Introduction to Protozoa

Eukaryotes cells with a membrane-enclosed nucleus

EUKARYOTIC CELL STRUCTURE
It contains oraganelles functionally specialized, regulated
compartments surrounded by one or more membranes.
Nucleus an organelle that contains the genome and is surrounded y a
double membrane thus segregating the genomic compartment from the
metabolic machinery of the cell cytoplasm.
Mitochondria contain DNA and the enzymes for aerobic repiration.
Chloroplasts also have DNA and are the sites for photosynthesis
Internal membrane system
Endoplasmic reticulum is a mazelike, tubular or lamellar
network that functions in the synthesis of carbohydrates, lipids,
and, when ribosomes are present, proteins.
Golgi body stack of flattened vesicles that receives products of
the endoplasmic reticulum, then modifies and releases them in
vesicle for transport elsewhere, often to the surface of the cell
Lysosomes are Golgi-derived membrane-bound vesicles that
contain enzymes for intracellular digestion.
Cytoskeleton a protein filament of different types and diameters which
serves a support
- has the form of three dimensional network and is responsible for the
maintenance of cell shape
- can be dynamic and temporary.
- Essential for cell motility because it can transmit force from one part of
the cell to another.
Actin filaments (microfilaments) polymers of monomeric actin
Microtubules cylindrical polymers of the protein tubulin.

Motor molecules force for movement is generated
Myosin binds to actin as well as to other structures and is
responsible for ameboid movement, streaming, cyclosis, cell
division.
Dynein motor molecule associated with microtubules which are
important for the movement of cilia and flagella as well as for
shuttling vesicles inside of the cell.
Cytoplasm fluid that surrounds the organelles and cytoskeleton of the
eukaryotic cell.
- Enclosed by the cell membrane
Cell membrane a phospholipid bilayer that separates the internal
environment of the cell from the exterior.
- It regulates the biochemical conditions of the cells interior for the
processes of life
- It controls what may leave and enter the cell
- The responsiveness of the cell to external stimuli
- The selectiveness with which the cell binds to other cells or to a
substratum
- The maintenance of cell shape
- Cholesterol - a common component of cell membranes which stiffens
the membrane
Glycocalyx a surface coat which is an important physiological barrier.
- It forms a template on which the exoskeleton is secreted and regulates
binding to signal molecules and to surfaces.
Endocytosis the process of ingesting food in a wide range of sizes.
Eukaryotic cells are capable of intracellular signaling.
CELL MOTILITY
Ameboid Movement a kind of cell crawling
These cells include mesenchyme cells, cells of the immune system,
migrating cancer cells, and a variety of others.
Pseudopodia flowing extensions of the cell which protrude outward in
the direction of travel.
- Formed at an ectoplasmic site where the gel liquefies and allows the
outflow of fluid endoplasm
Ectoplasm outer cytoplasmic rind, is a stiff gel
Endoplasm inner cytoplasm, is a fluid sol.
The liquid gel phase transition of the cytoplasm is the result of assembly
and disassembly of the actin cytoskeleton.
The myosin of ameboid cells is monomeric and is not present as the thick
polymeric filaments that typify animal muscles.
Monomeric myosin still forms cross-links with actin and, in the presence
of Ca+ and ATP, causes contraction.
Flagella typically long and their motion is a whiplike undulation
Cilia short and their motion stiff and oarlike.
Axoneme a microtubular core which consists of 9 outer doublet
microtubules that encircle two central singlet microtubules, forming the
typical 9 x 2 + 2 pattern.
Bending of the flagellum is caused by active sliding of adjacent doublets
past each other.
Basal body where ciliary and flagellar axoneme arises from and
anchored that lies immediately below the cell membrane
Centrioles when basal bodies are distributed to daughter cells during
mitosis, they typically arrange themselves at each pole of the mitotic
spindle.
Microtubule organizing center (MTOC) a region around basal bodies
and centrioles that controls the polymerization of microtubules while the
basal body is the template on which developing axonemes are organized.
Metachronal waves waves that pass over the surface of the cell like
wind passes in waves over a wheat field.
UPTAKE BY CELLS
Endocytosis a process of some extracellular materials enter a cell in
minute pits on the cells membrane that later pinch off internally.
Micropinocytosis a nonspecific form of endocytosis in which the
rate of uptake is in simple proportion to the external concentration
of the material being absorbed.
Micropinocytosis brings in proteins and other macromolecules
at a rate greater, than predicted by the concentration gradient.
Clathrin protein coated.
Phagocytosis larger particles are taken up in large vesicles which
requires binding of a particle to membrane receptors and dynamic
alteration of the cell membrane involving the actin cytoskeleton.
INTRACELLULAR DIGESTION
Once food enters the cell, lysosomes fuse with the endocytic vesicles or
food vacuoles.
Lysosomes contain acids and hydrolytic enzymes.
Exocytosis process where indigestible material is released from the cell
to the exterior by fusion of the residual vacuole with the cell membrane.
CIRCULATION IN CELLS
Circulatory systems are required when the supply of a substance by
simple diffusion cannot keep pace with the metabolic demand for it.
Steaming/shuttling directional transport within a pseudopodium or
cell.
Cyclosis flow is in circuit

CELL SECRETIONS
Many cell secretions, such as enzymes and pheromones, are exported
away from the cell that produces them
Mucus a mucopolysaccharide with a large carbohydrate and a smaller
protein component.
- it utilizes as an adhesive, protective cover, and a lubricant.
Chitin is a cellulose-like polysaccharide that is laid down as an
exoskeleton around the bodies of some protozoans.
SYMBIOSIS BETWEEN CELLS
Zoochlorellae photosynthetic symbionts are green unicellular algae or
diatoms.
Zooxanthellae symbionts which are yellow or brown
- A nonmotile stage of flagellated protozoans called dinoflagellates
Lynn Margulis author of Sybiosis in Cell Evolution.