Kingdom Monera - Inclusion Bodies
Description:
Inclusion bodies are non-living structures which are present in the cytoplasm. They may occur freely inside the cytoplasm. On the basis of their nature, inclusion bodies are of 3 types −
Gas Vacuoles
Gas storing vacuoles in cyanobacteria, purple and green bacteria.
It consists of a variable number of hexagonal, hollow and cylindrical gas vesicles.
Each gas vesicle is covered with non-lipid protein membrane. This membrane is impermeable to water but is permeable to atmospheric gases.
Gas vacuoles protect bacteria from harmful radiations.
They also help in buoyancy regulation for their positioning in water during daytime for photosynthesis.
Inorganic Inclusions
Several inorganic granules like volutin granules, sulphur granules, iron granules etc are present in bacteria.
Volutin granules function as storage reserve of phosphate.
Sulphur granules are found in bacteria living in Sulphur rich medium.
Food reserve
Blue green algae have cyanophycean starch, lipid globules and cyanophycin or protein granules.
In bacteria starch is replaced by glycogen.