Biology II for Non-Majors

Protists
Protists

• Protist is the catchall term for eukaryotic organisms that are not animal, plant, or fungi.
• Very few characteristics are common to all protists.
• There are over 100,000 described living species of protists, and it is unclear how many undescribed species may exist.
Protist Cell Structure

• The cells of protists are among the most elaborate of all cells.
• Most protists are microscopic and unicellular, but some true multicellular forms exist.
• A few protists live as colonies that behave in some ways as a group of free-living cells and in other ways as a multicellular
organism.
• Still other protists are composed of enormous, multinucleate, single cells that look like amorphous blobs of slime, or in other
cases, like ferns.
• In fact, many protist cells are multinucleated; in some species, the nuclei are different sizes and have distinct roles in protist
cell function.
Cell Protection

• Protist cells may be enveloped by animal-like cell membranes or plant-like cell walls.
• Others are encased in glassy silica-based shells or wound with pellicles of interlocking protein strips.
• The pellicle functions like a flexible coat of armor, preventing the protist from being torn or pierced without compromising its range of motion.
Motility

Protists use various methods for transportation. (a) Paramecium waves hair-like appendages called cilia to propel itself.
(b) Amoeba uses lobe-like pseudopodia to anchor itself to a solid surface and pull itself forward. (c) Euglena uses a whip-like
tail called a flagellum to propel itself.
Metabolism

• Protists exhibit many forms of nutrition and may be aerobic or anaerobic.

• Protists that store energy by photosynthesis belong to a group of photoautotrophs and are characterized by the presence of
chloroplasts.
• Mixotrophs obtain nutrition by photoautotrophic or heterotrophic routes, depending on whether sunlight or organic nutrients
are available.
• Heterotrophic consume organic materials (such as other organisms) to obtain nutrition.
• Saprobes absorb nutrients from dead organisms or their organic wastes.
Phagocytosis

Amoebas and some other heterotrophic protist

species ingest particles by a process called
phagocytosis.
Asexual Reproduction

• Most protists undergo some form of asexual reproduction, such as binary fission, to produce two daughter cells.
• In protists, binary fission can be divided into transverse or longitudinal, depending on the axis of orientation.
• Some protists such as the true slime molds exhibit multiple fission and simultaneously divide into many daughter cells.
• Others produce tiny buds that go on to divide and grow to the size of the parental protist.
Sexual Reproduction

• Sexual reproduction, involving meiosis and fertilization, is common among protists, and many protist species can switch
from asexual to sexual reproduction when necessary.
• Sexual reproduction is often associated with periods when nutrients are depleted or environmental changes occur.
• Sexual reproduction may allow the protist to recombine genes and produce new variations of progeny that may be better suited to surviving in
the new environment.
• However, sexual reproduction is often associated with resistant cysts that are a protective, resting stage.
• This strategy also allows certain protists to “wait out” stressors until their environment becomes more favorable for survival or until they are carried to a different
environment.
Habitat

• Nearly all protists exist in some type of aquatic environment, including freshwater and marine environments, damp soil, and
even snow.
• Several protist species are parasites that infect animals or plants.
• A few protist species live on dead organisms or their wastes, and contribute to their decay.
Classification

• The emerging classification scheme groups the entire

domain Eukaryota into six “supergroups” that contain
all of the protists as well as animals, plants, and fungi
that evolved from a common ancestor.
• The supergroups are believed to be monophyletic,
meaning that all organisms within each supergroup
are believed to have evolved from a single common
ancestor, and thus all members are most closely
related to each other than to organisms outside that
group.
Excavata

• Many species in Excavata are asymmetrical, single-celled

organisms with a feeding groove “excavated” from one
side.
• Excavata includes heterotrophic predators, photosynthetic
species, and parasites.
• Its subgroups are the diplomonads, parabasalids, and
euglenozoans.
Diplomonads

