Animal Like Protists: The

Protozoa
Chapter 8
 Evolutionary Perspective
• The fossil record indicates that virtually all protist and animal phyla
living today were present during the Cambrian period, about 550
million years ago.
• Scanty in fossils
• Ancient members of the Archaea were the first living organisms on
this planet.
• The Archaea gave rise to the kingdom Protista about 1.5 billion years
ago.
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• Zoologists recognize between 7 and 45 phyla of protists.
Polyphyletic
• Some protists are plantlike
• Others are animal-like
• This chapter covers seven phyla of protists commonly called the
protozoa
Life Within A Single Plasma Membrane
• Protozoa display unicellular
(cytoplasmic) organization
• More complex than any
particular cell in higher
organisms
• In some protozoan phyla or
individuals group to form
colonies
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Maintaining homeostasis
• Organelles that are similar to the
organelles of other eukaryotic cells
carry out specific functions in
protozoa
•A regular arrangement of
microtubules, called the pellicle,
underlies the plasma membrane of
many protozoa.
• The pellicle is rigid enough to
maintain the shape of the protozoan,
but it is also flexible.
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• The cytoplasm of a protozoan is
differentiated into two regions.
• The portion of the cytoplasm just
beneath the pellicle is called
ectoplasm
• It is relatively clear and firm.
• The inner cytoplasm, called
endoplasm, is usually granular
and more fluid.
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• Contractile vacuoles remove the
excess water
• Contracting microfilaments
have been concerned with the
draining from contractile
vacuoles.
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• Protozoa absorb and dissolved
nutrients by active transport or
ingest whole or particulate food
through endocytosis.
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Reproduction:
• Both asexual and sexual reproduction occur among the protozoa.
Asexual reproduction:
Binary fission
• Depending on the group of protozoa, cytokinesis may be longitudinal or transverse
Budding
• During budding, mitosis is followed by the incorporation of one nucleus into a
cytoplasmic mass that is much smaller than the parent cell.
Multiple fission
• Multiple fission or schizogony occurs when a large number of daughter cells form
from the division of a single protozoan
• Schizogony begins with multiple mitotic divisions in a mature individual.
When a certain number of nuclei have been produced, cytoplasmic division
results in the separation of each nucleus into a new cell.
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Sexual reproduction:
• Sexual reproduction requires gamete formation and the subsequent
fusion of gametes to form a zygote.
• In most protozoa, the sexually mature individual is haploid.
• Gametes are produced by mitosis, and meiosis follows union of the
gametes.
• Ciliated protozoa are an exception to this pattern.
 Symbiotic Lifestyles in Protozoa
• is an intimate association between two organisms.
• For many protozoa, these interactions involve a form of symbiosis called
parasitism, in which one organism lives in or on a second organism, called
a host.
• The host is harmed but usually survives, at least long enough for the parasite
to complete one or more life cycles.
• Other kinds of symbiosis involve relationships that do not harm the host.
• Commensalism is symbiotic relationship in which one member of the
relationship benefits, and the second member is neither benefited nor
harmed.
• Mutualism is a symbiotic relationship in which both species gets benefit.
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• The relationships between a parasite and its host(s) are often complex.
• Some parasites have life histories involving multiple hosts.
• The definitive host harbors the sexual stages of the parasite.
• The sexual stages may produce offspring that enter another host, called
an intermediate host, where they reproduce asexually.
• Some life cycles require more than one intermediate host and more than
one immature stage.
• For the life cycle to be complete, the final, asexual stage must have
access to a definitive host.
 Classification of Protozoa
Protozoan as a subkingdom contain 7 phyla
1. Phylum Sarcomastigophora
2. Phylum Labyrinthomorpha
3. Phylum Apicomplexa
4. Phylum Microspora
5. Phylum Ascetophora
6. Phylum Myxozoa
7. Phylum Ciliophora
 Phylum Sarcomastigophora
• With over 18,000 described species, Sarcomastigophora is the largest
protozoan phylum and has the following characteristics:
1. Unicellular or colonial
2. Locomotion by flagella, pseudopodia, or both
3. Autotrophic (self-nourishing), saprozoic (living in decaying organic
matter), or heterotrophic (obtains energy from organic compounds)
4. Single type of nucleus
5. Sexual reproduction (usually)
 Phylum Sarcomastigophora
Subphylum Mastigophora
• Members of the subphylum
Mastigophora use flagella in
locomotion.
