KINGDOM PROTISTA

The kingdom of misfits

Presentation by Muhammad Bilal
EasyLearningHome.com
KINGDOM PROTISTA
▪ Eukaryotes
▪ Mostly aquatic
▪ Diverse
• Body forms
• Forms of reproduction
• Modes of nutrition
▪ Difficult to characterize
▪ Based on exclusion
• Misfit in other kingdoms
KINGDOM PROTISTA
▪ Eukaryotic
▪ Evolved from prokaryotes
▪ Other kingdoms evolved from Protista
▪ Body plan
• Unicellular
• Colonial
• Simple multicellular
▪ Only unifying feature
• Eukaryotic cells
• Also present in higher kingdoms
▪ Protists do not develop from embryo / blastula
KINGDOM PROTISTA
▪ Proposed by John Hogg (1861)
• For microscopic organisms
▪ Ernst Haeckel (1866)
• Suggested for bacteria and other microbes
• Which do not fit definition of plant / animal
• Placed bacteria in sub-group Monera
▪ Herbert Copeland (1938)
• Elevated prokaryotes to kingdom status
• Separated Kingdoms Monera and Protista
▪ Robert Whittaker (1969)
• Unicellular eukaryotes in Kingdom Protista
KINGDOM PROTISTA
▪ Now contains
• Unicellular eukaryotes
• Colonial
• Simple multicellular
▪ Margulis and Schwartz (1988)
• Further modified 5 kingdom classification
• Protista / Protoctista
DIVERSITY AMONG PROTISTA
▪ Long evolutionary history
▪ Diverse
• Size and structure
• Means of locomotion
• Ways of nutrition
• Interaction with other organisms
• Habitat
• Mode of reproduction
▪ Present in all major groups
▪ Polyphyletic group of organisms
• Originated from different / multiple ancestors
• Not from single ancestor
• At least 27 phyla (by Margulis and Schwartz)
MAJOR GROUPS OF PROTISTA
▪ Divided into four groups
▪ Animal like Protista – protozoa
▪ Unicellular plant like Protists – Algae
▪ Multicellular plant like Protista – Algae
▪ Fungi like Protista
PROTOZOA
Animal like Protists
PROTOZOA
▪ Means: First Animals
▪ Unicellular
▪ Ingestive heterotrophs
▪ Different from animals
• Unicellular
• No embryo
▪ Classification
• On the basis of locomotion
• Six groups
AMOEBAS
▪ Freshwater and Marine
▪ Free-living and parasites
▪ Lack flagella
▪ Move by
• Specialized cytoplasmic projections
• Called pseudopodia
▪ Example: Giant Amoeba, Entamoeba
▪ Entamoeba histolytica
• Intestinal parasite of humans
• Causes amoebic dysentery
AMOEBAS
▪ Giant amoeba
• Pelomyxa palustris
• Most primitive eukaryote
• Multiple membrane bound nuclei
• No other organelles
• Traps methanogenic bacteria
• Live in mud
• Bottom of freshwater ponds
• Degrade organic matter
ZOOFLAGELLATES
▪ Mostly unicellular
• Only few are colonial
▪ Spherical or elongated body
▪ Central nucleus
▪ One to many flagella
• Long, whip-like
• Help in locomotion
• Can move rapidly
• Pull forward by lashing flagella
▪ Examples:
• Trichonympha, Trypanosoma, Choanoflagellates
ZOOFLAGELLATES
▪ Nutrition
• Free-living
• Parasites
• Symbionts
▪ Trichonymphas
• Have many flagella
• Live symbiotically
• In guts of termites
• Help digest wood
ZOOFLAGELLATES
▪ Trypanosoma
• Parasite of humans
• Causes disease
• African sleeping sickness
• Spreads through tsetse fly
▪ Choanoflagellates
• Sessile, marine or freshwater
• Attached to bottom by stalk
• Single flagellum
• Surrounded by collar of cilia
• Resemble collar cells of sponges
CILIATES
▪ Unicellular
▪ Flexible outer covering
• Called pellicle
• Gives them definite shape
• Slightly changeable
▪ Example:
• Paramecium, Stentor, Vorticella
