Protists
The Protists
• Protists are unicellular eukaryotic cells.
(Unlike bacteria which are unicellular
prokaryotic cells.)
• Do you remember the differences between
prokaryotes and eukaryotes???
• Protists are like the junk drawer of
microbiology – there is a huge amount of
diversity within this kingdom – but – they are
all single-celled eukaryotes.
• Protists can be generally classed into one of
three groups:
– Animal-like
– Fungus-like
– Plant-like
Animal-like Protists
• Animal-like protists are those that
must ingest (eat) things from the
environment around them.
• There are four groups of animallike protists:
–
–
–
–
Zooflagellates
Amoebas
Ciliates
Sporozoans
Zooflagellates
• The zooflagellates
are animal –like
protists that are
easily recognized by
their flagella – a long
whip-like structure
used to propel it
through the water.
• Zoo = animal
• Many zoo-flagellates
can cause sickness
if ingested in
contaminated water.
• Trypanosoma
gambiensis
• Giardia lamblia
Amoebas
• Amoebas are
known for their
ever-changing
body shape.
• They use
pseudopods to
move and reach
out to grab food.
• The food is
engulfed using
phagocytosis.
Ciliates
• The ciliates are
covered in cilia. The
back ground to this
slideshow is a
ciliated protist.
• They have a rigid
outer layer called
the pellicle that
maintains a stable
shape (unlike the
amoebas).
• Paramecium
Sporozoans
• Sporozoans are called
such because they
use spores as part of
their reproductive
cycle.
• They are non-motile
and parasitic. They
need to be passed on
from host to host and
they live using the
host’s resources.
• Plasmodium vivax
Malaria…The Ugly Truth!
Fungus-like Protists
• These protists are heterotrophic
and most are decomposers that
feed on dead and decaying plants
and animals. (Hence the title
“fungus-like”.)
• In this subsection of protists, you
will find the acellular slime
moulds, cellular slime moulds and
the water moulds!
• Lets move on…
Plant-like Protists
• Plant-like protists contain chlorophyll
and carry out photosynthesis. They are
autotrophs.
• You will find the euglenoids, and algae
in this group.
• These two groups differ from each
other in a few ways:
– Euglenoids have the ability to be
heterotrophic or photosynthetic while most
algae are only photosynthetic.
– Euglenoids have flagella, some algae do
but not all.
– Euglenoids a free living while some algae
live in large colonies.
Euglena vs. Algae!!!
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•
•
•
•
•
•
Euglena!
Diatoms!
Dinoflagellates!
Red Tide!
Algae!
Algal Bloom!
Stupid guy
drinking algae!
That’s All I Got…