• Flagella may produce
two-dimensional, whiplike
movements or helical
movements that push or pull the
protozoan through its aquatic
medium
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Class Phytomastigophora
• produce a large portion of the food and
oxygen in aquatic habitat.
• Includes dinoflagellates.
• Dinoflagellates have one flagellum that
wraps around the organism in a transverse
groove.
• The primary action of this flagellum
causes the organism to spin on its axis.
• A second flagellum is a trailing flagellum
that pushes the organism forward.
• In addition to chlorophyll, many
dinoflagellates contain xanthophyll
pigments, which give them a golden
brown color.
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• At times, dinoflagellates become
so numerous that they color the
water.
• Periodic “blooms” of these
organisms are called “red tides”
and result in fish kills along the
continental shelves.
• Indeed, the Red Sea is probably
named after these toxic
dinoflagellate blooms.
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• Euglena is a freshwater phytomastigophorean.
• Each chloroplast has a pyrenoid, which synthesizes and stores
polysaccharides.
• If cultured in the dark, they feed by absorption and lose their green
color.
• Some lack chloroplasts and are always heterotrophic.
• Mostly they are haploid and reproduce by longitudinal binary fission.
• Sexual reproduction in these species is unknown.
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• Euglena orients toward light of
certain intensities.
• A pigment shield (stigma)
covers a photoreceptor at the
base of the flagellum.
• The stigma permits light to strike
the photoreceptor from only one
direction, allowing Euglena to
orient and move in relation to a
light source.
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Class Phytomastigophora
Volvox
• Volvox is a colonial flagellate consisting of
up to 50,000 cells embedded in a spherical
matrix.
• Individual cells possess two flagella, which
cause the colony to roll and turn gracefully
through the water.
• Although most Volvox cells are relatively
unspecialized, reproduction depends on
certain specialized cells.
• Asexual reproduction occurs in the spring
and summer when certain cells withdraw to
the watery interior of the parental colony
and form daughter colonies.
• When the parental colony dies, it ruptures
and releases daughter colonies
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• Sexual reproduction in Volvox occurs during autumn.
• Some species are dioecious (having separate sexes); other species are monoecious
(having both sexes in the same colony).
• In autumn, specialized cells differentiate into macrogametes or microgametes.
• Macrogametes are large, filled with nutrient reserves, and non-motile.
• Microgametes form as a packet of flagellated cells that leaves the parental colony
and swims to a colony containing macrogametes.
• The zygote, an overwintering stage, secretes a resistant wall around itself and is
released when the parental colony dies.
• Because the parental colony consists of haploid cells, the zygote must undergo
meiosis to reduce the chromosome number from the diploid zygotic condition.
• This colony is released from the protective zygotic capsule in the spring.
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Class Zoomastigophora
• Lack chloroplasts and are heterotrophic.
• Some members of this class are important
parasites of humans.
• One of the most important species is
Trypanosoma brucei.
• This species is divided into three
subspecies: T. b. brucei, T. b. gambiense,
and T. b. rhodesiense, often referred to as
the Trypanosoma brucei complex.
• The first of these three subspecies is a
parasite of non-human mammals of Africa.
The latter two cause sleeping sickness in
humans.
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• Tsetse flies (Glossina spp.) are intermediate hosts and vectors of all three
subspecies.
• When a tsetse fly bites an infected human or mammal, it picks up parasites in
addition to its meal of blood.
• Trypanosomes multiply asexually in the gut of the fly for about 10 days, then
migrate to the salivary glands.
• While in the fly, trypanosomes transform through a number of body forms from 15
to 35 days.
• Then the infected tsetse fly bites another vertebrate host, the parasites travel with
salivary secretions into the blood of a new definitive host.
• The parasites multiply asexually in the new host
• Parasites may live in the blood, lymph, spleen, central nervous system, and
cerebrospinal fluid.
