Resources: Text: Animal Diversity, Chapter
5
Protozoan Internet Sites:
http://gemini.tntech.edu/~elmorgan/111/protista1.html
http://www-biol.paisley.ac.uk/courses/tatner/biomedia/units/prot1.htm
http://taxa.soken.ac.jp/WWW/PDB/LINK/oversea.html
http://www.mhhe.com/hickmanad4e
Protozoans- Kingdom Protista
-microscopic
-live individually (Euglena) or in simple
colonies (Volvox)
-unicellular but not "simple"
-no tissues or organs; organelles, division
of labor
-protoplasmic level of organization
Why not Kingdom Animalia?
-no cell wall
-at least one motile stage of life cycle
-injest food
Estimates reach 70,000 as to # of species
described, wide distribution; wet, moist habitats
-fresh, marine and brackish waters
-sewage
-moist soil
-parasitic
**Classified according to Kinds of structures used for movement and food gathering
Groups we will concentrate on (pg 101-102, note differences in names for Sarcomastigophora)
Phylum Sarcomastigophora "whip bearing"
Sub Phylum Mastigophora- flagellates (
Euglena, Volvox, Trypanosoma)
Sub Phylum Sarcodina- Pseudopodia (false foot) (Amoeba)
Phylum Ciliophora- Ciliates (Paramecium )
Phylum Apicomplexa- spore forming
Class Sporozoa- parasitic (Plasmodium
)
Ecology
Symbiotic relationships
1. Commensals- live on or in other organisms
without causing harm. Host unaware of
their presence.
2. Mutuals- ciliates in gut of animals
(ex. those in gut of termites)
3. Parasites- amoebic dysentary, malaria,
African sleeping sickness, Giardia, Desert
Storm
*usually why you are encouraged not
to drink the water!!
4. Solitary- dinoflagellates ---> Red tide pg 99, soil protists
Nutrition
Holophytic- autotrophic, produce
own food, photosynthesis w/ chlorophyll and
chloroplasts (Euglena)
Saprozoic- absorb preformed organic nutrients from environment, sewage treatment
Holozoic- injestion of solid or
liquid food through "mouth"
cystopharynx (cell mouth), Phagocytosis
(Amoeba) browsers, hunters, trappers
digestion in food vacuoles; lysosomes
carry digestive enzymes
Economic Considerations
1. water purification systems (both to protect
you and for them to clean water system)
2. Health
3. food sources (red tide)
GENERAL PROTISTA CHARACTERISTICS (Summaries
Pgs 87)
A. Locomotion
1. Amoeboid movement w/ pseudopodia
(false foot) Pg 88
inner endoplasm
outer ectoplasm :difference between
them is their state of solidity
Endo- plasma sol, fluid state
Ecto- plasma gel, semi-solid
state
-direction of movement determined by movement of pseudopodia.
-actin & myosin- changes
in these proteins determine differentiation between
sol/gel
PSEUDOPODIA pg 88
-----> Direction of movement; cytoplasmic streaming
-tube formation
-opposite takes place at "tail
end"
2. Flagella/cilia pg.86-87
-not limited to locomotion; also responsible
for movement of material into
organism (feeding) or respiration.
(sperm, cells of upper respiratory tract)
-cilia much shorter than flagella
-ciliary motion 1-->5 effective
stroke; 6-->8 recovery stroke Coordinated
beating
How cilia work- two hypotheses
1. contraction/relaxation of
microtubules
**2. sliding microtubules
-powered by energy release
by splitting ATP
-microtubules slide relative
to each other
REPRODUCTION pg 91-92
Asexual- produces clones, two daughter cells
that are genetically identical only
chance of variation would be chance
mutation
Binary fission- nuclear fission is mitotic Paramecium- transverse (text)
Budding- similar to fission but not equal cytokinesis
Multiple fission (schizogony)- nucleus
divides repeatedly then cytokinesis. Creates as
many cells as there are nuclei. Sarcodina,
Sporozoea
Spore formation (sporogony)- Plasmodium
-multiple division of nucleus and cytoplasm
-spore extremely resistant
-takes place after fertilization
Colonial- Volvox (can also be sexual w/ gametes)
Sexual- meiosis (gamete formation- haploid)
Conjugation- Paramecium ciliates unique,
no free swimming gametes, swap micronuclei
Syngamy- individual gamete fertilizes another gamete to form gamete (not predominant
Autogamy- gametes produced by meiosis fuse within organism that produced them
Parthenogenesis- development from gamete w/o fertilization (haploid)
PHYLUM SARCOMASTIGOPHORA (fleshy whip
bearer) pg 92-94, 98-99
Sub Phylum Mastigophora - "whip bearing"
flagellates- flagella primary mode of locomotion
-marine and freshwater
-most primitive protozoan
-animal and plantlike forms
Class Phytomastigophorea- plant (phyto)
bearing whip Euglena
*producers, contain chlorophyll
*autotrophs (primarily), some saprozoic
or holozoic or combinations
-Imperfect autotrophs- cannot
make B12, obtains by pinocytosis
*positively phototrophic (eyespot,
stigma) although avoids intense light
*CO2 source of carbon
*flagella movement varies; spiral
most prevalent, can push or pull
*Volvox (colonial) non parasitic
*Volvox- capable of sexual
reproduction (response to depleated nitrogen)
Class Zoomastigophorea- animal bearing
whip
Trypanosoma (sleeping sickness)
blood parasite
* "colorless", no chlorophyll
*holozoic, saprozoic, or parasitic
*one to many flagella w/ varied
forms of beating
*binary fission- longitudinal
Sub Phylum Sarcodina pg 99-- Amoebas,
foraminiferans, radiolarians
1. PSEUDOPODIA, amoeboid movement
*2. flagella in developmental stages
3. holozoic, saprozoic, few parasitic
(Entamoeba) -phagocytosis ---> vacuole/lysosomes
4. Asymmetrical
5. May posses shell (TEST) this can
be symmetric and relatively large
6. diverse ecology, found everywhere
Foraminiferans- shelled (test);
marine (both pelagic and benthic)
-test formed by secreations
of calcium carbonate (CaCO3)
-thread like pseudopodia extend
out holes in shell for prey capture and to
increase surface area for
diffusion
-multichambered shells
Radiolarians- marine, planktonic
-test/shell make of silica
-among oldest known fossils
***Forams and Radiolarian
deposits extensive Limestone and chalk deposits,
White Cliffs of Dover
PHYLUM APICOMPLEXA pg 94-95- organelles
in tip (apex) of organism
-all parasitic, apical complex aids entry
into host
-flagella and cilia present in developmental
stages, otherwise absent
Class Sporozoea, spore producer
Plasmodium (malaria) Sickle
Cell Anemia, Toxoplasma (cats)
Congenital toxoplasmosis Pg 95
PHYLUM CILIOPHORA pg 95-98
- cilia bearing (cilium- eye lash) Paramecium
-posses cilia sometime during life
-2 types of nuclei
macronucleus- metabolism, synthetic,
development
micronucleus- reproduction
-cytostome (cytopharynx)= mouth
-reproduction ---> Asexual- binary
fission
Sexual- conjugation (unique to ciliates)
-freshwater, marine
-holozoic, few parasitic, ciliary feeders
-cell membrane pellicle- living structure,
contains organelles, cilia extends through it
trichocysts- used in defense and prey
capture
-vacuoles- found in all freshwater (hypotonic)
and some marine