Eukaryotic Microorganisms:

Protists and Fungi

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Eukaryotic cells

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Eukaryotic cells
Animal cells Plant cells

▪ A nucleus in which the genetic material is separated from the cytoplasm

▪ Contain an assortment of membrane enclosed cytoplasmatic structures called organelles

▪ Cytoskeleton

▪ Typically much larger than prokaryote 3

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The origin of Eukaryotes
Sintrophy ENDOSYMBIOSIS Margulis 1970
(Nutritive symbiosis)
SO4= 1998 CH4 Aerobic bacterium

H2
bacterium archeon

mitochondrion

Cyanobacterium
Oxygenic photosynthesis

PROTOZOA

FUNGI ALGAE

protoeukaryote ANIMALS chloroplast PLANTS

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Last Eukaryotic Common Ancestor (LECA)

Features that will be present also in later eukaryotes:

• Actin-tubulin-based cytoskeleton

• Presence of ubiquitin, a protein present in all eukaryotic cells (it marks

proteins due to its degradation, it regulates cytoplasm protein levels in
order to regulates cell cycle)

• Nuclear membrane covered with pores

• Presence of splicesomes, a set of nuclear proteins that eliminate introns

(non-coding sequences) from transcribed mRNA precursors

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Features acquired by eukaryotes

▪ Loss of the cell wall

▪ More than one chromosome
▪ Cell division by mitosis
▪ Deformation of the cytoplasmic membrane
▪ Microtubule system (cytoskeleton)
▪ Functions of endosymbiosis (intracellular digestion)
▪ Asexual and sexual reproduction
▪ Aging

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LUCA

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Protists

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Phylogenetic tree of Eukarya

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Protists

▪ The most simple eukaryotes

▪ Many of them are single-celled, although there are protists that form colonies or are multicellular
▪ Phototrophic and non photrotrophic microbial eukaryotes
▪ Are completely different from animals, plants and fungi
▪ Widely distributed in nature
▪ Exhibit a wide range of morphologies
▪ Great phylogenetic diversity. Represent much of the diversity found in the Eukarya domain
▪ Their cells contain organelles and nucleus
▪ Some of them have mobility 11
Locomotion structures

Pseudopods: temporary cytoplasm-filled projection of the

membrane. Pseudopods may be used for motility, or for
ingesting nutrients or other particulate matter. Cells that make
pseudopods are generally referred to as amoeboids

Cilium: Cilia are slender protuberances that project from the

much larger cell body. There are two types of cilia: motile cilia
and non-motile. Motile cilia are usually present on a cell's
surface in large numbers and beat in coordinated waves

Flagella is a lash-like appendage that protrudes from the

cell body of certain prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Its
primary role of the flagellum is locomotion but it also
has function as a sensory organelle

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Vacuoles
A vacuole is a membrane-bound organelle which is present in all
plant and fungal cells and some protists, animal and bacterial cells.
Vacuoles are essentially enclosed compartments which are filled
with water containing inorganic and organic molecules including
enzymes in solution, though in certain cases they may contain solids
which have been engulfed

Contractile vacuoles: involved in the osmoregulation. The

contractile vacuole acts to regulate the quantity of water

Food vacuole: a membrane-enclosed cell vacuole with a digestive

function, containing material taken up in by the process of
phagocytosis

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Mineral Skeleton
• Calcium carbonate
✓ Foraminiferans
• Silica
✓ Radiolarians
✓ Diatoms

Foraminiferans

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Radiolarians Diatoms
Protists

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Diplomonads
▪ Characteristically contain two nuclei of equal size
▪ Giardia intestinalis is the most known specie:
✓ Has a relatively small genome for a eukaryote
✓ Contains few introns and lacks genes for many metabolic pathways (Krebs cycle…)
✓ These characteristics account for the organism’s parasitic lifestyle
✓ Causes giardiasis, one of the most common waterborne diarrheal diseases

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Parabasalids
▪ Lack mitochondria but contain hydrogenosomes for anaerobic metabolism
▪ Live in the intestinal and urogenital tract of vertebrates and invertebrates as parasites or as
commensal symbionts
▪ The parabasalid Trichomonas vaginalis is motile (flagella) and causes a widespread sexually
transmitted disease in humans
▪ Their genomes are unique among eukaryotes in that most of them lack introns, the noncoding
sequences characteristic of eukaryotic genes

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Kinetoplastids

▪ Are a well-studied group of euglenozoans (group of protists)