 Subphylum Sarcodina
• Amoebae
• Pseudopodia
• Pseudopodia exist in variety of forms:
1. Lobopodia: are broad cell processes
containing ectoplasm and endoplasm and are
used for locomotion and engulfing food
2. Filopodia: contain ectoplasm only and
provide a constant two-way streaming that
delivers food in a conveyor-belt fashion
3. Reticulopodia: are similar to filopodia,
except that they branch and rejoin to form a
netlike series of cell extensions
4. Axopodia: are thin, filamentous, and
supported by a central axis of microtubules
 Subphylum Sarcodina:
Superclass Rhizopoda, Class Lobosea
• Most familiar amoebae
• Found on shallow-water substrates of
freshwater ponds, lakes, and
slow-moving streams
• Feed on other protists and bacteria
• Phagocytosis
• no sexual reproduction is known to
occur
• May be calcareous (made of calcium
carbonate), proteinaceous (made of
protein), siliceous (made of silica
[SiO2]), or chitinous (made of
chitin—a polysaccharide)
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• Arcella is a common freshwater,
shelled amoeba
• It has a brown, proteinaceous test
that is flattened on one side and
domed on the other
• Pseudopodia project from an
opening on the flattened side
• Difflugia is another common
freshwater, shelled amoeba
• Its test is vase shaped and is
composed of mineral particles
embedded in a secreted matrix
 Subphylum Actinopoda: Foraminiferans
• Marine group of amoeba
• Reticulopodia
• Calcium carbonate
• Mermaid’s pennies
 Subphylum Actinopoda: Heliozoans
• Aquatic amoeba
• Planktonic or live attached by a
stalk to some substrate
• Either naked or enclosed within a
test that contains openings for
axopodia
 Subphylum Actinopoda: Radiolarians
• Radiolarians are planktonic marine
and freshwater amoebae
• They are relatively large; some
colonial forms may reach several
centimeters in diameter
• They possess a test (usually
siliceous) of long and movable
spines
• When radiolarians die, their tests
drift to the ocean floor
• Some of the oldest known fossils of
eukaryotic organisms are
radiolarians
 Phylum Labrinthomorpha
• The very small phylum
Labyrinthomorpha (labrinth-o-morfa)
consists of protozoa with
spindle-shaped, non-amoeboid,
vegetative cells.
• Gliding motion
• Most members are marine
• Saprozoic or parasitic on algae or
seagrass
• Several years ago, Labyrinthula killed
most of the “eel grass” (a grasslike
marine flowering plant) on the Atlantic
coast, starving many ducks that feed on
the grass
 Phylum Microspora
• Commonly called microsporidia, are small, obligatory intracellular
parasites.
• Parasitize beneficial insects
• Nosema bombicus parasitizes silkworms causing the disease pebrine
• Nosema apis causes serious dysentery (foul brood) in honeybees
• Possible role as biological control agents for insect pests
 Phylum Acetospora
• Small phylum
• Exclusively of obligatory
parasites
• The acetosporeans primarily are
parasitic in the cells, tissues, and
body cavities of molluscs.
 Phylum Myxospora
• Myxosporeans, are all obligatory
parasites in freshwater and
marine fish.
• They have a resistant spore.
 Phylum Apicomplexa
• Members of the phylum
Apicomplexa are parasites.
Characteristics of the phylum
include:
1. Apical complex for penetrating
host cells
2. Single type of nucleus
3. No cilia and flagella, except in
certain reproductive stages
4. Life cycles that typically include
asexual and sexual phases
 Class Sporozoa
• Production of resistant spore or oocyst
• Intracellular parasite
• Life cycle have three phases
1. Shizogony
• Shizogony is multiple fission of an asexual stage in host cells to form
many more individuals, called merozoites, that leave the host cell and
infect many other cells. (Schizogony to produce merozoites is also
called merogony.)
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2. Gametogony:
• Some of the merozoites undergo gametogony, which begins the
sexual phase of the life cycle.
• The parasite forms either microgametocytes or macrogametocytes.
