concluded that the latter had an evolutionary history totally independent of the bacteria and became considered as two separate groups: arches and bacteria. Thus, this is the Monera Kingdom Classification:
Archaeas, the ancient “archeobacteria”
It’s about older probarious existing on Earth and are characterized by inhabiting environments with extreme conditions (for example, hot springs and saline areas), because they have a cell wall of characteristic structure that allows them to survive these conditions.
They share characteristics so much With bacteria (such as its prokaryotic cellular structure, its types of metabolism, such as nitrogen fixation or denitrification, etc.) as With eukaryotic cells (For example, they have autotrophic nutrition, they lack peptidoglycans on the cell wall and have pne-piles with multiple polypeptides, among other things). They have nucleotide sequences in their unique RNA-T and RNA.
Bacteria, the ancient “eubacteria”
The name of eubacteria means “true bacteria” and in them there are the typical characteristics mentioned above, such as:
- Possess rigid cell walls compound of peptidoglycans.
- Locomotion With the help of flagella.
- PILI presence On the cell surface: they help in sexual reproduction and also the pathogens to look at a guest to which it will invade.
You may be interested in knowing the difference between viruses and bacteria, here.
Cyanobacteria
Known as Green-blue algae Because they were considered as such for a long time, they are the only prokaryotic organisms capable of performing oxygenic photosynthetic processes. They are the larger prokaryot agenciesbeing able to reach dimensions of up to 60 micrometers.
Some cyanobacteria are also capable of Set nitrogen and have Developed specialized cells called heterocysts to combine this process (which cannot take place in oxygen) with oxygenic photosynthesis. As prokaryotic agencies, the presence of gas vacuoles in some types, which favors its flotability, highlights.
The characteristic color of any of these organisms is given by the combination of fuses and chlorophyll abut other species can be color:
- Green
- Brown
- Yellow
- Black
- Red
This is due to other pigments such as carotenoids and ficoertin. Although most They cannot exist in the absence of lightcertain species can if there is sufficient supply of glucose that serves as a source of carbon and energy.
You can find more cyanobacteria information: what are, characteristics and examples in this post that we suggest.
Monera Kingdom Examples
Finally, these are some examples within the Mรณnera kingdom:
- Archaeas: Haloquadratum walsby, archea halophile, Ignicoccus hospitaliswhich establishes symbiosis relationships or Pyrolobus smokingwhich can live in extreme temperatures conditions.
- Bacteria: Escherichia coli, present in the intestinal flora of human beings and helps in the digestion of food; Clostridium botulinumresponsible for the production of botulinum toxin, which can cause botulism.
- Bluish green algae or cyanobacteria: Anabaena Azollae maintains a symbiotic relationship with the genre of aquatic ferns Azolla, Nostoc Sphaericum.
Now that you have already seen examples of the Monera Kingdom, what it is and its characteristics, in addition to its classification, you may be interested 5 Kingdoms of Nature.
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