▪ Are named for the presence of the kinetoplast, a mass of DNA present in their single, large
mitochondrion
▪ Live primarily in aquatic habitats, where they feed on bacteria
▪ Some species are parasites of animals and causes serious diseases in humans and vertebrates
animals
▪ Have a single flagellum
▪ Trypanosoma brucei causes African sleeping sickness, a chronic and usually fatal human disease
which is transmitted from host to host by the tsetse fly.
▪ Trypanosoma cruzi causes Chaga’s disease
▪ Leishmanis species causes cutaneous and systemic leishmaniasis

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Dinoflagellates
▪ Are a diverse group of marine and freshwater phototrophic alveolates (group of protists)
▪ Have two flagella of different lengths and with different points of insertion into the cell
▪ Some are free-living, whereas other live a symbiotic existence with animals that form the coral
reefs
▪ They produce neurotoxines
▪ Several species of dinoflagellates are toxic. For example, dense suspensions of Gonyaulax cells,
called “red tides” due to the red-colored pigments of the organism,
can form in warm and typically polluted coastal waters. They are
associated with fish kills and poisoning in humans following
consumption of mussels that have accumulated Gonyaulax
through filter feeding

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Apicomplexans
▪ Nonphototrophic obligate parasites that cause
severe human diseases such as malaria (Plasmodium
species) and toxoplasmosis (Toxoplasma)
▪ These organisms are characterized by nonmotile
adult stages, and nutrients are taken up in soluble
form across the cytoplasmic membrane as in
bacteria and fungi
▪ Produce structures called sporozoites, which
function in transmission of the parasite to a new
host
▪ Apicoplexans also contain apicoplasts: degenerate
chloroplasts that lack pigments and phototrophic
capacity but contains a few of their own genes
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Diatoms
▪ Include over 200 genera of unicellular, phototrophic, microbial eukaryotes
▪ Major component of the phytoplankton in marine and fresh water
▪ Characteristically produce a cell wall (frustule) made of silica which protects the cell
against predation, exhibits widely different shapes in different species and can be highly
ornate
▪ Diatom frustules typically show morphological symmetry
▪ Diatom frustules constitute some of the best unicellular eukaryotic fossils known

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Brown algae
▪ Primarily marine and are multicellular and typically macroscopic
▪ No unicellular brown algae are known
▪ As their name implies, brown algae are brown or green-brown in color depending on
how much of the carotenoid pigment fucoxanthin they produce
▪ Most of “seaweeds” are brown algae and their rapid growth, especially in cold marine
waters
▪ They play an important role in marine environments, both as food and as habitats
Fuccus, Laminaria, Sargasum
Macrocystis: 60 meters

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Green algae
▪ Also called chlorophytes
▪ Have chloroplasts containing chlorophylls a and b, which give them their characteristic
green color
▪ In the composition of their photosynthetic pigments, green algae are similar to plants and are
closely related to plants phylogenetically
▪ Two main groups of green algae:
✓ Chlorophytes, examples of which are the microscopic Chlamydomonas and Dunaliella
✓ Charophyceans such as Chara, macroscopic organisms that often resemble land plants
and are actually most closed related to land plants
▪ Most green algae inhabit freshwater while other are found in most soul or growing in snow
▪ Other green algae live as symbionts in lichens
▪ The morphology chlorophytes ranges from unicellular to filamentous, with individual cells
arranged end to end to colonial, as aggregates of cells
▪ Most green algae have a complex life cycle, with both sexual and asexual reproductive stages

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Green algae: Chlorella
One of the few microalgae employed for human consumption. It typically has a high protein content,
but it can also accumulate high amounts of lipids or carbohydrates under stress conditions and, for
this reason, it is of interest in the production of biofuels

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Fungi

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The characteristics features of fungi: defining the fungal kingdom
• All fungi are eukaryotic, unicellular (yeasts) or multicellular (mostly).
• Fungi typically grow as filaments (hyphae), which extend only at their extreme tips. So
fungi exhibit apical growth. Fungal hyphae branch repeatedly behind their tips giving
rise to a network termed mycellium.
• Some fungi grow as a single-celled yeasts (e.g. Saccharomyces cerevisiae) which
reproduce by budding.
• Fungi are heterotrophs (chemoorganotrophs). They need organic compounds as energy
sources which are acquired by absorption.
• Fungi have a distinctive range of wall components which typically including chitin and
glucans. Fungi differ from plants because they do no have cellulose-rich cell walls.
• Fungi reproduce by both sexual and asexual means, and typically produce spores (role in
their survival).
• A large number of fungi are plant pathogens, and a few cause diseases of animals,
including humans. Certain fungi also establish symbiotic associations with many plants,
facilitating the plant’s acquisition of minerals from soil (lichens and mycorrhizas).
• Some fungi obtain nutrients by growing as a saprophytes (organism that feed on dead
organic matter). They produce a wide range of enzymes that degrade complex
polymers. They play crucial roles in the mineralization of organic carbon.
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Fungal structure

Mycelium: a mass of hyphae that makes

up the body of a fungus

*Hiphae: filaments. Each hypha consist of

one or more cells surrounded by a tubular
cell wall. Contain more than one nucleus

Fungal
structure Fungal hyphae are often septate with
crosswalls dividing each hypha into
separated cells. (septum)

Cell wall: rigid layers of fungal cell walls

contain complex polysaccharides called
chitin and glucans.