• Among the Excavata are the diplomonads, which include the intestinal parasite, Giardia lamblia (last slide).
• Until recently, these protists were believed to lack mitochondria.
• Mitochondrial remnant organelles, called mitosomes, have since been identified in diplomonads, but these mitosomes are essentially
nonfunctional.
• Diplomonads exist in anaerobic environments and use alternative pathways, such as glycolysis, to generate energy.
• Each diplomonad cell has two identical nuclei and uses several flagella for locomotion.
Sleeping Sickness

The kinetoplastid subgroup of Euglenozoa includes a number of parasites including T. brucei which causes African Sleeping
Sickness.
Chromalveolates

• Current evidence suggests that species classified as chromalveolates are derived from a common ancestor that engulfed a
photosynthetic red algal cell, which itself had already evolved chloroplasts from an endosymbiotic relationship with a
photosynthetic prokaryote.
• Therefore, the ancestor of chromalveolates is believed to have resulted from a secondary endosymbiotic event.
• However, some chromalveolates appear to have lost red alga-derived plastid organelles or lack plastid genes altogether.
• Therefore, this supergroup should be considered a hypothesis-based working group that is subject to change.
• Chromalveolates include very important photosynthetic organisms, such as diatoms, brown algae, and significant disease
agents in animals and plants.
• The chromalveolates can be subdivided into alveolates and stramenopiles.
Alveolates

• A large body of data supports that the alveolates are derived from a shared common ancestor.
• The alveolates are named for the presence of an alveolus, or membrane-enclosed sac, beneath the cell membrane.
• The exact function of the alveolus is unknown, but it may be involved in osmoregulation.
• The alveolates are further categorized into some of the better-known protists: the dinoflagellates, the apicomplexans, and the
ciliates.
Dinoflagellates

• Dinoflagellates can be photosynthetic, heterotrophic, or mixotrophic.

• Many dinoflagellates are encased in interlocking plates of cellulose.
• Two perpendicular flagella fit into the grooves between the cellulose plates, with one flagellum extending longitudinally and
a second encircling the dinoflagellate.
• Together, the flagella contribute to the characteristic spinning motion of dinoflagellates.
Bioluminescence

• Some dinoflagellates generate light, called bioluminescence.

• These protists live in freshwater and marine habitats, and are part of plankton, the microscopic organisms that drift through
the water and serve as a crucial food source for larger aquatic organisms.
Ciliates

• The ciliates, including Paramecium and Tetrahymena, are a group of protists 10 to 3,000 micrometers in length that are
covered in rows, tufts, or spirals of tiny cilia.
• By beating their cilia synchronously or in waves, ciliates can coordinate directed movements and ingest food particles.
• Certain ciliates have fused cilia-based structures that function like paddles, funnels, or fins.
• Ciliates also are surrounded by a pellicle, providing protection without compromising agility.
Paramecium

Paramecium has a primitive mouth (called an oral groove) to ingest food, and an anal pore to excrete it. Contractile vacuoles
allow the organism to excrete excess water. Cilia enable the organism to move.
Sexual Reproduction in Paramecium

• The complex process of sexual reproduction

in Paramecium creates eight daughter cells from two
original cells.
• Each cell has a macronucleus and a micronucleus.
• During sexual reproduction, the macronucleus dissolves and is
replaced by a micronucleus.
Stramenopiles

• The other subgroup of chromalveolates, the stramenopiles,

includes photosynthetic marine algae and heterotrophic
protists.
• The unifying feature of this group is the presence of a textured,
or “hairy,” flagellum.
• Many stramenopiles also have an additional flagellum that
lacks hair-like projections.
• Members of this subgroup range in size from single-celled
diatoms to the massive and multicellular kelp.
Diatoms

• The diatoms are unicellular photosynthetic protists that encase themselves in intricately patterned, glassy cell walls composed
of silicon dioxide in a matrix of organic particles.
• These protists are a component of freshwater and marine plankton.
Biological Carbon Pump

• During periods of nutrient availability, diatom populations bloom.