▪ Body covered in cilia
• Usually several thousand
• Beat in precise / coordinated fashion
• Can swim forward and backward
• Can also turn
CILIATES
▪ Some are sessile
• Remain attached to rocks etc
• Cilia generate water currents
• Bring food close
• Mostly ingest bacteria or smaller protists
▪ Water regulation is important
• Controlled by contractile vacuoles
▪ Two type of nuclei
• Small diploid micronucleus
• Involved in sexual reproduction
• Large polyploid macronucleus
• Controls metabolism and growth
• Sexual reproduction called conjugation
FORAMINIFERA & ACTINOPODA
▪ Marine protozoans
▪ Produce shells / tests
▪ Tests of formanifera
• Made of calcium carbonate
▪ Tests of actinopoda
• Made of silica
▪ Contain pores
• Cytoplasmic projections come out
• Sticky, interconnected net – entangle prey
▪ Sink to bottom when dead
• Make chalk and limestone deposits
▪ Example: Forams & Radiolarians
APICOMPLEXA
▪ Parasitic protozoa
▪ Cause serious diseases
• Like malaria in humans
▪ No special structure for locomotion
• Move by flexing body
▪ Develop spore in some stage
• Small infective agent
• Transmitted to next host
▪ Usually spend life in two hosts
• Different species
APICOMPLEXA
▪ Plasmodium causes malaria
▪ Enters blood through mosquito
• Infected female Anopheles bites
• Plasmodium in saliva
▪ Swims to liver – become merozoites
▪ Then enters blood cells
• Released by bursting cells
• Chills / fever due to toxins
• Infect new cells – cycle is repeated
▪ Some merozites develop to gametocytes
• Ingested again by mosquito
• Egg + sperm = Oocyst and zygote in mosquito
• Sporozoites injected in body
ALGAE
Plant like Protists
ALGAE – DIFFERENCE FROM PLANTS
▪ Singular: Alga
▪ Photosynthetic protists
• 50-60% of all photosynthesis on earth
• Rest carried out by plants
▪ Different from plants
• Unicellular sex organs
• Zygote not protected by parent body
▪ Plants
• Multicellular sex organs
• Multicellular embryo
• Protected by parent tissue
ALGAE – BODY FORMS
▪ Many different growth forms
▪ Some unicellular
▪ Some filamentous
• Distinct cells
• Coenocytes (multicellular structures without cross-walls)
▪ Some are multicellular
• Example: seaweeds
• Intricately branched
• Sometimes leaf-like extensions
• Body called thallus: no true roots, shoots or stems
ALGAE – PHOTOSYNTHETIC PIGMENTS
▪ Some present in all
• Mainly chlorophyll a,
• Yellow and orange carotenoids
▪ Some unique to specific phyla
• Xanthophylls
• Phycoerythrin
▪ Help in photosynthesis
▪ Used for classifying algae
• Divided into six groups
ALGAE – LIFE CYCLE & HABITAT
▪ Life cycle is highly variable
▪ All have flagellated stage
• Except red algae (Rhodophyta)
▪ All are aquatic
▪ Restricted to damp / wet environment
• Oceans,
• Freshwater ponds, lakes, streams
• Hot springs, polar ice,
• Moist soil, tree bark, rocks
EUGLENOIDS (EUGLENOPHYTA)
▪ Difficult to classify
• Sometimes into animals
• Sometimes into plants
▪ Molecular data
• Closely related to zooflagellates
▪ Plant like - photosynthetic pigments
▪ Become animal-like in dark
• Lose pigments
• Obtain food heterotrophically
▪ Some are always heterotrophic
▪ Pigments: Chl a, Chl b, Carotenoids
▪ Two flagella (1 long, 1 short)
▪ Example: Euglena
DINOFLAGELLATES
(PYRROPHYTA)
▪ Unusual protists
▪ Mostly unicellular
▪ Cell covered by shell
• Interlocking plates of cellulose
• Impregnated with silicates
