A little introduction to Protists…

Introduction to the Protists - YouTube

What Are Protists

Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Protista
 Characteristics of Protists
(The leftovers … because they are not
prokaryotic, fungi, plants or animals.)

⚫ Mainly unicellular, some multi-cellular or colonial.

⚫ Eukaryotic (have a nucleus and membrane-bound

organelles – especially mitochondria/chlorplasts!)

⚫ Autotrophic or heterotrophic.

⚫ Most protists are aquatic.

⚫ Diverse-thousands of shapes, sizes and colours.

 Protists
can be:
Animal-like Protists
Plant-like Protists
Fungus-like Protists
 Animal-like Protists are
called Protozoans
⚫ Unicellular
⚫ Heterotrophs – eat other
organisms /dead organic
matter
⚫ Classified by how they move
There are 4 Phyla of
Protozoans
(A polyphyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes)

Phylum Zoomastigina: Flagellates

Phylum Sarcodina: Amoebas
Phylum Ciliophora: Ciliates
Phylum Sporozoa: Sporozoans
 Flagellates
⚫ Move using flagella.
⚫ Some cause diseases:
⚫Trypanasoma brucei causes
African Sleeping Sickness
⚫Giardia causes “Beaver Fever”
 Trypanasoma and
African Sleeping Sickness
Death by tsetse fly
Trypanasoma
 Giardiasis
⚫ Transmitted in contaminated water.
⚫ Beavers and muskrats are carriers.
⚫ Form cysts which are ingested by those
drinking contaminated water during a
camping trip.
⚫ Boiling water should destroy it.
⚫ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlvXtv
Wm80A
 Amoebas
⚫ Move using pseudopods – cytoplasmic
extensions.

⚫ Feed using endocytosis.

⚫Some (not all) cause disease.

ex: Amoeba histolytica causes dysentery.
Amoeba (magnified).
 Ciliates
⚫ Move beating tiny hairs called cilia.
⚫ Trichocysts are used for defense.
⚫ Sweep food into an oral groove which then
moves into the gullet; food vacuole forms.
⚫ Have a macro and micro nucleus.
⚫ Macronucleus controls daily functions.
⚫ Micronucleus is exchanged during conjugation.
(Most reproduction is asexual using binary fission.)

⚫ Paramecium caudatum is a common example.

 Sporozoans

⚫ Non-motile - Do not move using any specific cell

structure – they rely on a vector to get them to a
host.

⚫ Lives inside a host; are parasitic and cause disease.

⚫ Ex: Plasmodium causes malaria, and is spread through

the Anopheles mosquito

YouTube - Malaria: No Ordinary Mosquito Bite

Lifecycle of Plasmodium
⚫ Malaria in red blood cells
 Using your text book and
Chapter 20-2:
For one of the parasites (Trypanasoma, Plasmodium,
Entamoeba and Trichnoympha), please make a list of
the following:
⚫ Parasite name.
⚫ Phylum
⚫ Vector/ host
⚫ What disease it causes.
⚫ How it is transmitted, if applicable, and
what is affected
⚫ Its effects on humans
⚫ A little sketch of the organism
 Trypanasoma Plasmodium
⚫ Zoomastigina ⚫ Sporozoa
⚫ Vector: Tsetse fly to humans ⚫ Vector: Anopheles mosquito to
⚫ African sleeping sickness humans.
⚫ Tsetse fly bites an infected ⚫ Malaria
person and spreads it around ⚫ Mosquito bites an infected
by biting another. person and spreads it around
⚫ Destroys blood cells and by biting another.
causes damage to nervous ⚫ Targets the liver cells and red
system. blood cells .
⚫ Controlling it is a concern and ⚫ In order to control it, best way
goal for health workers in is to control the mosquito
Africa population – can be hard to do.
 Entamoeba Trichonympha
⚫ Sarcodina ⚫ Zoomastigina
⚫ In human ⚫ Found in the termite
⚫ Dysentery – attacks the ⚫ Does not cause disease
intestines in humans, only to their
⚫ Passes in feces to water, homes!
and then if water is ⚫ Lives in gut of termite,
contaminated, it spreads. and digests the wood that
⚫ Problematic in developing it eats. The termite can’t
countries without proper do that on its own.
sanitation. ⚫ Weakens wooden
housing structures.
Plantlike Protists
are called Algae
Video clip: Plant-like
Protists
 What are Algae?
⚫ Uni, muliticellular or colonial.
⚫ Autotrophic: have chlorophyll
and other photosynthetic
pigments
⚫ No roots, stems, or leaves –
instead, they have holdfasts,
stipes and blades.
Roots of a plant hold them in
place and transport water and
nutrients, whereas algae cells
must absorb water from their
surroundings.
What is the benefits of Plant-like
Protists
⚫ They are primary producers
⚫ Critical for oxygen production
⚫ Regulates the amount of carbon dioxide in
the water
⚫ Food source for marine animals -
zooplankton
⚫ Nutrient cycling – nitrogen and
phosphorus
There are 3 phyla
of
Unicellular Algae
Phylum: Euglenophyta
Phylum: Pyrrophyta
Phylum: Bacillariophyta
 Phylum Euglenophyta
⚫ Example is Euglena.
⚫ Aquatic
⚫ Unicellular
⚫ Have 2 flagella
⚫ Pellicle – tough but flexible
layer around its membrane.
⚫ Heterotrophic & autotrophic
⚫ Contain chloroplasts & are
photosynthetic but
become heterotrophic in
low-light conditions
⚫ Eye spot guides it
towards light.
Euglena Tutorial
 Phylum: Pyrrophyta