• The excess diatoms die and sink to the sea floor where they are not easily reached by saprobes that feed on dead organisms.
• As a result, the carbon dioxide that the diatoms had consumed and incorporated into their cells during photosynthesis is not
returned to the atmosphere.
Golden Algae

• Golden algae are largely unicellular, although some species can form large colonies.
• Their characteristic gold color results from their extensive use of carotenoids, a group of photosynthetic pigments that are
generally yellow or orange in color.
• Golden algae are found in both freshwater and marine environments, where they form a major part of the plankton
community.
Brown Algae

• The brown algae are primarily marine, multicellular organisms that are known colloquially as seaweeds.
• Giant kelps are a type of brown algae.
• Some brown algae have evolved specialized tissues that resemble terrestrial plants, with root-like holdfasts, stem-like stipes,
and leaf-like blades that are capable of photosynthesis.
• The stipes of giant kelps are enormous, extending in some cases for 60 meters.
• A variety of algal life cycles exists, but the most complex is alternation of generations, in which both haploid and diploid
stages involve multicellularity.
Brown Algae Life Cycle
Oomycetes

• The oomycetes have a cellulose-based cell wall and a network of

filaments for nutrient uptake.
• As diploid spores, many oomycetes have two oppositely directed
flagella (one hairy and one smooth) for locomotion.
• The oomycetes are nonphotosynthetic and include many saprobes
(right) and parasites.
• Most oomycetes are aquatic, but some parasitize terrestrial plants.
Rhizaria

• Rhizaria includes many amoebas, most of which have threadlike or needle-like pseudopodia.
• Pseudopodia trap and engulf food particles and direct movement in rhizarian protists.
• These pseudopods project outward from anywhere on the cell surface and can anchor to a substrate.
• The protist then transports its cytoplasm into the pseudopod, thereby moving the entire cell.
Foraminiferans

• Foraminiferans are unicellular heterotrophic protists with porous

shells, called tests that are built from various organic materials
and typically hardened with calcium carbonate.
• The tests may house photosynthetic algae, which the forams can harvest
for nutrition.
• Foram pseudopodia extend through the pores and allow the
forams to move, feed, and gather additional building materials.
Radiolarians

• A second subtype of Rhizaria, the radiolarians, have intricate

exteriors of glassy silica with radial or bilateral symmetry.
• Needle-like pseudopods supported by microtubules radiate
outward from the cell bodies to catch food particles.
Archaeplastida

• Red algae and green algae are included in the supergroup Archaeplastida.
• It was from a common ancestor of these protists that the land plants evolved, since their closest relatives are found in this group.
• Molecular evidence supports that all Archaeplastida are descendants of an endosymbiotic relationship between a
heterotrophic protist and a cyanobacterium.
• The red and green algae include unicellular, multicellular, and colonial forms.
Red Algae

• Red algae, or rhodophytes, are primarily multicellular, lack flagella, and range in size from microscopic, unicellular protists
to large, multicellular forms grouped into the informal seaweed category.
• Some species of red algae contain phycoerythrins, photosynthetic accessory pigments that are red in color and outcompete the green tint of
chlorophyll, making these species appear as varying shades of red.
• The red algae life cycle is an alternation of generations.
• Other protists classified as red algae lack phycoerythrins and are parasites.
Green Algae

• The green algae exhibit similar features to the land plants, particularly in terms of chloroplast structure. That this group of
protists shared a relatively recent common ancestor with land plants is well supported. The green algae are subdivided into:
• The chlorophytes
• The charophytes are the closest living relatives to land plants and resemble them in morphology and reproductive strategies.
• Charophytes are common in wet habitats, and their presence often signals a healthy ecosystem.
Diversity of Chlorophytes

• The chlorophytes exhibit great diversity of form and function.