• Microgametocytes undergo multiple fission to produce biflagellate
microgametes that emerge from the infected host cell.
• The macrogametocyte develops directly into a single macrogamete.
• A microgamete fertilizes a macrogamete to produce a zygote that
becomes enclosed and is called an oocyst
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3. Sporogony:
• The zygote undergoes meiosis, and the resulting cells divide
repeatedly by mitosis.
• This process, called sporogony, produces many rodlike sporozoites in
the oocyst.
• Sporozoites infect the cells of a new host after the new host ingests
and digests the oocyst, or sporozoites are otherwise introduced (e.g.,
by a mosquito bite).
 Phylum Apicomplexa: Plasmodium
• Over 100 million humans are
estimated to annually contract
the disease.
• Chills and fever correlate with
the maturation of parasites, the
rupture of red blood cells, and
the release of toxic metabolites.
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• Four species of Plasmodium are the most important human malarial species.
• P. vivax causes malaria. This species occurs in temperate regions and has
been nearly eradicated in many parts of the world.
• P. falciparum causes the most virulent form of malaria in humans. It was
once worldwide, but is now mainly tropical and subtropical in distribution.
It remains one of the greatest killers of humanity, especially in Africa.
• P. malariae is worldwide in distribution
• P. ovaleis the rarest of the four human malarial species and is primarily
tropical in distribution.
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• Coccidiosis is primarily a
disease of poultry, sheep, cattle,
and rabbits.
• Two genera, Isospora and
Eimeria, are particularly
important parasites of poultry.
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• Crypto sporidium, has become
more well known with the advent
of AIDS since it causes chronic
diarrhea in AIDS patients, is the
only known protozoan to resist
chlorination, and is most virulent
in immunosuppressed
individuals.
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• Toxoplasmosis is a disease of
mammals, including humans, and
birds.
• Sexual reproduction of Toxoplasma
occurs primarily in cats.
• Infections occur when oocysts are
ingested with food contaminated by cat
feces, or when meat containing
encysted merozoites is eaten raw or
poorly cooked.
• Most infections in humans are
asymptomatic, and once infection
occurs, an effective immunity
develops.
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• However, if a woman is infected
near the time of pregnancy, or
during pregnancy, congenital
toxoplasmosis may develop in a
fetus.
• It is a major cause of stillbirths
and spontaneous abortions.
• Congenital toxoplasmosis has no
cure.
 Phylum Ciliophora
1. Cilia for locomotion and for the
generation of feeding currents in
water
2. Relatively rigid pellicle and
more or less fixed shape
3. Distinct cytostome (mouth)
structure
4. Dimorphic nuclei, typically a
larger macronucleus and one or
more smaller micronuclei
 Cilia and Other Pellicular Structures
• Ciliary movements are
coordinated
• Basal bodies (kinetosomes) of
cilia are interconnected with an
elaborate network of fibers that
are believed to anchor the cilia
and give shape to the organism.
• Cilia may cover the outer surface
of the protozoan. They may join
to form cirri
 Nutrition
• Paramecium, have a ciliated oral
groove along one side of the
body
• Cilia of the oral groove sweep
small food particles toward the
cytopharynx, where a food
vacuole forms.
• When the food vacuole reaches
an upper size limit, it breaks free
and circulates through the
endoplasm.
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• Free living and prey upon other
protists or small animals.
• The ciliate Didinium feeds
principally on Paramecium, a
prey that is bigger than itself.
• Didinium forms a temporary
opening that can greatly enlarge
to consume its prey
 Genetic Control and Reproduction
• They have two kinds of nuclei. A
large, polyploid macronucleus
regulates daily metabolic
activities.
• One or more smaller
micronuclei are the genetic
reserve of the cell.
• They reproduce asexually by
binary fission and, occasionally,
by budding.
 Reproduction
• They reproduce sexually by conjugation
• Initial contact between individuals is apparently random, and sticky
secretions of the pellicle facilitate adhesion.
• Plasma membranes then fuse and remain that way for several hours.
• The macronucleus does not participate in the genetic exchange.
• Cytoplasmic divisions that form daughter cells join these events.