*In some cases, the vegetative cell of a fungal hypha contains

more than one nucleus without the formation of crosswalls.
This condition is called coenocytic hypha. 28
Fungal structure
From the mycelium, aerial hyphae reach up into the air above the surface, and spores
called conidia are formed on their tips. Conidia are asexual spores and they are often
pigmented black, green, red, yellow, or brown and function to disperse the fungus to new
habitats.

fruiting
bodies

Some fungi form macroscopic reproductive structures called

fruiting bodies (mushrooms, for example), in which millions of
spores are produced that can be dispersed by wind, water, or
animals.

In contrast to mycelial fungi, some fungi grow as single cells;

these are the yeasts.

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Fungal structure

Haustoria:
• Modified hyphae found in parasitic fungi
• Function: absorb nutrients from host
• Some fungi even have hyphae adapted for preying on animals.

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Heterotrophic by absorption
• Fungi get carbon from organic sources
• Hyphal tips release enzymes
• Enzymatic breakdown of substrate
• Products diffuse back into hyphae

Nucleus hangs back

and “directs”

Product diffuses back

into hypha and is used

Secrete hydrolytic enzymes and acids to decompose complex

molecules into simpler ones that can be absorbed 31
Classification by nutrition
Symbionts: mutually beneficial relationship between a fungus
and another organism. The two most important examples are
lichens (intimate association between a photosynthetic partner -
algae or cyanobacteria- and a fungus) and mycorrhizae (intimate
association between fungi and roots or other underground
organs of plants)

Saprophytes: decomposers. Feed on dead tissues or organic

waste

Parasites: absorb nutrients from cells of living hosts. Some are

pathogenic (parasites that cause diseases)

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Symbionts:

Mycorrhizae
Mycorrhizal fungi establish close physical contact with the roots and help the plant obtain
phosphate and other minerals and also water from the soil. In return, the fungi obtain
nutrients such as sugars from the plant root.

Lichens
An association between a photosynthetic
partner (algae or cyanobacteria) and a fungus.
Lichen acids, complex organic compounds
secreted by the fungus, promote the dissolution
and chelation of inorganic nutrients from the rock
or other surface that are needed by the
phototroph. Another role of the fungus is to
protect the phototroph from drying. The fungus
actually facilitates the uptake of water and
sequesters some for the phototroph.
Photosynthetic partner provides the fungus with
carbon nutrients.
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Saprophytes:

They produce a wide range of enzymes that degrade

complex polymers such as starch, cellulose, protein,
chitin, an even the most complex lignified material such
as wood.
Fungi are particularly important in the decomposition of
cellulose (40 % of plant cell wall and is the most
abundant natural polymer on Earth).
A major ecological activity of fungi is the decomposition
of wood, paper, cloth, and other products derived from
these natural sources. So this decomposer fungi play
vital roles in the recycling of major nutrients.

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Fungal reproduction
Fungi reproduce by releasing spores that are produced
either sexually or asexually

When fungi reproduce asexually means in one of the

following ways:
1. by the growth and spread of hyphal filaments
2.by simple cell division, as in budding yeasts
3. by the asexual production of spores (conidia )

1. Vegetative reproduction (fragmentation).

The hypha breaks up into small fragments and
each fragment develops into a new individual.

2. Budding. Buds break off to make more

yeast cells.
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 3. Asexual formation of spores
Spores may be formed:
– Directly at the tips of specialized hyphae called
conidiophores
– Inside sporangia which are located on top of a
filament called a sporangiophore
– On Fruiting bodies

Pilobolus sporangia

Penicillium
hyphae

Amanita fruiting body 36

• Spores are an adaptation to life on land
• Ensure that the species will disperse to new locations
• Each spore contains a reproductive cell that forms a new
organism
• Nonmotile
• Dispersed by wind, water or animals

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Fungal sexual reproduction
▪ Hyphae from 2 mating types (+ and -) FUSE (Fertilization)
▪ Forms an hypha with 2 nuclei that becomes a ZYGOTE
▪ The zygote divides to make a SPORE

+ -

SPORE FORMS

When environmental conditions are favorable, asexual reproduction occurs rapidly

When unfavorable conditions stress the organism, sexual reproduction occurs and the
offspring have an increased probability of survival
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Fungal Phylogeny

Loss of flagella

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Fungal Phylogeny: It’s All About the Spores!
The five fungal phyla can be distinguished by their reproductive features.

