Kingdom Protist
What is a Protist?
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all are eukaryotes and are not animals,
plants, or fungi
There are 3 basic groups:
1) Animal-like protists: heterotrophs
2) Plant-like protists: autotrophs
3) Fungus-like protists: decomposers
Animal-like Protists:
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All are heterotrophic
1) Zooflagellates
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Type of Protist: Animal-like
Characteristics:
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can cause disease or live mutually with
organisms like the termite; found in their
intestines to break down wood
Part used for movement: 1 or more flagella
Does it cause disease?
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Yes, cause African Sleeping Sickness
(Trypanosoma) and can cause Giardiasis,
intestine troubles (Giardia)
2) Amoeba
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Type of Protist: Animal-like
Characteristics:
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wraps pseudopods (temporary projection of
cytoplasm) around food
ingests food through endocytosis
Part used for movement: pseudopod
Does it cause disease?
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Yes, Amoebic Dysentery. caused by
eating/drinking where conditions are not sanitary
Figure 20-4 An Amoeba
Section 20-2
Contractile vacuole
Pseudopods
Nucleus
Food vacuole
Go to
Section:
3) Paramecium
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Type of Protist: Animal-like
Characteristics:
 sweeps food into mouth
using cilia (tiny hair-like
structures)
Part used for movement:
cilia
Does it cause disease? No
Figure 20-5 A Ciliate
Section 20-2
Trichocysts
Lysosomes
Oral groove
Gullet
Anal pore
Contractile vacuole
Micronucleus
Macronucleus
Go to
Section:
Food vacuoles
Cilia
4) Sporozoans
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Type of Protist: Animal-like
Characteristics:
 parasitic and requires a host
Part used for movement: they don’t move
Does it cause disease?
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Yes, Malaria in humans which kills 2-4 million people a
year
Figure 20-7 The Life Cycle of Plasmodium
Section 20-2
Plasmodium undergoes several
stages of development in
mosquito’s body
Mosquito bites human,
injecting saliva that contains
Plasmodium sporozoites
Plasmodium sporozoites
Anopheles mosquito bites
infected human and picks up
Plasmodium cells
Infected red blood cells
burst, releasing Plasmodium
cells; some can infect other
red blood cells, and others
can infect mosquitoes
Go to
Section:
Sporozoites infect
liver cells
Liver
Infected liver cells burst,
releasing Plasmodium cells
that infect red blood cells
Plasmodium cells
Red blood cells
Plant-like Protists:
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any photosynthetic protist
produce a large amount of the world
oxygen
the pigments each protist uses helps
us classify it
1) Euglena
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Type of Protist: Plant-like
Characteristics:
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uses a red-eye spot that sense light
are mainly autotrophic, but can be heterotrophs
contain chlorophyll but no cell wall
Part used for movement: 2 flagella
Does it cause disease? No
Euglena
Section 20-3
Chloroplast
Carbohydrate
storage bodies
Gullet
Pellicle
Flagella
Go to
Section:
Eyespot
Nucleus
Contractile
vacuole
2) Diatoms
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Type of Protist: Plant-like
Characteristics:
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Fragile glass-like cell walls
Among the most abundant organisms on Earth
Used to make toothpastes and scouring cleansers
Part used for movement: no specialized parts,
just floats with the water
Does it cause disease? No
3) Dinoflagellates
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Type of Protist: Plant-like
Characteristics:
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Thick cell walls
Some are luminescent: give off light
Red tide, occurs when dinoflagellates release a toxin into
the water at certain times of year, this kills off ocean life and
poses a health risk
Part used for movement: 2 flagella that cause it
to spin
Does it cause disease? No
4) Red Algae
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Type of Protist: Plant-like
Characteristics:
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Contain red pigments
Part used for movement: don’t move
Does it cause disease? No
5) Brown Algae
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Type of Protist: Plant-like
Characteristics:
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contains brown pigments
largest and most complex of
all algae
kelp, important food source
Part used for movement:
don’t move
Does it cause disease?
No
6) Green Algae
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Type of Protist: Plant-like
Characteristics:
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Considered to be the ancestors of plants
Part used for movement: don’t move
Does it cause disease? No
Fungus-like Protists:
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heterotrophs (decomposers) that absorb
nutrients from dead or decaying matter and
can also be parasitic
reproduce using spores (reproductive cells
that are resistant to harsh environments)
Includes slime molds, and water molds
Scientists think the Irish potato famine of late
1800’s was possibly caused by water mold