• Chlorophytes primarily inhabit freshwater and damp soil, and are a common component of plankton.
• Chlamydomonas is a simple, unicellular chlorophyte with a pear-shaped morphology and two opposing, anterior flagella that
guide this protist toward light sensed by its eyespot.
• More complex chlorophyte species exhibit haploid gametes and spores that resemble Chlamydomonas.
• True multicellular organisms, such as the sea lettuce, Ulva, are also represented among the chlorophytes.
Colony Chlorophytes

• Volvox is a colonial organism, which behaves in some ways like a collection of individual cells, but in other ways like the
specialized cells of a multicellular organism.
• Volvox colonies contain 500 to 60,000 cells, each with two flagella, contained within a hollow, spherical matrix composed of a gelatinous
glycoprotein secretion.
• Individual Volvox cells move in a coordinated fashion and are interconnected by cytoplasmic bridges.
• Only a few of the cells reproduce to create daughter colonies, an example of basic cell specialization in this organism.
Chlorophytes: Caulerpa

• Species in the genus Caulerpa exhibit flattened fern-like foliage and can reach lengths of 3 meters.
• Caulerpa species undergo nuclear division, but their cells do not complete cytokinesis, remaining instead as massive and
elaborate single cells.
Amoebozoans

• The amoebozoans have pseudopodia that extend like tubes or flat lobes, rather than the hair-like pseudopodia of rhizarian
amoeba.
• The Amoebozoa include several groups of unicellular amoeba-like organisms that are free-living or parasites.
Plasmodial Slime Mold Life Cycle
Cellular Slime Mold Life Cycle
Opisthokonts

• Choanoflagellates are believed to resemble the common ancestor of sponges and, in fact, all animals.
• There are about 244 species, including unicellular and colonial forms.
• These organisms exhibit a single, apical flagellum that is surrounded by a contractile collar composed of microvilli.
• The collar uses a similar mechanism to sponges to filter out bacteria for ingestion by the protist.
Protists as Primary Producers

• Protists (including plankton) feed most of the world’s

aquatic species directly or indirectly.
• Approximately one-quarter of the world’s photosynthesis is
conducted by protists such as dinoflagellates, diatoms, and
multicellular algae.
Primary Producer Symbionts

• Photosynthetic protists serve as producers of nutrition for

other organisms.
• For instance, photosynthetic dinoflagellates called
zooxanthellae use sunlight to fix inorganic carbon.
• In this symbiotic relationship, these protists provide nutrients
for coral polyps
Protists as Decomposers

• Protist saprobes are specialized to absorb nutrients from nonliving organic matter, such as dead organisms or their wastes.
• Saprobic protists have the essential function of returning inorganic nutrients to the soil and water.
• This process allows for new plant growth, which in turn generates sustenance for other organisms along the food chain.
• Indeed, without saprobe species, such as protists, fungi, and bacteria, life would cease to exist as all organic carbon became
“tied up” in dead organisms.
Slime Molds

• In some species of slime molds, individual single-celled

organisms come together and fuse to form a giant cell with
thousands of nuclei.
• This body, called a plasmodium, can move around consuming
bacteria, fungi, and decaying plant matter.
Pathogenic Protists:
Malaria

The protist P. falciparum accounts for 50 percent of all

malaria cases and is the primary cause of disease-related
fatalities in tropical regions of the world.
African Sleeping Sickness

Trypanosoma brucei, the parasite that is responsible for

African sleeping sickness, confounds the human immune
system by changing its thick layer of surface glycoproteins
with each infectious cycle
Plant Parasites: P. Viticola

The oomycete P. viticola infects grape plants, causing a disease called downy mildew that nearly collapsed the French wine
industry in the 19th century.
Plant Parasites: P. infestans

These unappetizing remnants result from an infection with P. infestans, the causative agent of potato late blight.
Practice Question

What role do protists play in maintaining the Earth’s climate?

Quick Review

• What are the common characteristics of protists?

• How are protists classified into unique categories?
• What roles do protists play in the ecosystem?