▪ Most important group of producers
• In marine ecosystem
• Second to diatoms
▪ Occasional population blooms
• Color the water red, brown
• Called red tides
▪ Two flagella for locomotion
▪ Pigments: Chl a, Chl c, Carotenes (Fucoxanthin)
▪ Example: Gonyaulax, Ceratium
DIATOMS (CHRYSOPHYTA)
▪ Cell wall of silica
• Two plates
• Overlap each other
• Appears glass-like
• Intricate patterns
▪ Major producers in ecosystem
• Both marine and freshwater
▪ Very large numbers
▪ Important in food chain
▪ Usually no flagella
▪ Pigments: Chl a, Chl c, Carotenes (Fucoxanthin)
▪ Example:
• Diatoma, Frequilaria, Pinnularia
BROWN ALGAE (PHAEOPHYTA)
▪ Multicellular
• Giants of protist kingdom
• Up to 75 meters
▪ Kelps
• Tough and leathery
• Leaf-like blades,
• stem-like stipe,
• root-like holdfast
▪ Common in marine waters
• Along rocky coastlines in intertidal zone
▪ Flagella on reproductive cells
▪ Pigments: Chl a, Chl c, Carotenes (Fucoxanthin)
▪ Examples: Fucus, Macrocystis, Laminaria
RED ALGAE (RHODOPHYTA)
▪ Multicellular
• Some unicellular
• Complex interwoven filaments
• Delicate and feathery
• Some are like flattened sheets
▪ Attached through holdfast
▪ Some have calcium carbonate in cell wall
• Help build coral reefs
▪ No flagella
▪ Example: Chl a, Carotenes (Phycoerythrin)
▪ Example: Chondrus, Polysiphonia
GREEN ALGAE (CHLOROPHYTA)
▪ Unicellular, colonial or multicellular
▪ Very similar to plants
• Energy reserve - starch
• Pigments – chlorophylls
• Cell wall - cellulose
▪ Suggests ancestry of plants
• Also proven by RNA sequencing (monophyletic)
▪ Pigments: Chl a, Chl b, Carotenes
▪ Examples:
• Chlorella, Ulva, Volvox
• Acetabularia, Spirogyra, Desmids
GREEN ALGAE
▪ Chlorella
▪ Unicellular non motile
▪ Found in freshwater
• Ponds and ditches
▪ Experimental organism
• Research on photosynthesis
• Alternate food source
IMPORTANCE OF ALGAE
▪ Economic and Environmental importance
▪ Some are edible
• Like kelps
• May help food shortage
▪ Source of useful substances
• Algin,
• Agar,
• Carrageenan
• Antiseptics
▪ Major producers in ecosystem
• Provide food and oxygen
FUNGUS-LIKE PROTISTS
FUNGUS-LIKE PROTISTS
▪ Resemble fungi superficially
• Not photosynthetic
• Thread-like body – hyphae
▪ Not fungi
• Have centrioles
• Produce cellulose
▪ Two major groups
SLIME MOLDS (MYXOMYCOTA)
▪ Feeding stage is called plasmodium
• Multinucleate mass of cytoplasm
• Grows up to 30 cm in diameter
• Slimy in appearance
▪ Grows on damp decaying material
• Forms network of channels
• Covers large surface area
• Ingests bacteria, yeasts, etc
▪ Form resistant spores
• Produced by meiosis
• Are haploid
• On stalked structures - sporangia
SLIME MOLDS (MYXOMYCOTA)
▪ Germinate in favorable conditions
• Biflagellated or amoeboid swarm cells
• Unite – form diploid zygote
• Produces multinucleate plasmodium
• Each nucleus is diploid
▪ Physarum polycephalum
• Model organism
• Study of cell growth, differentiation
• Cytoplasmic streaming
• Function of cytoskeleton
WATER MOLDS (OOMYCETES)
▪ Closely related to fungi
• Similar structures
• But considered separate
▪ Cell wall contains cellulose
▪ Hyphae are aseptate
• No cross-walls
▪ Many pathogenic species
▪ Phytophthora infestans
• Infamous in history
• Irish potato blight
• Famine in 1840s in ireland
• 250,000 to 1,000,000 deaths due to starvation
• Mass migration to USA