Variety of living Organisms

Plants

• Multicellular Organisms

• Cells contain chloroplasts which carry out photosynthesis

• Store starch or sucrose

• Cell walls are made of cellulose

Animals

• Multicellular organisms

• Cells dont contain chloroplasts so don’t carry out photosynthesis

• Usually have nervous coordination to help them move

• Often store carbohydrates as glycogen (many glucose molecules joined)

• No cell walls

Fungi

• Not able to carry out photosynthesis

• Body usually organised into mycelium

• This is made of thread like structures called hyphae which contain many nuclei

• Feed by extracellular secretion of digestive enzymes onto food nutrition and absorption of organic products (saprotrophic nutrition)

• They may store carbohydrate as glycogen

• Some fungi are single celled

• They have cell walls made of chitin

• Examples = Mucor and yeast (single celled)

Protoctists

• Microscopic single-celled organisms

• Some (like Amoeba that live in pond water) have features like animal cells

• Some (like Chlorella) have chloroplasts and are like plants

• Example = Plasmodium that causes malaria

Bacteria

• It is a protoctist

• Some bacteria carry out photosynthesis

• Most bacteria feed off living or dead organisms

• Examples = Lactobacillus and Pneumococcus

Viruses

• Not living organisms

• Smaller than bacteria

• They infect every type of living organism

• Parasitic and can only reproduce inside living cells

• No cellular structure but they have a protein coat and contain either DNA or RNA

• Examples = tobacco mosaic virus (discolouring of leaves of tobacco plants), HIV virus that causes AIDS