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PROTISTS
Prepared by
Brenda Leady, University of Toledo
1 reprod
Copyright (c) The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for
Eukaryotes that are not classified in the
plant, animal, or fungal kingdoms, though
some protists are closely related to plants
or animals or fungi
Two common characteristics
Most abundant in moist habitats
Most of them are microscopic in size
Do not form monophyletic group
Supergroups used
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Classified by ecological role
3 major groups
Algae – photosynthetic and nonphotosynthetic
Not monophyletic
Protozoa – heterotrophic
Not monophyletic
Fungus-like – resemble fungi in body form
and absorptive nutrition
More closely related to diatoms
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Classified by habitat
Particularly common and diverse in
oceans, lakes, wetlands and rivers
Plankton- swimming or floating
Phytoplankton – photosynthetic
Protozoan plankton – heterotrophic
Occur primarily as single cells, colonies or
short filaments
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Periphyton
Attachedby mucilage to underwater surfaces
Produce multicellular bodies
Seaweeds
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Classified by motility
Swim using eukaryotic flagella
Flagellates
Some flagellated reproductive cells
Cilia – shorter and more abundant than flagella
Ciliates
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Supergroups
Excavata
Related to some of Earth’s earliest eukaryotes
Named for a feeding groove “excavated” into
the cells of many representatives
Food particles are taken into cells by
phagotrophy
Endocytosis and evolutionary basis for
endosymbiosis
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Some are parasites
Trichomonas
vaginalis and Giardia
lamblia
Possess highly
modified mitochondria
Call hydrogenosomes
– produce hydrogen
gas
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Euglenozoa
Supergroup of flagellates named for
Euglena
Disk-shaped mitochondrial cristae
Kinetoplastids have an unusually large
mass of DNA (kinetoplast)
Trypansosoma brucei
Euglenoids have unique interlocking
protein strips beneath plasma membrane
Cancrawl through mud – euglenoid
movement or metaboly 15
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Archaeplastida
Obtained plastids by primary
endosymbiosis
Primary
plastids have an envelope with 2
membranes
Red algae, green algae, Kingdom Plantae,
glaucophyta
Based on assumption that all primary
plastids originated with a single
endosymbiotic event 17
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Alveolata
Ciliophora
Ciliates – conjugation
Dinozoa
Dinoflagellates – some photosynthetic, others
not
Important in nearshore oceans
Apicomplexa
Medicallyimportant parasites
Plasmodium
Named for saclike membranous vesicle
(alveoli) present in cell periphery 19
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Stramenopila
Wide range of algae, protozoa, and
fungus-like protists
Usually produce flagellated cells at some
point
Named for distinctive strawlike hairs on
the surface of flagella
Plastids from secondary endosymbiosis
More than 2 envelopes
Originate with incorporation of a cell with a
primary plastid 21
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Rhizaria
Have thin, hairlike extensions of the
cytoplasm called filose pseudopodia
Chlorarachniophyta
Radiolaria and Foraminifera
Ocean plankton that make mineral shells
White cliffs of Dover, England
Foraminifera used to infer past climates
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Amoebozoa
Many types of amoebae
Move using pseudopodia
Entamoeba histolytica
Slime molds
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Opisthokonta
Named for single posterior flagellum on
swimming cells
Animal and fungal kingdoms
Choanoflagellate protists
Feature distinctive collar surrounding flagella
Modern protists most related to the common
ancestor of animals
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4 basic types of nutrition
Phagotrophy – heterotrophs that ingest
particles
Osmotrophs – heterotrophs that rely on
uptake of small organic molecules
Autotrophs – photosynthetic
Mixotrophs – able to use autotrophy and
phagotrophy or osmotrophy depending on
conditions
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Algal photosynthetic pigments
Variety of pigments
Adapt photosystems to capture more light
Water absorbs the longer red and yellow
wavelengths more than the shorter blue
and green wavelengths
Accessory pigments absorb light and
transfer it to chlorophyll a
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Defense
Slimy mucilage or cell walls defend
against herbivores and pathogens
Calcium carbonate, silica, iron, manganese
armor
Trichocysts are spear-shaped projectiles
to discourage herbivores
Bioluminescence – startle herbivores
Toxins – inhibit animal physiology
Pfiesteria
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Burkholder and Colleagues Demonstrated That
Strains of the Dinoflagellate Genus Pfiesteria Are
Toxic to Mammalian Cells
First step was to grow 2 strains of Pfiesteria
on 2 different food regimes
Then exposed to fish to elicit toxin
production
Last step to test against mammalian cell
cultures
Both strains with both food regimes are
toxic
Asexual reproduction
All protists can reproduce asexually
Many produce cysts with thick, protective
walls that remain dormant in bad
conditions
Many protozoan pathogens spread from
one host to another via cysts
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Sexual reproduction
Eukaryotic sexual reproduction with
gametes and zygotes arose among the
protists
Generally adaptive because it produces
diverse genotypes
Zygotic and sporic life cycles
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Zygotic life cycles
Most unicellular sexually reproducing protists
Haploid cells transform into gametes
+ and – mating strains
Thick-walled diploid zygotes
Survive like cysts
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Sporic life cycle
Many multicellular green and brown
seaweeds
Also known as alternation of generations
2 types of multicellular organisms
Haploid gametophyte produces gametes
Diploid sporophyte produces spores by meiosis
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Ciliate sexual reproduction – Conjugation
Most complex sexual process in protists
Have 2 types of nuclei (single macronucleus
and one or more micronuclei)
Macronuclei are the source of the information
for cell function
2 cells pair and fuse – conjugation
Micronuclei undergo meiosis, exchange,
fusion and mitosis
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Parasitic protist hosts
Parasitic protists often using more than
one host organism, in which different life
stages occur
Malarial parasite Plasmodium alternate
between the humans and Anopheles
mosquitoes
Different stages in different hosts and host
tissues
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Genomic sequences for several parasitic
protists determined
Way to find new cellular targets to kill
parasite without harming human host
Identify metabolic processes present in
parasite but not the host
Plasmodium falciparum genomic data has
highlighted potential new pharmaceutical
approaches
Enzymes in apicoplast pathways may make
good targets