⚫ Example: Dinoflagellates

⚫ Spin using two flagella

⚫ Responsible for Red
Tides
⚫ Create toxins that can
kill
⚫ paralytic shellfish poisoning
(a neurological disorder)
 Phylum: Bacillariophyta

⚫ Example: Diatoms
⚫ Most abundant form of marine algae.
⚫ Form elaborate silicon (glass) shells to
protect themselves
⚫ Shell is porous to allow materials in/out of
the cell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWQEB2_7-Tc
centriclivesm
diatomdiversesm
 There are 3 phyla of
Multicellular/ Colonial Algae
These algae are…
Phylum Chlorophyta – Green Algae
Phylum Rhodophyta – Red Algae
Phylum Phaeophyta – Brown Algae
 Phylum Chlorophyta
Green Algae
⚫ Example – Volvox…
⚫ Contain chlorophyll
⚫ Most found in fresh water
⚫ Colonial – cells connected by
cytoplasm and may
coordinate movement.
⚫ Reproduction is mainly
asexual – a colony forms
within a colony.
⚫ Interesting images of Volvox and a little
more about its reproduction:
Mic-UK [site A]: Volvox, one of the seven wonders of the micro-world.

Videos:
YouTube - volvox 2
YouTube - Volvox 3
YouTube - Protistas Volvox Reproduccion
 Phylum Rhodophyta
⚫ Red Algae

⚫ Found in salt water

⚫ Pigments give them a reddish
color.
⚫ Seaweeds
⚫ Have you ever eaten dulse…..?
 Phylum Phaeophyta
⚫ Brown Algae
⚫ THE MOST
Plant-like of all
algae.

⚫ Kelps

⚫ Can grow to huge

sizes (100')

⚫ Most primitive
plant like
organism to show
alternation of
generations
A protist rap….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CibGFo0RHIwnohtml5=False

A protist rap….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cib
GFo0RHIw&nohtml5=False
Fungus-like Protists
 Characteristics in
Common
⚫ Allform delicate, netlike
structures on the surface of
their food source
⚫ Obtain energy by
decomposing organic material
 However…
⚫ They lack chitin in their cell walls, which is
one of the defining features of fungus.
Therefore, they are placed in the Kingdom
Protista.
 Phyla
of
Fungus-like Protists
Plasmodium Slime Molds
Cellular Slime Molds
Water Molds & Downy
Mildews
 Slime Molds

⚫ Livein cool moist, shady

places where they grow on
damp, organic matter
Plasmodium Slime Molds
⚫ Form plasmodium: a mass of
cytoplasm that contains many
diploid nuclei but no cell walls
or membranes – its feeding
stage
⚫ Creeps by amoeboid
movement – 2.5 cm/hour
 Plasmodium continued…
⚫ May reach more than a meter in
diameter
⚫ Form reproductive structures
when surroundings dry up
⚫ Spores are dispersed by the
wind and grow into new
plasmodium
 Cellular Slime Molds
⚫ In feeding mode, they exist
as individual amoebic cells
⚫ When food becomes scarce,
they come together with
thousands of their own kind
to reproduce
⚫ May look like a plasmodium
Water Molds and Downy
Mildews
⚫ Livein water or moist places
⚫ Feed on dead organisms or
parasitize plants
⚫ Fuzzy white growths
 That’s All
slime