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Chytridiomycota
Informally known as chytrids
Are the earliest fungi (evolved from protist and retained flagella)
Their name refers to the structure of the fruiting body, which contains their sexual spores
(zoospores)
These spores are unusual among fungal spores in being flagellated and motile, and are
ideal for dispersal of these organisms in the aquatic environments
They are commonly found in freshwater and moist soils
Chitin cell wall (it makes the difference)
Some are saprobes (degrading refractory materials such as chitin and keratin), while
others parasitize protists, plants, and animals

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis
Amphibian’s pathogen

Allomyces
Synchytrium endoboticum
Saprobe (soil...) 41
Potato’s pathogen
Zygomycota
Rhizopus on
▪ Called the sporangium fungi
strawberries
▪ Commonly called molds
▪ Also includes blights
▪ Mostly terrestrial
▪ Hyphae are coenocytic. Hyphae have no cross-walls
(aseptate). Septa only found in reproductive cells
▪ Grow rapidly
▪ Known primarily for their role in food spoilage.
Tomato Blight
Includes bread mold Rhizopus stolonifer
▪ Mostly saprobes and other are parasites of amebes,
nematodes and arthropods.

Rhizopus stolonifer 42
Zygomycota

▪ Asexual reproductive structure called sporangium make spores

▪ Rhizoids anchor the mold and release digestive enzymes and absorb food
▪ Stolons connect the fruiting bodies

▪ Sexual spores are produced by conjugation when (+) hyphae and (-) hyphae fuse
▪ Sexual spores are called ZYGOSPORES
▪ Zygospores can endure harsh environments until conditions improve
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Ascomycota
▪ Called sac fungi
▪ Include unicellular yeasts and complex multicellular cup fungi
▪ Hyphae are septate
▪ In asexual reproduction, tips of specialized hyphae form chains of asexual spores
(conidia)

▪ In sexual reproduction hyphae of opposite mating strains fuse

✓ Ascus - sac that makes ascospores in sexual reproduction
✓ Specialized hyphae known as Ascocarps contain the asci

Scarlet cup truffles 44

Morchella
Ascomycota

Roquefort cheese Close up of cheese showing blue-

green mycelium of Penicillium
roqueforti.

Alexander Fleming
Penicillin
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Penicillium notatum
Ascomycota: Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Baking and brewing yeast
Unicellular
Asexually budding (a new cell forms as a small outgrowth of the old cell)
Exceptionally sexual reproduction
Yeasts are typically facultative aerobes, growing aerobically as well as by fermentation.
The yeast S. cerevisiae has been studied as a model eukaryote for many years and was
the first eukaryote to have its genome completely sequenced and its metabolic pathways
are known.

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Basidiomycota
Important decomposers of wood/plant material.
Many are the commonly recognized mushrooms and toadstools, some of which are
edible.
Others, such as the mushroom Amanita are highly poisonous.
Others include puffballs, smuts, rusts.
The defining characteristic of the basidiomycetes is the basidium, a structure in which
basidiospores are formed by meiosis (sexually).
A mushroom fruiting body, called a basidiocarp, begins as a mycelium that differentiates
into a small button-shaped structure underground that then expands into the full-grown
basidiocarp that we see aboveground, the mushroom.

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Ecological and biotechnological impact of fungi
▪ Ecosystems depend on fungi as decomposers which decompose food, wood
and even plastics

▪ Fungi form beneficial partnerships (symbiosis) with other organisms such as

trees and flowering plants

▪ Some fungi are pathogens e.g. athlete’s foot, ringworm

▪ Many animals, including humans, consume fungi. Mushrooms, morels and

truffles are widely consumed by humans

▪ Fungi produce many products used in the medical field such as penicillin,
cephalosporin antibiotics, cortisone

▪ Fungi are used in genetic engineering – vaccine for hepatitis B was developed
using the yeast plasmid as the vector.
▪ Yeast is used to make ethanol
▪ Yeast are known for making breads rise
▪ Lichens are used as a biomarkers
✓ Some species more sensitive than others to pollutants
✓ Which species are present can indicate air quality
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✓ Most resistant species can also be analyzed for pollutants
Eukaryotic Microorganisms:
Protists and Fungi

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